It was a good week for Northwestern's next generation as the 10 Future Cats that played last weekend in a playoff game finished with a record of 9-1.

2026 quarterback Johnny O'Brien made a splash in his playoff debut with 300+ yards and four scores, and in the Class of 2025, not to be outdone, running back Ronny Johnson posted 200+ yards rushing and four scores of his own.

Read about those rising stars and more in this week's recruit roundup.

There were no nerves for junior quarterback Johnny O'Brien in his playoff debut as he expertly piloted No. 10 Fremd to a 42-20 win over No. 23 Andrew.

O'Brien posted 342 yards, four touchdowns and an interception on 17-for-21 passing, carving up the defense and capturing the Vikings' first playoff win since 2019.

Andrew jumped out to a 14-7 lead, but O'Brien kept his composure and fired two touchdowns to take a 21-14 lead into halftime that Fremd would never relinquish.

Fremd (9-1) plays at No. 7 Naperville Central this week.

Dexter (Mich.) running back Ronny Johnson didn't miss a beat in the postseason with 263 yards and four touchdowns in a 42-14 win over South Lyon East.

“When you need a big play, he’s the guy you want the ball in his hands,” Dexter head coach Phil Jacobs said of Johnson to mlive.com.

Dexter (10-0) plays at East Lansing this week in a clash of two the state's top backs with Johnson going head-to-head with Michigan State commit Jace Clairizio.

It was another week of smooth postseason sailing for offensive lineman Trey Boyd and Shakopee (Minn.).

The Sabers dispatched St. Michael-Albertsville with a 42-6 win. They have now won their playoff games by a combined score of 98-13 to handily win Section 6 of the MSHSL's Class 6A.

No. 7 Shakopee (9-1) will face their toughest test of the season this week, though, when they host No. 2 Mounds View in the Class 6A quarterfinals.

Cincinnati (Ohio) Archbishop Moeller and defensive end Jonah Hayes didn't miss a beat in their first playoff game, crushing Sycamore and picking up a 63-7 win.

Moeller opened up the game with 49 straight points before it even hit the half as Hayes and the Crusaders completely smothered the Sycamore offense. This marked the third time in their last six games that the defense held their opponent to single digits.

No. 1 Moeller (10-1) plays No. 8 Lakota East this week in their regional quarterfinals.

Offensive tackle Hayden Wright makes his recruit roundup debut after announcing his commitment to Northwestern on Oct. 29.

Wright plays for Kingwood (Tex.) who lost to Summer Creek, 42-14, last week, but is otherwise in the midst of a very solid season. The Mustangs are 5-4, with a 3-3 division record that has them set to qualify for the Class 6A playoffs, the top class in Texas.

They feature a strong offense that's averaging about 31 points per game, and have split a pair of one-point games the two weeks prior: losing 42-41 to Atascocita and winning 21-20 over King.

Kingwood (5-4) awaits its playoff assignment.

After being dealt their first loss of the season in overtime, Wayne (N.J.) DePaul Catholic and cornerback Marquet Dorsey picked up a win last week, 28-21, over St. Joseph Regional.

Dorsey and the defense have been a force, allowing 23 points per game against some of the best national and regional talent in high school football. DePaul finishes second in its league behind Delbarton, who dealt them their only loss of the season.

DePaul (8-1) awaits its playoff assignment.

Lawton (Mich.) and defensive tackle Mason Mayne took care of business in their rematch with Coloma, dispatching them 42-6 in the postseason after a 46-8 win in the regular season just three weeks prior.

All eyes now turn towards the district championship, where Lawton (8-2) will host Schoolcraft, their rival and one of just two teams to beat them this season. Their first matchup was hard fought but Schoolcraft came out on top, 17-3. We'll see if Mayne and the Blue Devils can exact revenge with the stakes even higher this week.

Frankfort (Ill.) Lincoln-Way East and defensive end Caden O'Rourke went seamlessly to their business in the postseason with a 42-0 win over Niles West in Round 1.

The Griffins were up 42-0 at halftime, triggering a running clock, and coasted the rest of the way to a win.

It's stunning in a season where they allow barely 10 points a game, but this was the first shutout for East, excluding a Week 2 forfeit after a game against Specially Fit Academy fell through.

No. 1 Lincoln-Way East (10-0) plays at No. 17 Minooka this week.

Westerville (Ohio) North and safety Jonathan Stevens Jr. couldn't pull off the upset and lost their first-round matchup with Pickerington North, 45-23.

It was an up and down year for the Warriors. They were able to beat Westerville South and Central in the same season for the first time in 20+ years, but also had two sets of back-to-back losses that hamstrung their playoff seeding.

Westerville North finishes their season at 6-5 with a third place finish in the Capital division of the Ohio Capital Conference.

