Lancaster is a Cat

Center Tyler Lancaster went to Northwestern's camp today hoping to earn a scholarship offer.

He received the offer after an impressive performance at this morning's workout, and the 6-foot-4, 280-pounder from Plainfield (Ill.) East didn't take long to make up his mind -- he committed to coach Pat Fitzgerald later in the day to become the fifth member of NU's Class of 2013 and the third to commit in the last 24 hours.

Lancaster is an unranked prospect, but he held offers from Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan. He also had a strong showing at last weekend's Nike Football Training Camp at Illinois.

Lancaster's commitment follows on the heels of verbals from wide receiver Macan Wilson and center Brad North, who each committed on Thursday night.

The net result is that Northwestern's class has rapidly grown from two to five in less than a day.

The commitment was confirmed via a text message to Rivals Illinois recruiting expert Edgy Tim O'Halloran. Look for a story soon.