CHICAGO- Last season, shortly after the Pinstripe Bowl, middle linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. became the first Northwestern player in two decades to jump early to the NFL. His departure left a big hole in the defense that the Wildcats will soon find out how well they filled.
Truth is, the Wildcats got off easy by losing just one star because two others could easily have joined him.
Safety Godwin Igwebuike seriously considered leaving early but ultimately chose to return for his fifth season. Justin Jackson said he never really thought about departing for the NFL leaving until a media member asked whether he was mulling it over after his MVP performance in that same Pinstripe Bowl win over Pitt.
But instead of chasing millions, both players will be chasing a Big Ten West title at Northwestern this year. Both were also in Chicago on Tuesday, representing their school at Big Ten Media Days.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald might have to get used to players leaving early because there’s another candidate for it this year: quarterback Clayton Thorson, the third member of Northwestern’s media contingent at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place. He’s a redshirt junior who could decide to make the move next spring.
If there’s any indication of how much Northwestern has raised its talent level in recent years, this could be it.
Northwestern didn’t produce a whole lot of NFL talent during the early years of Fitzgerald’s tenure. It wasn’t until the head coach’s fourth year in Evanston, in 2010, that one of his Wildcats was drafted. What’s more, an NU player was selected in just two of the first nine drafts Fitzgerald presided over between 2006 and 2015 (two players in both 2010 and 2012).
In the last three years, however, the program has been making up for lost time. Last spring’s NFL draft marked the third straight year that two Wildcats heard their name called (Walker in Round 5 to Indianapolis and Ifeadi Odenigbo in Round 7 to Minnesota). At least that many figure to go this year: Igwebuike, Jackson, Thorson (if he leaves) and potentially senior superback Garrett Dickerson.
Fitzgerald said he would be fine with Thorson leaving early. Yes, he’d have to replace a record-setting, three-year starter at quarterback a year before he expected. But in his mind, Thorson’s exit would be an overwhelming positive.
“Do I believe he’s going to be an NFL quarterback? Yeah, absolutely,” said Fitzgerald. “Is it after this year? That means he’s had a really good year, and that’s a win-win for everybody in our program.”
Igwebuike, a fifth-year senior, said he weighed the option of playing in the NFL a year early some serious thought last winter. He received feedback from NFL scouts that was, in his words, “good enough to leave.” Walker’s exit made him wonder whether it was time for him to do the same.
“At the same time, I knew I had to make a personal decision,” said the 6-foot, 215-pounder. “I felt like I had a lot more to prove. I felt like that my time at Northwestern, with this team, was not done… I prayed about it and I think God led me to come back for another year, and I think that was the best decision I could have made, without a doubt.”
“Unfinished business,” both from a team and personal level, is what ultimately drew him back to Evanston.
“We had a pretty good run in the last bowl game, against Pitt, but at the same time we left some games out there, games that we should have taken care of. This year, we need to put it all together,” he said.
And personally, Igwebuike wanted a taste of the recognition he felt he deserved. “I feel like I’ve always been a consistent player, but maybe overlooked. It just adds to the fire…
“It’s been awesome to get the hype, the different watch lists for awards,” said Igwebuike, who is on the watch list for both the Nagurski and Thorpe awards. “Now it’s time to back it up on the field this year. I’m pretty confident in my abilities, of course, to help lead my team to a Big Ten championship.”
Jackson, on the other hand, said he was “blindsided” when a reporter asked about entering the draft in the bowels of Yankee Stadium after he ran for a career-high 224 yards and three touchdowns. He said he was too focused on the bowl game in the preceding weeks to even ponder the thought.
“You don’t even think about that stuff,” said Jackson. “So when I got hit with that question, it was weird because I had not thought about it at all.”
Fitzgerald didn’t see the question coming either.
“Go early?” Fitzgerald recalled thinking. “I almost spit out my water. No way. ‘Shut up, you don’t want to ask him that.’ It didn’t even dawn on me that it was his third year, that’s how quick it went.”
Jackson said he didn’t even go as far as getting an assessment from NFL scouts so sure was he that he would return. Plus, the then true junior still needed to get his degree.
He doesn’t have any regrets about his call.
“I know I made the right decision,” he said. “I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else but here, with these guys. I think we have the opportunity to be special this year, and I want to be a part of a great offense and a great team.”
Players like Walker and Igwebuike rely on Fitzgerald and the Northwestern staff to give them information from NFL scouts so that they can make an informed decision. Fitzgerald is more than willing to do what he can.
“From a standpoint of information that we’re able to get from the NFL, we are gonna be transparent,” said Fitzgerald. “I’ve got an open-door policy for the scouts. They can come in whenever they want, then can ask whatever they want of whoever they want.
“To make sure, not necessarily for them – this is me being selfish – but for us to be able, when we have players like Clayton, to be able to give them the right information for them and their families to make the best decision about their future. He’s a great student. Like Anthony, he’s going to graduate. That’s the goal. The goal is to be a Northwestern graduate, win as many games as you can for your team and for your program, for your teammates, and then be prepared for Sunday.”
Thorson, who just returned from what Fitzgerald called “the opportunity of a lifetime” at the Manning Quarterback Camp, isn’t tipping his hand one way or another about his NFL thought process. He’s just focused on the upcoming season.
“It’s a dream of mine to even come up in these talks,” said Thorson, who, at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, has prototypical NFL size. “As a football player, you always want to strive for it. It’s the top.
“But at the same time, I recognize I’m not there right now, and the only way for me to get there is production, at this level. So I really don’t’ put too much merit in those talks. It’s great that people are recognizing, ‘hey, he’s got some talent.’ But it doesn’t matter if you don’t perform, and production is the most important thing. So I’m so focused on my team, on wins.”
