Northwestern is facing some recruiting challenges in the 2024 recruiting cycle, with an interim head coach and staff that may or may not be back next season, and several lawsuits swirling around the program in the wake of a hazing scandal.

So Wildcat recruiters are getting creative in their efforts to find players. While Illinois, Ohio and Texas are usually fertile recruiting grounds for the Wildcats, last week they expanded their recruiting reach all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.

On Thursday, Northwestern offered Timi Oke, a Nigerian cornerback from London, England, a place that is typically a hotbed for a different type of football.

Oke is a long, rangy 6-foot-1, 175-pounder with speed who has only been playing football for a year at London's NFL Academy but has shown enough potential to draw four scholarship offers from American colleges. He said he's "grateful and honoured" -- with a British "u" -- by the offer from Northwestern, his first from a Power Five program, and he's hoping to take an official visit very soon.

Like most kids in England, Oke played what we call soccer for most of his life. But it was a dream his mother had that led him to American football, and now it's his dream too -- one that is very close to being realized.

Learn more about Oke's incredible story in this WildcatReport premium recruiting article.