Acworth (Ga.) North Paulding and wide receiver Dube Enongene stamped their spot in the postseason with a 38-28 win over Marietta, and Enongene put the finishing touches on the game with a 30-yard reverse to extend the lead to 10 with 1:56 left to play.

North Paulding (6-4) has a week off, then will play at Lowndes on Nov. 15 in their playoff opener.

Enongene also deserves some thanks from fellow commit, quarterback Marcus Romain, as dealing Marietta this loss knocked them out and certified Romain's Wheeler team for the region's last playoff spot

Northwestern is offering Princeton (Ill.) product Noah LaPorte as a tight end, but he made his presence felt in their 40-8 win over Oregon on the defensive side of the ball with a critical sack, forced fumble and recovery that set up the Tiger offense at the Oregon 5.

He's not bad at his recruited position, either. Princeton stayed aggressive up 12 with barely a minute left in the first half, firing a short screen to LaPorte who made the snag and turned it upfield for a 60-yard score that gave the Tigers a commanding 18-point lead into the break.

No. 4 Princeton (9-1) travels to Chicago King this week for their second round game, with the winner of No. 1 Byron and No. 9 Montini looming in the quarterfinals. Byron won 3A and last season, while Montini was the team to knock Princeton out of the playoffs a year ago.

Wildwood (Mo.) Lafayette and tight end Robby Preckel beat Parkway Central, 58-0, in the regular season, and had no qualms in the opening round of their playoffs to do almost the same again, winning 45-7.

The win excised a few demons from last season when the Lancers also put together an 8-1 regular season but were tripped up in the first round of the playoffs.

Lafayette (9-1) hosts Rockwood Summit in the district semifinals of MSHSAA's Class 5A.

New Lenox (Ill.) Lincoln-Way West and linebacker Josh Veldman steamrolled Pekin, 34-14, a 20-point upset from the No. 20-seeded team in the first round of the IHSA Class 7A playoffs.

It's the fourth straight win for Veldman and the Warriors, who started the season 3-3, and it gives them a big boost for this week when they face No. 4 Batavia, the alma mater of Northwestern's Class of 2024 quarterback, Ryan Boe.

Since West pulled off the upset as the lower-seeded road team, they will host the higher seed this week, so Batavia will travel to New Lenox this week and Veldman will get to make another upset bid, this time in front of his home fans.

Safety Alijah Jones and the Severn (Md.) Archbishop Spalding set straight to work on rebuilding their shutout streak with a 31-0 win over Mount St. Joseph last week.

Jones and Co.'s six-game streak of holding opponents scoreless was snapped when Loyola Blakefield kicked a field goal two weeks ago in Spalding's 56-3 win.

Jones and the Cavalier defense have not allowed a touchdown since August and remain undefeated.

Archbishop Spalding (10-0) awaits its playoff matchup.

Lake Mary (Fla.) and defensive tackle Tanner Jumpp finished their regular season off in style with a 34-16 win over Bishop Moore.

Moore gave Lake Mary a scare when they leapt out to a 14-0 lead, but then Jumpp and the defense found their footing and stood tall, holding the Moore offense scoreless the rest of the way while Lake Mary's offense posted the next four touchdowns and a pair of field goals.

After a rocky 2-2 start, the Eagles have rattled off six straight wins, with Jumpp and the defense allowing less than 10 points per game over that stretch.

Lake Mary (8-2) awaits its playoff assignment.

2025 WR Braden Blueitt suffered a torn ACL on Sept. 20 per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and will not return this season. His Colleyville (Tex.) Heritage team (7-2) beat Burleson, 24-14, last week.

Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler has not disclosed the injury to quarterback Marcus Romain but he has been out since leading the Wildcats to a 24-17 win over crosstown rival Marietta in September.

That is one of Wheeler's two wins on the season, but they proved to be the right two wins, as a 2-4 region record with head-to-head tiebreakers over Marietta and Cherokee earned them a playoff spot.

Romain posted workout footage on Sunday night so a return may be on the horizon.

Marietta (2-8) will be off this week then play their playoff opener on Nov. 15 at Colquitt County.

Tight end Tyler Kielmeyer and Westerville (Ohio) South finished 5-6 this season. Kielmeyer was seen on the sidelines of Northwestern's game vs. Wisconsin on Oct. 19 with crutches and a knee brace, but returned by the first round of the Wildcats' playoffs.

Offensive tackle Michael O'Connell and Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard West finished the season 4-5. The normally powerhouse Hilltoppers finished the season 4-1 in their last five games and narrowly missed on a playoff berth due to one of the toughest strengths of schedule in the state.

Punter Nikola Dugandzic and Winnetka (Ill.) New Trier finished 2-7 this season. Dugandzic punted 42 times for an average of 43.7 yards, with 20 landing inside the 20. His season long was 66 yards.

He also served as New Trier's kicker and was 6-for-9 on field goals with a long of 51. He made all of his extra points.