Bad news: recruiting lately looks like a higher level MAC or even FCS program.

Good news: the teams at the FCS level coached by Braun and Lujan would probably have handily defeated NU in 2021, 2022, and even 2023.

So if we get MAC/FCS recruits who play like SDSU and NDSU then we may finish in the middle third of the newly expanded Big Ten.

Given the NIL changes and AD/presidential leadership along with the Fitz transition, I don't think we could be surprised to see recruiting fall to this level. We'll see if the results on the field look better than the appearance on paper.

How many season tickets were sold for our new lakefront stadium?

I talked to three-star DB Coleman Patmon about his official visit to Northwestern. He broke down his thoughts on the program, his likely role in the defense and his relationship with the staff so far.

Only one section was available in north stands.

I was in tier 4 of the purchasing process.

Looks like a lot of the expensive tix are still available. That should send a loud message that the athletic department shouldn’t get greedy with the new stadium.

Also. For those reading. I am needing an additional ticket for the Indiana game.

Thx

Posted by my Multivariate Calculus teacher 😂. Thought to re-share here:

Analysts are now permitted to coach on the field. Playing field continues to tilt in favor of the wealthiest programs. I don’t see this as a good thing for NU.

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I talked to Hinsdale (Ill.) Central OT Gene Riordan in the Class of 2026 about his recent offer from Northwestern, where the Wildcats fit into a potentially national recruitment, and his recent trip up to campus.

The sophomore from Marist figures to be a big-time recruit and says he will visit NU on Jan. 28 for what he called a junior day (I'll have to find out more about the event because NU doesn't typically do standard junior days). Edgy lists him at 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds. Here's his story:

Apparently highly rated 2025 “big man” recruit Tommy Ahneman is leaving his high school team in North Dakota for a private high school in Minneapolis St Paul. The school is Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul,MN. It’s been published that the move is because a family member received a job offer in Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Heard from a friend who went to Wisconsin that he was just able to buy 12 tickets in North endzone section through the Wisconsin allocation. Does anyone know what the opposing team allocation is at the Lakeside field? Seems wild to me they sold in a group of 12. I suppose maybe the Badger fanbase was just not aware of when they were going on sale... a shame that our long-time season ticketholders were limited to 4 by comparison.

I went up to Evanston today to take pictures of both sites, here are the tweets below. I'm also thinking of putting together some kind of Google Drive or shared drive that I can link and pin here on The Rock with all my pictures over the past few months, and potentially people could add their own as well. Would that be of interest?

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As you guys have probably noticed, Rivals launched a rebrand this morning. You'll notice the new R logo, new fonts, new layouts, etc. We hope you enjoy the new look. It's good to change things a little bit once in a while.

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@lou v talked to Northwestern commit Jonah Hayes about his family ties, his official visit and his decision to chart his own course to commit to the Wildcats.

@lou v talked to Northwestern commit Jonah Hayes about his family ties, his official visit and his decision to chart his own course to commit to the Wildcats.

I talked to Northwestern TE commit Robby Preckel about his visit to Northwestern, his decision to commit and his future role as a Wildcat.

I'm really looking forward to this season. Regardless of the record, I believe it will be exciting and hard fought. Decent (6-6) to very good. I don't see wins against Washington, OSU or Michigan. Maryland, Wisconsin, Iowa, Duke, Purdue, and Indiana, who knows. Eastern Illinois, Miami, Illinois are in my win column.

Ohio State recently hired long time Campbell head baseball coach Justin Haire. As of today ever player on the Campbell roster has entered the portal. 😳

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Well, that didn’t take long. He told Lou he’d commit when offered.

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Lou any insight into this

...that TE Robby Preckel will be a Wildcat.

He committed to coaches on the first day of his official visit this weekend. He plans to announce tonight and we'll have a feature story once he announces, but a few other notes from our call:

-he's more of an athlete right now at 215. Said he's playing RB, WR, TE, HB, FB, etc in his HS offense and was 190 last season, but he's offered at tight end and wants to be at least 230 when he hits campus next year
-part of the delay in his offer he said was that the coaches weren't sure if he'd immediately fit in at TE, decided they wanted an athlete like him in the building and work out the details later
-one of his biggest advocates on staff was OC Zach Lujan, who liked his flexibility to play out wide, tight end or even in the backfield as runner or blocker
-even though he has some athlete traits, it seems that he will slot in as Northwestern's second TE in this class and wrap up their recruitment of the position in this cycle
-may have seen him listed as Thomas Preckel a few times but he goes by his middle name/nickname, Robby.

There are 5 official lots that will allow tailgating — 3 along Sheridan Road and 2 adjacent to the south garage on the lake. Curious as to what people think is the best location for tailgating. And anyone know where the player parents plan to be?

Willie Mays passed at 93. 24 All-Star games. 3,000+ hits. 660 home runs.

An amazing stat about Mays: he led the league in triples three times, led the league in home runs four times, and led the league in stolen bases four times. Also won a batting title.

And then there was that catch at the old Polo Grounds stadium, where the CF wall was 483 feet from home plate.