Pat Fitzgerald celebrated his 10th anniversary as Northwestern's head coach in July. With that in mind, WildcatReport looks back on the Fitz Era by breaking down his recruiting classes on Fitz Flashback Fridays.
If you had to pick one word to describe Northwestern's Class of 2011 it would be "solid".
Fifteen of the 17 members of the class were three-star prospects, so that description is hardly surprising. And the two two-stars in the class wound up being overachievers, just the way Northwestern likes it.
There weren't many outright stars in the group, but there were a lot of valuable contributors. There were also quite a few players who failed to live up to expectations.
Rivals ranked the class 97th in the nation, the lowest ranking head coach Pat Fitzgerald has earned in his 10 years at the helm. In that context, then, the group exceeded expectations.
Let's look back at Fitzgerald's fifth class in Evanston.
Class Superlatives
Head of the Class: Nick VanHoose. Northwestern has Indiana athletic director Fred Glass to thank for landing Nick VanHoose. Glass fired Hoosier head coach Bill Lynch in November of 2010, causing VanHoose, an under-recruited two-star cornerback prospect from tiny Urbana (Ohio) Graham, to decommit and reopen his recruitment. He wound up committing to Northwestern, and 45 starts later the Wildcats are happy about the way things worked out. The quiet, unassuming VanHoose grabbed the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2012 and never let go. He shared the team lead with three interceptions that year and was named to the Freshman All-Big Ten team. He capped his career as a second-team All-Big Ten performer as both a junior and senior. In 2015, VanHoose helped lead a defense that allowed the fewest passing touchdowns in the nation. His highlights that season were recording six tackles, a TFL, an interception, and a forced fumble against Wisconsin, and returning an interception 72 yards for a touchdown against Nebraska. VanHoose ranks 10th all-time at Northwestern with eight career interceptions.
Honor Roll: Deonte Gibson had a great senior year at defensive end in 2015, with 38 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 9.0 sacks, the fourth-highest single-season total in Northwestern history. Christian Jones was well on his way to becoming one of NU's all-time receivers before a knee injury wiped out one year and derailed another. Geoff Mogus, Gibson's high school classmate from St. Edward, became a three-year starter and was the team's best offensive lineman as a junior and senior.
Biggest Surprise: Nick VanHoose. Forty-five career starts at corner isn't bad for a two-star prospect.
