Aidan Atkinson committed early to Northwestern by any measure.

The three-star 2020 quarterback made a verbal pledge to head coach Pat Fitzgerald on Sunday to become the first member of the Wildcats’ class. Just a junior at Boulder (Colo.) Fairview, Atkinson can’t sign with Northwestern for another 13 months at the earliest, and he won’t be able to suit up in purple for just short of two years.

Yet Atkinson, who is ranked as the No. 18 pro-style quarterback in the country, said he waited to pull the trigger. He decided that he wanted to be a Wildcat during a visit to Evanston for the Michigan game on Sept. 29.

“I made up my mind, right then and there,” said Atkinson a few hours after he announced his commitment on Twitter. “I just fell in love with the school.”

Get to know the player behind all of those prolific passing numbers in this WildcatReport premium story.