What we've learned from Northwestern's recent recruiting roll
Northwestern is coming off of a rough season on the football field, but things are going just fine on the recruiting trail, thank you very much.
In the nine-day period from the end of the Wildcats' first official weekend on May 12-14 to Tuesday, the Wildcats landed six commitments from 2024 prospects. There is also a rumored silent commitment that has yet to announce his intentions that would make it seven.
Four of those six new Wildcats were official visitors. Two more committed before their officials to ensure spots in the class.
If you're keeping score at home, defensive lineman Callen Campbell and offensive lineman Gabe VanSickle, both Michiganders, made their decisions official with tweets on May 14. The next day, two more Wildcats, defensive tackle Dillan Johnson and offensive lineman Payton Stewart, joined the class. Finally, offensive linemen Idrys Cotton and Julius Tate became Wildcats just this week, on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
They all joined TE Patrick Schaller, a local product who got the ball rolling for the class last November.
In the space of just over a week, Northwestern's class went from one commit to seven, and from the bottom of the Big Ten to the Top 40 nationally. They also addressed critical needs on the offensive and defensive lines, the home to six of the seven new pledges.
There is a lot of work to be done, especially with skill positions, but the Wildcats suddenly seem on their way to a pretty strong class. That comes after last year's group, which was the highest-rated of head coach Pat Fitzgerald's career and assembled after a dreadful 3-9 campaign.
So what did we learn from this recruiting run, after a pair dismal seasons that saw the Wildcats lose 20 of 24 games? Here are our takeaways:
Recruits have faith that Fitz can turn things around: Northwestern is coming off of its worst season since 1989 and have the longest active losing streak in the nation at 11 games. Recruits are well aware of the horrific numbers the Wildcats have posted over the last two years, but they don't see too concerned.
Why? For one, Fitzgerald has turned the program around before. In 2019, the Wildcats went 3-9; they won the Big Ten West and finished 10th in the country the following year. Yes, he's now in the midst of a two-year slump, yet his players and prospects alike are confident he's the man who can lead the program out of the valley again.
Coaches have also turned this colossal negative into a positive. They sell recruits on the possibility of early playing time and how he, and his classmates, can be the group to lead them back to the promised land.
Recruits generally don't think much about the program's past anyway; their focus is on the future.
Northwestern still has a lot to sell: Wins and losses are not the primary drivers of why players choose the Northwestern program; it never has been. All the main reasons are still intact.
The degree still sells itself. Northwestern is ranked 10th in the country academically by U.S. News & World Report and costs more than $60,000 per year. The campus and Chicago are still attractive drawing points. The program's mentorship program and networking opportunities are still top-notch.
Add to that the Walter Athletics Center, a shining jewel of a practice facility, and the new Ryan Field they will break ground on next year, and the administration has invested more than a billion dollars in Northwestern football. Those buildings -- real and in renderings -- show that the program is going strong -- if they can just get Saturdays in the fall straightened out.
Northwestern is still well behind its peers in the NIL landscape; they were the last Big Ten team to establish one in the fall. But an NIL deal isn't likely to make-or-break a prospect's decision about Northwestern -- at least not the prospects Northwestern typically pursues. It's the degree, and the four-year vs. 40-yeard decision that typically means much more.
The Cats are getting mileage out of the NFL Draft: Northwestern has struggled in September through November the last couple years, but they've done well in April.
In 2021, the Cats had two first-rounders -- OL Rashawn Slater and CB Greg Newsome -- for the first time in school history. Then, last month, four Cats got selected for the first time in 38 years, including yet another first-rounder in OL Peter Skoronski.
Draft picks resonate with Power Five recruits, who all harbor the goal of playing on Sundays. It's also a talking point that NU coaches haven't really had before.
No one has been riding the NFL wave more than Anderson, who has produced two first-day offensive lineman in three years -- three in five if you go back to Frank Ragnow, whom he coached at Arkansas. It's no coincidence that four of the seven new Wildcats are offensive linemen, all of whom have said, in so many words, that part of Anderson's appeal is that he has a proven track record of getting guys to the league.
New coaches have energized recruiting: There are five new assistants on Fitzgerald's staff this year, and they seem to have brought a new energy to the Walter Athletic Center.
New defensive line coach Christian Smith, who was dealt less than a full deck when he took over in January, has reeled in two new 2024 prospects in Campbell and Johnson. He and new defensive coordinator David Braun have drawn rave reviews from the prospects we talk to on a regular basis.
Smith and Braun have also been busy in the portal, adding DE Richie Hagarty and DTs Matthew Lawson and Reginald Pearson. New wide receivers coach Armon Binns also brought in WR AJ Henning from Michigan from the portal to add some much-needed speed to the Wildcat offense.
Running backs coach Chris Foster and cornerbacks coach LaMarcus Hicks have yet to land any new players for their rooms, but as a whole recruits are responding favorably to all five of the first-year coaches.