Pat Fitzgerald celebrated his 10th anniversary as Northwestern's head coach earlier this month. With that in mind, WildcatReport looks back on the Fitz Era by breaking down his recruiting classes.
In 2006, new Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald had to take over a program that wasn't entirely his after the sudden death of Randy Walker. That was also the case with his first recruiting class, the Class of 2007, which already had four commitments when Fitzgerald took the reins on July 7, a week after Walker died of a heart attack in his Evanston home.
The four players who pledged Walker were Colin Armstrong, Kevin Watt, Scott Concannon and Dan Persa.
Fitzgerald had built a reputation as an outstanding recruiter on Northwestern's staff, serving as both the recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach. He wasted little time proving his mettle as the head man, reeling in five commitments in the first month and eight before the start of the 2006 season.
And remember, having 12 commitments before September was pretty much unheard of for Northwestern at that point; the year before the Wildcats had just two before kicking the ball off in their opener.
Here's a look back at Fitzgerald's first class, a 19-member group that was comprised of 14 three-stars and five two-stars, and was ranked 54th in the nation by Rivals, 34 spots higher than the previous season's.
Class Superlatives
Head of the Class: Dan Persa. The undersized quarterback from Bethlehem (Pa.) didn't even have one full season as a starter as injuries sidelined him in both his junior and senior years, but his 2010 campaign ranks as one of the best in school history. Persa set a Big Ten record by completing 73.5 percent of his passes that season, with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions, and he amassed 3,100 yards of total offense in just 10 games before rupturing his Achilles tendon after throwing the touchdown pass that beat Iowa. Persa was so good that NU launched its first-ever Heisman Trophy campaign for him in 2011. Oh, what might have been had No. 7 stayed healthy.
Honor Roll: Vince Browne, Jordan Mabin and Al Netter all had outstanding careers in purple, received All-Big Ten recognition and were fixtures at their positions for four years.
Biggest Surprises: How's this for a trio of two-star overachievers? Ben Burkett started every game of his career, Drake Dunsmore was drafted and Brian Peters still plays in the NFL.
