There is no disputing that 2024 has been a bitterly disappointing season for Northwestern football.
Coming off of a miraculous 2023 season that included a bowl win under Big Ten Coach of the Year David Braun, the Wildcats fell back down to earth with a thud. They are currently 4-7 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten, with their wins coming against Maryland and Purdue teams that have a combined record of 1-15 in conference.
Maybe worse that that, they often played uninspired football, with a dismal offense that is currently ranked 132nd out of 133 FBS teams in yards per game. Six times the Wildcats were beaten by three or more scores this season.
The good news here is that people have taken notice. The Wildcat program, along with TrueNU and several key donors, aim to do something about it.
According to multiple sources inside and outside of the program, Northwestern, armed with a “major increase in support” from donors, will be “very aggressive” with NIL offers to transfers in the first portal window that opens on Dec. 9 and runs through Dec. 28.
Northwestern has a two-step plan to quickly become competitive in the Big Ten. The program is prepared to first “do everything we can” to retain the top talent already on the roster with NIL packages and prevent them from transferring out. Then, they will target and go after several key players in the portal with “very competitive” NIL offers.
In the past, Northwestern has landed most of its transfers in the spring portal window. But this year, they will go after targets in the winter window, when there are many more players available.
Why the sudden change? Not only has the program experienced a significant increase in its available NIL dollars, but they have also streamlined the admissions process to enable prospective transfers to get admitted by the start of winter quarter classes, on Jan. 6. That, in and of itself, is a major breakthrough to help the Wildcats be more active and competitive in the portal.
The college football landscape is undergoing seismic change and this is emblematic that “Northwestern is all in,” as one source put it.
It may seen counter-intuitive to see a major, exponential increase in donations during a season of frustration and struggle, but the seeds of this wave of support were planted during the basketball team’s recent run, when the Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament in two straight seasons for the first time in school history.
That success struck a chord with several of the prominent families that financially support Northwestern Athletics. If basketball can do it, why can’t football?
TrueNU’s fundraising efforts and financial pledges from key donors have now given the Wildcats an NIL war chest that one source said was “in the top half of the Big Ten.” (WildcatReport is not authorized to disclose specific financial numbers.)
The first priority for NIL spending for football will be on retaining key current players. The program has already identified the players to whom they will offer a lucrative NIL package to send a message that they are valued. That will happen immediately after the Wildcats wind up their regular season on Saturday against Illinois at Wrigley Field.
Then, the focus will be on going after players in the transfer portal that will upgrade the roster at key positions. WildcatReport has verified that the top priority position groups will be offensive line and wide receiver. That shouldn’t surprise anyone who watched the Wildcats this season.
The offensive line is probably the biggest single reason for the offense’s struggles. They haven’t been able to effectively establish the running game in most games, and their pass protection has been exposed the last two weeks, as Ohio State’s and Michigan’s strong fronts sacked Wildcat quarterbacks 10 times. They’ve had some recruiting misses at the position, as well as injuries to starters Nick Herzog and Jack Bailey, at guard and center, respectively, that have really hamstrung the offense. You can expect the addition of a few linemen, with interior being the No. 1 priority.
At wide receiver, Northwestern is losing Bryce Kirtz and AJ Henning, and there is very little behind them in terms of depth waiting to emerge. Kirtz and Henning have 86 catches between them; all of the other wideouts combined have 22; Frank Covey IV is the only one of them with double figures in receptions. Kirtz and Henning also have more than half of the team’s total receiving yards (1,057 of 1,902), more than all of the other wide receivers, tight ends and running backs combined.
While those two position groups will take precedence, quarterback is still up in the air, as Braun said during his press conference this week. Multiple sources say that Braun could be comfortable going into next season with Lausch, in his second year as the starter, and true freshman Ryan Boe, whom Braun has raved about publicly and privately, as his backup.
Most would see it as a surprise if the program doesn’t add a veteran who can at least push Lausch for the starting job, and, at worse, serve as an experienced No. 2. Boe has yet to take a snap in a college game, which makes the repeated use of Ryan Hilinski as the guy who pulls mop-up duty even more puzzling, when it would seem to be more important to get a promising young QB like Boe some game reps.
Adding to the intrigue is that Mike Wright, the starting grad transfer quarterback who was benched after two games, still has another season of eligibility. He could come back next season, and possibly at another position, where he could better utilize his skill set and have a better shot at playing time.
There will be three parties making decisions on the scouting, evaluating and offering of transfer targets. Braun and the coaching staff, the personnel staff led by general manager Luke Walerius, and “capologist” and TrueNU executive director Jacob Schmidt. They will not only identify the players, but determine how much of their budget to spend on them.
It’s important to point out that while the transfer admissions process has been sped up to enable them to go after targets in the first portal window, Northwestern is not changing its admission standards. The bar will still be high, and you can bet that most of the eventual transfer additions will still be graduates.
But the fact that Northwestern will be able to pursue players in December, rather than the spring, is a potential game-changer. There are many more players in the portal in the early window, and the Wildcats won’t have to join the game in the spring, when most of the in-demand transfers are already off the table, and many of the ones that enter later do so after realizing they wouldn’t be contributors next season at their respective schools.
Increasing the NIL pool and accelerating the admissions process doesn’t guarantee that Northwestern will be able to add the pieces they need to compete in the Big Ten next fall. But it sure gives them a much better chance. They also send a signal to all that Northwestern is committed to continuing to play with the big boys on the game’s biggest stage.
