Northwestern lands British CB Timi Oke

Northwestern typically recruits places like Illinois, Ohio and Texas, but the Wildcats reached across the Atlantic Ocean to bring 2024 cornerback Timi Oke from London, England to Evanston, Ill.

Oke, who attends the NFL Academy in London, announced his decision on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday. He is the 12th member of the Wildcats' Class of 2024, and the fifth one to commit to newly named head coach David Braun since he took the interim job in July.

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Oke's decision to commit to the Wildcats didn't come as a surprise. Northwestern was his only Power Five offer, and he took his only official visit to NU, on the weekend of Oct. 27, when he watched the Wildcats beat Maryland.

He called the visit "amazing," and Northwestern has been seen as his favorite -- or "favourite" in the British spelling -- ever since. Oke told WildcatReport that he felt at home in Evanston, even though he was some 4,000 miles from it.

"The Wildcat players welcomed me with open arms," he said. "Coming from a different country, it can be hard sometimes to adjust to the new environment but they definitely looked after me and made me feel at home."

Now, Northwestern will be his home for the next four or five years.

Oke, who is of Nigerian descent and carries a 4.0 GPA, has only been playing American football for a little more than a year. At 6-foot-1, he has great length for a cornerback. He also shows obvious quickness and athleticism on tape. But there's no question that he is raw and has a lot to learn about the game before he is able to contribute.

Oke told WildcatReport several times how much he respects both Braun and cornerbacks coach LaMarcus Hicks. He appreciates them being willing to take a chance on a development prospect when no other Power Five coaches did. His other offers were from UConn, Bryant, Bucknell, Campbell and Lehigh.

"The coaches were amazing," Oke texted WildcatReport after his official visit. "I had dinner with Coach Hicks and Coach Braun and their family during my visit, and they were coaches I really like because they value how you are as a person more than anything else and treat you like a family. Their mentality is different and they love the game. I could feel the passion and definitely love the programme and their goals for this season and the future."

Oke is now part of that future.