Silent commits were worth the wait for Northwestern

Commitments usually follow a similar timeline.

The player decides to commit to a school, tells their parents and coaches, and then, shortly after, announces it to the world on social media. It often happens that day, or maybe a day or two later. And that’s that.

But that wasn’t the case for Northwestern’s 2024 class, especially down the stretch. Four of the Wildcats’ last seven additions to their class were “silent commits” who all waited anywhere for three weeks to two months before posting their news on social media.

In fact, one member of the Wildcats’ 14-member class didn’t announce his commitment at all. Linebacker Matthew Smith verbally committed to head coach David Braun a week after his official visit on the weekend of Sept. 30. But he never posted it on X, Instagram or anywhere else before signing with the Wildcats on National Signing Day.

Northwestern isn’t used to these protracted commitment announcements, and it’s curious that so many occurred during Braun’s first year at the helm. Yet none of their decisions to wait had anything to do with Braun’s status. Three of the four committed to Braun when he was still an interim head coach, but didn’t go public until well after he signed his five-year deal to be the permanent leader of the program on Nov. 15.

So we decided to find out why this quiet quartet decided to wait so long to announce their commitments – or, in Smith’s case, not announce it at all. Their reasons varied. Two were waiting for artwork of one kind or another, one just wanted to celebrate with his family.

The players all committed shortly after a visit before going silent. And for all four of them, Northwestern was the only Power Five school on their offer list – though it doesn’t seem like that fact had anything to do with their decisions.

We’ll start with Smith, who waited almost three months to let the world know he was a Wildcat. Basically, the two-star linebacker, who was previously committed to Northern Illinois, said that he didn’t want to make a big fuss about his decision. He was fine with waiting until the ink was dry on his national letter of intent at a signing ceremony at Durham (N.C.) Hillside.

“I didn’t want to say anything before it became official,” said Smith via direct message. “It just wasn’t a big deal for me to post right away.”

You can almost see Smith shrug his shoulders in that response.

Braxton Strong, a two-star defensive end who was previously committed to Colorado State, basically waited almost two months for a graphic. He committed the week after he received his offer from the Wildcats on Sept. 23, but didn’t tweet it out until Nov. 19.

“I didn't post right away because I didn't have any pictures of me in uniform to have a graphic made with,” he said. “I'd rather have my commitment graphic in Northwestern gear, than my high school’s.”

Strong, from Peru (Ind.), admitted he was somewhat embarrassed by the wait and, in particular, the reason for it.

“I wish I had a special story lol,” he said via text.

When given a chance to make one up, he jumped on it.

“My post feature wasn't working, and the only way to get it to work was to climb Mt. Everest, swim to the Bahamas and finish an ultra-marathon all within the month,” he said, DM tongue in DM cheek. “Sadly I failed, causing me to make my post the next month.”

Not a bad story.

Actually, though, Strong’s excuse – or reason, depending on your point of view – makes sense. Graphics have become the lingua franca of commitments. (Whether it should have taken two months to get one is another story.)

Timi Oke, Northwestern’s British cornerback who hails from London, England, had a good reason for waiting a month before going public with his decision. He committed to Northwestern after his official visit on the weekend of Oct. 27, but didn’t tweet his announcement until Nov. 28.

He had a similar reason as Strong – but instead of a graphic, he had a slickly produced video made for his posts on X and Instagram.

Finally, Sean Martin, a safety from Cleveland (Ohio) St. Ignatius, just tweeted his commitment to Northwestern last week, on Dec. 11. But he verbally committed on Nov. 19, a week after visiting Ryan Field for the Wildcats’ win over Purdue.

“My reasoning for waiting to announce my commitment was, for one, because it was so late in the process and it was close to signing day,” he said. “Plus, I hadn’t taken my official visit yet when I committed, so I really wanted to just keep it under wraps for a while, and just enjoy the moment with my family.”

Martin’s family didn’t go with him to the Purdue game, so he wanted to wait until the official visit, when they would all be there.

“I’d say the official visit itself was the celebration, especially just being there with my mom and dad and them knowing that I’d be going to a school like Northwestern for free after all they’ve sacrificed and done for me. So I guess just all of us being together on the OV was the celebration in my opinion.”

That’s as good a reason as any.

Maybe Braun and his staff had to wait a little longer for many of the commitments in this class. But in the end, they all became Wildcats – and that’s all that really matters.