The entire recent history of NU football was highly dependent on the quality of the transfer QB and the Defensive Coordinator.
Hunter Johnson was rated the #1 player in the state of Indiana's class of 2017. He had offers from Clemson, Florida, Michigan, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Penn State and Northwestern, to name a handful. He chose Clemson. After a year of backup duty, with Trevor Lawrence arriving, Johnson transferred to Northwestern, where everybody expected great things from him. On paper it was a phenomenal recruiting feat for Fitzgerald and staff. In 2019 Johnson flopped and to make things much worse, NU's backup QB, TJ Greene, was lost for the season in the opening game at Stanford. That left Aidan Smith who hadn't played a down in several seasons behind Clayton Thorson. The result was bad. An embarrassed Fitzgerald proclaimed that would never happen again.
In 2020 Peyton Ramsey grad-transferred in from Indiana and was the only NU QB to throw a pass that season. Mike Hankwitz was still the Defensive Coordinator. NU won the Citrus Bowl.
Looking ahead to 2021, the QB room consisted of the untested Andrew Marty, the shell-shocked Hunter Johnson and a new double threat named Carl Richardson. Fitzgerald scored another transfer portal coup, landing Ryan Hilinski from South Carolina. Out of high school he had offers from Oregon, LSU, Ohio State, USC, UCLA and many others, including Northwestern. Hilinski had been the Gamecocks starter as a freshman, throwing 400+ passes, with 11 TDs and only 5 interceptions. However, he played little as a sophomore, before entering the portal. On paper, a good pickup. Unfortunately, with Mike Hankwitz retiring, Jim O Neil's first season at Defensive Coordinator was an unmitigated disaster. Northwestern had a terrible season.
In 2022, NU had the same QB (Hilinski) with Brendan Sullivan the #2. Jim O'Neil's defense was again a disaster.
In 2023, Fitzgerald replaced O'Neil at DC with the capable David Braun. The defense improved immediately. Fitzgerald also brought in the quality QB transfer Ben Bryant, a grad student who had led Cincinnati to a 9-4 record, throwing for 2700 yards with 21 TDs against 7 interceptions. Despite the turmoil caused by Fitzgerald's dismissal and the inexperienced Braun at the helm, NU went 8-5 and won the Las Vegas Bowl.
The O'Neil tenure is the single most glaring misstep by Fitzgerald. Other than that, the QB transfers have all looked like good/great moves in the offseason. Something for the haters to consider. Yes it is true that our high school recruits at QB have not panned out since Thorson.
