Recruiting Battles: Northwestern vs. Iowa

Northwestern and Iowa have been pretty evenly matched on the gridiron in recent seasons. Since head coach Pat Fitzgerald took over the program in 2006, the Wildcats are 6-5 against their Big Ten West rivals.

But Fitzgerald has had a decided upper hand in recruiting over Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz in recent years. Over six recruiting classes, from 2014 to 2019, both Northwestern and Iowa offered 14 different players. The Wildcats landed a whopping 11 of them, including two of the best players on the roster: running back Justin Jackson and quarterback Clayton Thorson.

WildcatReport takes a look at the big fish Northwestern reeled in, as well as the few who got away and wound up in Iowa City.

The Class of 2014 was a banner one for Northwestern in its head-to-head confrontations with Iowa. The Wildcats beat out the Hawkeyes for three players that both schools offered, and, to top it off, all three of them were four-star recruits.