Northwestern football added just one player on National Signing Day, yesterday, but the real story of this offseason remains the loss of Brandon Joseph to Notre Dame. He’s just the 14th all-time consensus All-American in Northwestern football history, and he’s the Wildcats’ best overall player.
In transferring to the Irish, he now has a much better chance at winning a trophy. When you look at 2022 College Football Playoff futures at Betway, you’ll see the Irish backed with typically the ninth most favorable odds (40/1) of winning it all. Basically, Joseph pulled a Ben Skowronek, as he’s another skill position player to leave NU to transfer to ND.
Recruiting Roundup
NSD marks a time, every year, to look at where your team now stands in the recruiting rankings. For Northwestern football, it’s pretty meh. According to 24/7 Sports, they rank #11 out of the 14 teams in the Big Ten, and #50 nationally.
That’s not anything new with Pat Fitzgerald though. He typically doesn’t land big brand name recruiting classes, but he consistently wins anyway. He’s kind of the reverse of his men’s basketball counterpart, Chris Collins, who can recruit very well, but doesn’t optimize his talent.
The newest class has two 4-star guys, and one ESPN 300 prospect in Naperville wide receiver Reggie Fleurima. The Naperville Central product, the #35 WR in the nation according to ESPN, comes from a fertile recruiting ground where the demographics are probably a really good fit for NU, and the type of player they recruit.
Transfer Window Analysis
The transfer portal has made recruiting less hyped, and that’s a good thing! People still care way more about recruiting than they should, in a very unhealthy manner, but at least the situation has gotten better. The transfer market deals with actual established players, not prospects.
Joseph’s transfer flew under the radar quite a bit because he entered the portal around the time that everyone was fixated on New Year’s, the College Football Playoff and the height of bowl season. Northwestern having such a down season (3-9) in 2021 obviously lowers general interest in the program too.
Losing Joseph was devastating, as it’s indicative of what’s happening on the defensive side of the ball and it’s not good. New defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil’s first season in Evanston was a rocky one. While Joseph’s transfer really flew under the radar, the Hunter Johnson exit was a tree falling in the forest, with no one to hear it.
He came to NU from Clemson with tremendous hype and hoopla. He goes back to Clemson wow with crickets chirping. He was not going to be the answer, but the Wildcats really do need another QB.
Ryan Hilinski is talented, a solid pick-up in last year’s transfer window, but there needs to be another option. he got his chances, but didn’t make the most of them.
On the plus side, NU has added four players in the transfer market thus far, and you can read all about them at this link. For more on Jason Reynolds, the lone signee yesterday, go here.
It will be interesting to see what happens in recruiting, in both the transfer market, and out of high school, with NIL. Will that work in favor or against Northwestern? They don’t have a very big fan base, so it’s an interesting question to say the least.
The building of the Fitz Mahal, i.e. having the best new practice facility possible, in the most picturesque setting possible, hasn’t served to be the massive recruiting tool that a lot of people claimed it would be.
Chicago Suburbs Big Ten Team
With another Illinois born coach leading the other in state Big Ten program (Illinois and Bret Bielema) it will be interesting to see who recruits the Land of Lincoln better. You have some very very large schools in the western suburbs, and hitting the Wheaton and Naperville areas hard will be critical.
Clayton Thorson was from Wheaton, Justin Jackson from neighboring Carol Stream, so NU has history there. That’s why the Fleurima pick-up is fascinating. Naperville is a very affluent area, and those kids kind of fit in well at a private school like NU. In this state, recruiting generally works like this.
You got to lock down Chicago for basketball, Chicagoland for football.
In addition to the western suburbs we mentioned, you also have the far southwest suburbs, and over to the Joliet and New Lenox are for football, where the traditional prep powerhouses are. It is for football recruiting what the Chicago Public League is for basketball recruiting.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.