Smith wastes little time

Aidan Smith had been waiting to get an offer from Northwestern, his favorite school, for quite some time. So when he finally picked up that offer from the Wildcats on Sunday night, he didn't take very long to make up his mind.

The three-star quarterback from Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Carroll committed to the Wildcats on Monday, becoming the fourth new Wildcat in the last 24 hours.

"It's pretty close to home, only two and a-half or three hours," said Smith. "It has a great business school and I like all the internship programs they have. They're education, of course, is at the top in the country.

"And on the football side, I love what Coach (Pat Fitzgerald) is doing there. I like the way the coaches handle themselves, win or lose. It's a special place."

Smith, who visited Northwestern last fall, had been in recruiting limbo with Northwestern for weeks as the Wildcats waited for a decision from quarterback Joshua Jackson. Once Jackson let coaches know that he wasn't going to become a Wildcat on Sunday, Smith got his offer shortly thereafter.

Smith says he doesn't mind being the No. 2 choice because Northwestern has always been his No. 1 school.

Besides, Smith is no slouch, coming off of a stellar performance at the Rivals QB Challenge this weekend. He wound up ranked fourth among all the signal callers at the event -- ironically one spot ahead of former Wildcat quarterback commit Deuce Wallace.

"An argument can be made that, from beginning to end, Smith put together the most consistently impressive performance at the Rivals Quarterback Challenge Finals," wrote Rivals Josh Hemholdt. "What hurt him, however, was that while he threw very few poor passes on the day, the 6-foot-3, 188-pound passer did not make enough perfect passes that hit the pocket and scored additional points. In fact, two passes that he did hit perfectly in the decision tree were taken away due to not throwing to the proper target or double-hitching on his passes. Smith threw the best-looking ball on the day, though, and had a very strong showing."

Rivals' Mike Farrell also gave Smith the "Spin It" award for throwing the prettiest ball at camp.

"The selection here is Smith from the Quarterback Challenge Finals, where his last throw was as strong as his first and he showed he could really zip the ball, perhaps better than anyone in the Five-Star Challenge portion of the event. Smith didn't win the Challenge and struggled a bit during the footwork and processing portion, but there's no question he throws a pretty ball."

Smith joins wide receiver Ben Skowronek, offensive tackle Gunnar Vogel and defensive tackle Alex Miller as prospects who committed to the Wildcats since Sunday afternoon. He chose Northwestern over seven other offers, including Boston College and several MAC schools.

Smith is the only quarterback the Wildcats are expected to take in the 2016 class.

Ecstatic to officially announce that I will be continuing my academic and football Career at Northwestern! #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/yW9oAvrxIm- Aidan Smith (@Aidan_Smith10) June 8, 2015