NU signing day offers some drama, for a change
Because the Wildcats, like rest of the nation, signed the bulk of their Class of 2018 during the early signing period in December, they won’t have too many signees on Wednesday, which is the traditional National Signing Day.
But what they lack in numbers they will make up for in drama as, for the first time in memory, a player considering Northwestern will make his announcement on signing day.
Three-star cornerback DJ Brown will announce his decision at 10:30 a.m. Central time. The standout from Washington (D.C.) St. John’s High School decommitted from Virginia just last week and announced a top three of Cal, Northwestern and Notre Dame. He took an official visit to Cal on the weekend of Jan. 19-21, to Northwestern on Jan. 26-28 and to Notre Dame on Jan. 28-30. He will pick one of those three schools on Wednesday.
While Brown’s status is up in the air, Northwestern will sign two players for sure: two-star tackle Sam Stovall and three-star cornerback A.J. Hampton. Ironically, both of them were also committed to other schools when Northwestern entered the picture with an offer.
Stovall, a 6-foot-4, 285-pounder from Chattanooga (Tenn.) Notre Dame, was set to sign with Western Kentucky on Dec. 20, the first day of the first-ever early signing period. But NU offensive line coach Adam Cushing swooped in with an offer just the day before that turned Stovall’s world upside down. He immediately decided to postpone signing with the Hilltoppers. He then took an official visit to Evanston on the weekend of Jan. 12-14 and committed one day later.
Hampton, a 5-foot-11, 162-pounder from Tampa (Fla.) Wharton, had been committed to Toledo since July, but he didn’t sign with the Rockets during the early signing period because of logistics and his desire to have his father, new FSU defensive backs coach Alonzo Hampton, there with him. Northwestern came in with an offer in January and quickly arranged an official visit on the last weekend of the month. Hampton decommitted from Toledo and committed to Northwestern just last Friday, five days after returning from Evanston.
Hampton and Brown were on campus together for their official visit, and Hampton told WildcatReport that he is working on getting Brown to join him in Evanston. Notre Dame seems to be the favorite, but Hampton, for what’s it worth, feels good about the Wildcats’ chances.
The Wildcats have a need for cornerbacks after the graduation of Marcus McShepard and season-ending injuries to redshirt freshman Brian Bullock and redshirt sophomore Roderick Campbell last fall. Hampton and possibly Brown will join three-star signee Greg Newsome, the only other corner in the class who enrolled early at NU last month.
Stovall becomes the fourth offensive lineman in NU’s class joining a trio of three-stars: Wyatt Blake of Crystal Lake (Ill.) Central, Charlie Schmidt of Libertyville (Ill.) and Payne He’bert of Pearland (Texas) Dawson.
Northwestern is certain to add two players to its Class of 2018, and possibly three. While either number is significantly smaller than the 16 the Wildcats inked in January, at least Wednesday will have a little intrigue.