This is a two-part story. Part I, the story of Lang's commitment on Friday, is a free story. Part II is this piece about what Lang did to earn the offer and how the Wildcats plan to use him. It is for The Rock subscribers only.
New Northwestern superback commit Marshall Lang didn't put up any gaudy combine numbers at the Wildcats' one-day camp on Friday. In fact, they were rather pedestrian: a 4.9 40-yard dash, a 9-foot broad jump and a 4.6 shuttle.
Those aren't bad numbers for a 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete, but they're not going to draw many oohs or aahs, either. And they certainly weren't what earned Lang the offer he'd been waiting for since the beginning of his recruiting process.
It was what he did in drills.
"They said they really liked the way I controlled my body and controlled my hips," said Lang, two days after committing to head coach Pat Fitzgerald to become the 13th member of the Wildcats' 2020 class. "They liked the way I ran routes, the way I shed defenders and make cuts."
Those were the deciding factors that got Lang the scholarship offer he didn't get during a visit in March or Lang's workout the recruiter Tim McGarigle watched at Cincinnati St. Xavier in May. It wasn't what he did in combine events; it was what he did on a football field that mattered the most to NU's coaches -- coaches who have a pretty good track record of success over the years with kids who earned a scholarship in camps.
Northwestern had decided a while ago to add a second superback to its 2020 class. They had lost Trey Klock and James Prather to graduation, and starter Cameron Green to retirement since the end of last season. On top of those losses, 2018 superback commit Brian Kaiser left the program and is no longer on the roster and 2020 commit Hunter Welcing suffered an injury that could jeopardize his entire upcoming senior season at Lake Zurich (Ill.). Trey Pugh, the presumptive starter for the Wildcats, and Eric Eshoo both missed spring practice with injuries, making for a sparse superbacks room this spring and necessitating the moves of defensive ends Trent Goens and Tommy Carnifax.
The Wildcats offered three-star Texas superback Blake Smith in May as their top target, but after he committed to Texas A&M earlier this month, Lang was back in play. Once Lang showed enough athleticism in drills to warrant a scholarship on Friday, the Wildcats pulled the trigger -- and so did Lang a short while later.
Lang said he isn't sure how the Wildcats plan to deploy him. He could be either an inline tight end -- especially if he packs 30 more pounds on his frame -- or he could flex in an H-back role.
"They didn't go into too much detail about how they will use me," said Lang. "I'm open to anything. My guess is that I'll be doing mostly route running, but I also could block."
Sources echoed that same sentiment to WildcatReport, saying that sueprbacks coach Bob Heffner likely won't define Lang's role until he gets to Evanston.
New Northwestern superback commit Marshall Lang didn't put up any gaudy combine numbers at the Wildcats' one-day camp on Friday. In fact, they were rather pedestrian: a 4.9 40-yard dash, a 9-foot broad jump and a 4.6 shuttle.
Those aren't bad numbers for a 6-foot-4, 230-pound athlete, but they're not going to draw many oohs or aahs, either. And they certainly weren't what earned Lang the offer he'd been waiting for since the beginning of his recruiting process.
It was what he did in drills.
"They said they really liked the way I controlled my body and controlled my hips," said Lang, two days after committing to head coach Pat Fitzgerald to become the 13th member of the Wildcats' 2020 class. "They liked the way I ran routes, the way I shed defenders and make cuts."
Those were the deciding factors that got Lang the scholarship offer he didn't get during a visit in March or Lang's workout the recruiter Tim McGarigle watched at Cincinnati St. Xavier in May. It wasn't what he did in combine events; it was what he did on a football field that mattered the most to NU's coaches -- coaches who have a pretty good track record of success over the years with kids who earned a scholarship in camps.
Northwestern had decided a while ago to add a second superback to its 2020 class. They had lost Trey Klock and James Prather to graduation, and starter Cameron Green to retirement since the end of last season. On top of those losses, 2018 superback commit Brian Kaiser left the program and is no longer on the roster and 2020 commit Hunter Welcing suffered an injury that could jeopardize his entire upcoming senior season at Lake Zurich (Ill.). Trey Pugh, the presumptive starter for the Wildcats, and Eric Eshoo both missed spring practice with injuries, making for a sparse superbacks room this spring and necessitating the moves of defensive ends Trent Goens and Tommy Carnifax.
The Wildcats offered three-star Texas superback Blake Smith in May as their top target, but after he committed to Texas A&M earlier this month, Lang was back in play. Once Lang showed enough athleticism in drills to warrant a scholarship on Friday, the Wildcats pulled the trigger -- and so did Lang a short while later.
Lang said he isn't sure how the Wildcats plan to deploy him. He could be either an inline tight end -- especially if he packs 30 more pounds on his frame -- or he could flex in an H-back role.
"They didn't go into too much detail about how they will use me," said Lang. "I'm open to anything. My guess is that I'll be doing mostly route running, but I also could block."
Sources echoed that same sentiment to WildcatReport, saying that sueprbacks coach Bob Heffner likely won't define Lang's role until he gets to Evanston.
