Unanimous All-American tackle Peter Skoronski was selected 11th overall by the Tennessee Titans in Thursday’s NFL Draft to become the highest Wildcat draft pick of the last 40 years.
Skoronski went two spots higher than fellow offensive lineman Rashawn Slater, who was selected 13th in 2021. It's the highest a Wildcat player was selected since Chris Hinton, another offensive lineman, went No. 4 back in 1983.
Skoronski is the third Wildcat first-rounder in the last three years, joining Slater and Greg Newsome, who went No. 26 in 2021, the same year as Slater. Ironically, it was Slater opting out of the 2020 campaign that opened up the depth chart for Skoronski at left tackle, and the Park Ridge (Ill.) Maine South product never looked back.
He started all 33 possible games at left tackle, and was a stalwart in an otherwise turbulent stretch of Northwestern football. From a Big Ten Championship appearance and Citrus Bowl victory in 2020 to four wins in two seasons, Skoronski was an absolute rock on the blind side through it all. He finished his junior campaign allowing just one sack and three hurries and won the Rimington-Pace Award for the best lineman in the Big Ten.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald and offensive line coach Kurt Anderson attended Skoronski's draft party, as the low-key Skoronski elected not to attend the NFL Draft in Kansas City on Thursday night. Both coaches were there to embrace their star tackle once he got the life-changing news. Skoronski was the third player coached by Fitzgerald and the second offensive lineman coached by Anderson at Northwestern to be drafted in the first round.
Although the Wildcats have struggled on the field lately, their ability to produce pro players has skyrocketed. In the first 126 years of the program, Northwestern had eight players drafted in the first round. In the last three years, they have had three selected.
Adetomiwa Adebawore's monstrous combine performance had him rated as a late or fringe first round rounder in some mock drafts, but come the real thing it looks like he'll be a second-round pick. While the Wildcats have had a recent boom of first rounders, second rounders have bizarrely been more elusive. Adebawore would be the first Northwestern player drafted in the second round in the 21st century.
Adebawore will be the name to watch early on tomorrow as Day 2 gets underway at 6 p.m. CT, and a sleeper that could maybe sneak into the late third round is cornerback Cam Mitchell.
If Mitchell can leap up someone's draft board, it would be the first time in program history that Northwestern produced three players taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft.
