NSD Notebook: Braun outlines future of Northwestern recruiting

Twelve hours after meeting with his staff to welcome Northwestern’s Class of 2024 in a Delano Hotel conference room, David Braun addressed the media about his 15 newest players.

The Wildcats cast their recruiting net far and wide, stretching across nine different states and two different countries, to complete their haul.

"It's a class we're really excited about," Braun said. "It spans a lot of different areas of the country, still has great roots in Illinois and throughout the Midwest in areas we've had a lot of success for a long, long time."

Braun was especially thankful for the players who stood by their commitments after a turbulent summer.

"It was a unique recruiting cycle," he said. "There were young men that were committed for a long period of time and through a lot of transition.

"There were young men offered during an interim time and made the decision to commit to a lot of uncertainty, and a few young men that have been on campus here in the last couple of weeks that made a decision to make Northwestern their home. Excited about this class for a lot of reasons."

Before we dig into some of Braun's compliments and highlights, it's important to recognize the illumination he provided on the team's recruiting structure and standing.

This was one of the shallowest classes in Northwestern history, with just 15 commits. But Braun indicated part of that equation was that there were only so many spots available because of what he calls a very high level of retention.

"With our retention, we're essentially at our limit for scholarships," he said. "I know it's surprising and we're going to have to do a lot of work finding guys to walk on and bolster our walkon program, and we have a roster limit of 112 right now.

"Lot of other programs are operating with 120 in fall camp and that number grows. When school starts, we have to push to 120."

Braun added that he intends to restructure the team's recruiting staff. Jonny Kovach left the team's Director of Player Personnel position vacant when he took a job with the Houston Texans this summer, and Director of Offense Recruiting Todd McShane left to become the Director of Player Personnel position at his alma mater, Oregon State.

With two of his top three recruiting staffers gone, Braun has an even cleaner slate to shape the recruiting operation in his image, and he intends to make sweeping changes. The Director of Player Personnel position will be eliminated

"It's going to be structured differently," he said. "We are looking for people who know what it means to scout and evaluate a young man, not what he is, but what he can be...

"I'm looking for guys with experience at lower levels to be honest with you. That is nothing against Ohio State or Michigan or Alabama, the blue bloods; they've got it figured out. But we have to recruit differently here."

Braun highlighted his experience at North Dakota State, and defensive line coach Christian Smith's time at South Dakota State — two perennial FCS programs that have built powerhouses from players missed by the FBS.

"[We have to] understand the processes required to do that," he said. "I was part of that at North Dakota State, Christian Smith was at South Dakota State.

"We're going to have to recruit at a different level than those two institutions, but the processes that go into that, we're looking for someone that understands what that's like, how difficult that is, how thorough you have to be and how process-oriented you have to be."

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MORE ON NSD: Class of 2024 l Silent commits were worth the wait for Northwestern | Breaking down the Class of 2024

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Braun addressed offensive line and coaching conversations: Braun is keeping his current coaching staff together through at least the bowl game.

When veteran guard Josh Priebe entered his name into the transfer portal earlier this month, he said in his X post that part of the reason was the uncertainty regarding the future of his position coach, offensive line coach Kurt Anderson. He hinted that he could return to NU if Anderson is retained.

As rumors swirled about Braun making significant coaching changes, he said he had open but private dialogues with commits at relevant positions without tipping off those possible moves.

"One-on-one, private conversations," was how Braun dealt with the situation with recruits. "I'll keep those private, but I will tell you that I've moved and operated through all of this with honesty and transparency...

"No final decisions have been made. Some things have circled around social media and the way things were phrased, it led to questions... Kurt has been heavily involved and done a great job. Part of my role as a head coach is to answer some of those hard questions."

Braun also opened the door that the Class of 2024 might not be done just yet as they look to add another offensive lineman or two during the February signing cycle.

"There is some need for us to continue to identify some guys to sign on the second signing day at the offensive line position with where we're at from a number standpoint," he said. "We'll have to identify a couple of guys out of the transfer portal, not to take anyone's job, but to simply bolster the depth in that room to get to the number that we need to be to win in the Big Ten."

Braun went after a familiar QB in Boe: Braun was the initial recruiter at North Dakota State to identify and contact Illinois quarterback Ryan Boe, and he kept him in mind after taking the job at Northwestern.

He didn't think it was fair to try and flip Boe from the Bison while he had an interim tag, but once it was dropped and a five-year extension was signed, Braun informed then-NDSU head coach Matt Entz that he was coming back to recruit the signal caller to come to his new school.

Boe wound up changing his commitment from North Dakota State to Northwestern on Dec. 15.

"As we went through the process of filling out the 2024 class with a quarterback, my initial thoughts were that, if we were going to take someone late like this it has to be the right person," he said. "It was hard for Ryan; he was passionate about being a Bison.

"I think the fact that it was hard for Ryan is a reflection of why he's the type of guy we want in our program. He wasn't someone that wanted to decommit, but I think as he continues to evaluate with his family he knew this was an incredible opportunity."

Staff won't lose sleep over stars: This is Northwestern's lowest ranked class of the Rivals era, but Braun wasn't sweating it.

"If you're looking for a guy in this position that cares about those rankings, I'm the wrong guy," he said. "I've been a part of staffs that talk about the rankings and how excited we are, and reflect a few years later: what did we miss here?

"I've also been part of situations where you don't get a lot of buzz about a class and they end up being some of the best classes I've been a part of bringing in. You know, [defensive linemen] Carmine Bastone and PJ Spencer are a couple of our best players right now, and those guys walked on."

Braun said that the evolution of college football, with the rise of the portal and NIL, have also deflated his concern over the rankings.

"I would have felt that way five years ago," he said. "In the new age of recruiting and the landscape of college football, I care less about the stars than I ever have.

"We have to find guys that love the game of football, are tough, resilient, team-first guys that want to be pushed and fully developed."

Braun pointed out the lengths to which his staff has gone to build out this class, from crossing the Atlantic Ocean for Londoner Timi Oke, a player he said would have offers from everyone had he grown up in Chicago , to small-town Indiana for Braxton Strong.

"We have to be the most thorough, detailed staff in our evaluating and scouting," he said. "There's guys from the Upper Peninsula [of] Michigan [Callen Campbell] or small-town Indiana [Braxton Strong] or a late bloomer in California [Hayden Eligon II]. I'll never be concerned with rankings.

"A year from now, we may be talking about what incredible ranking that we do have, and I'm going to tell you the same thing."