Published Dec 17, 2017
NU hosted 20 official visitors
Louie Vaccher  •  WildcatReport
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Northwestern hosted 20 commitments and prospects over the weekend for their official visits. While initial reactions were overwhelmingly positive, we don't know yet whether the Wildcats will land the uncommitted prospects who were on hand.

The 20 visitors were made up of 14 2018 scholarship commits, two preferred walkon (PWO) commits, two uncommitted scholarship prospects and two uncommitted PWO prospects.

The only scholarship commit who didn't make the trip was linebacker Khalid Jones, who was busy winning defensive MVP honors at the North Carolina/South Carolina Shrine Bowl on Saturday and took his official in November.

So who was on hand? Here's a picture of all of the visitors taken at head coach Pat Fitzgerald's home on Saturday night. We identify each of them below.

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Back row

From left to right:

DE commit Devin O’Rourke of Frankfort (Ill.) Lincoln Way East

S commit Jeremiah McDonald of Slidell (La.) Northshore

OL commit Charlie Schmidt of Libertyville (Ill.)

DE commit Andrew Leota of Asheville (N.C.)

PWO OL commit Willy Boatman of Englewood (Colo.) Kent Denver

PWO P prospect Jake Genyk of Middleton (Wis.)

SB commit Brian Kaiser of Winnetka (Ill.) New Trier

QB commit Jason Whittaker of Rockford (Mich.)

OL prospect Ryan Winkel (mostly obstructed) of Memphis (Tenn.) Christian Brothers

OL commit Payne He’bert of Pearland (Tex.) Dawson

LB commit Jaylen Rivers of Loganville (Ga.) Grayson

SB commit Charlie Mangieri of Dunlap (Ill.)

OL commit Wyatt Blake of Crystal Lake (Ill.) Central

LB commit Grayson Mann of Ft. Worth (Tex.) All Saints


Front row

From left to right:

RB commit Isaiah Bowser of Sidney (Ohio)

PWO LB prospect Jake Lynch of San Diego (Calif.) Cathedral

PWO QB commit Ray Niro of Barrington (Ill.)

Unidentified old guy

CB commit Greg Newsome of Carol Stream (Ill.) Glenbard North/Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy

WR commit Jacob Jefferson of Houston (Tex.) St. Pius X

RB prospect Drake Anderson of Chandler (Ariz.)


Much of the focus this weekend was on Winkel and Anderson, the two uncommitted prospects with Northwestern offers. Winkel texted WildcatReport that he had "a great visit" and agreed to an interview on Tuesday (he is currently studying for final exams). Initial efforts to reach Anderson, the son of former Wildcat great Damien Anderson, were unsuccessful.

The two uncommitted PWOs have interesting bloodlines, too. Genyk is the son of former Northwestern assistant Jeff Genyk, who was on Gary Barnett's staff during Fitzgerald's playing career. Lynch is the son of former NFL safety and current 49ers general manager John Lynch, who is also a Stanford grad.