Strong's commitment not a surprise, but the timing is

The fact that Braxton Strong committed to Northwestern is no surprise.

The two-star defensive end from Peru (Ind.) is a high-academic prospect, Northwestern was his only Power Five offer, and he took his official visit to NU for the Iowa game at Wrigley Field. That all makes sense.

No, the surprise is that Strong committed to Northwestern almost two months ago. He made a verbal commitment to interim head coach David Braun in the week after he received his offer from the Wildcats on Sept. 23, when he was visiting for the Minnesota game.

So Strong has been a Wildcat more than a month and managed to keep it quiet. In this day and age of invasive recruiting websites and social media, that's difficult to do. His secret: the only people that knew were him, his parents and the Northwestern coaching staff -- until he let WildcatReport a couple weeks ago.

But whenever the commitment happened, the reason for his decision was the same: it had a lot to do with Northwestern's outstanding academics. Strong's commitment also made his parents, who accompanied him on his official visit, very happy.

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"My mom and dad always wanted me to go to a high-academic school, and Northwestern gives you the best of both worlds," said Strong. "They didn't want me to pass it up. I didn't want to pass it up."

Strong is an outstanding student with an 11.89 GPA on a 12.0 scale at Peru High School. Seven of his 18 offers came from Ivy League schools, so his parents were a little disappointed when he committed to Colorado State back in June.

With Northwestern, he gets the Ivy League academics combined with Power Five football.

After Strong got his offer back in September, before watching the Wildcats upset Minnesota later the same day, he planned to wait until his official visit to commit. That plan lasted just a few days.

"I wanted to wait until the official visit, but I was afraid to wait that long," said Strong. "I just couldn't let this opportunity pass me by."

So Strong called Braun just a few days after receiving his offer to pull the trigger. He said that practically the whole coaching staff called him back to congratulate him.

"They were really excited," he said.

The status of Braun as interim head coach was hanging over Strong's head, but he still felt strongly enough about the school and the program to commit without knowing who his coach would be. Now, he can rest easy knowing that Braun is in place permanently.

Really, though, Strong was a Wildcat, regardless of who is in the big office at the Walter Athletics Center.

"Coaches can come and go, but Northwestern will still have high-level football and one of the top 10 educations in the country," he said. "They will still have a new stadium being built. All that stays, no matter who the coach is."

Strong is a big believer in Braun, as well as defensive line coach Christian Smith, because both of them were the only Power Five coaches who believed in him.

About Braun, he said, "I'm willing to die for that man on a football field."

Strong is the 11th member of the Wildcats' Class of 2024. He is the fourth prospect to commit to Braun since he was named the program's interim head coach in July.