Collins offers Evanston"s own - 4* PG - Nojel Eastern. Big time playmaker. I'd expect an NU assistant to be parked in front of his home for the next year or so.
Huge offer out...
- Thread starter CoralSpringsCat
- Start date
Jon Scheyer visited him as well. Something tells me he wasn't recruiting Nojel for NU.......
Not late at all....staff has been all over him for months and he's been to campus multiple times. Guessing he had some sort of academic benchmark he needed to achieve.
Of course, some on Twitter were upset with this offer, thinking its a waste of time since he's been to MSU twice and we didn't offer him as a frosh/soph.
Can never please everyone, I guess.
Can never please everyone, I guess.
Collins needs to get Juice Thompson involved. Eastern and Smith both train with Octavius Parker, Juice's trainer. And Parker runs a close, family atmosphere in his groups. Those guys go hard at each other in scrimmages and would go through walls for each other elsewhere.
Pretty sure that Eastern did his first unofficial to NU when he was a freshman. May have been his first.
Who could be annoyed by an OFFER? (Cue Allen Iverson.) Gee, let me guess.
Obviously, it doesn't matter that CC visited the kid as an eighth-grader.
So what if Eastern has taken several visits to NU's campus and attended several games? Anybody want to watch the cheapy YouTube interview of him at the 2014 NU/IL game with Eastern sitting in the NU family section?
Anybody want to pay attention to the fact that Eastern has been on MSU's campus a minimum of three times and still not committed?
From an NU standpoint, I agree it's an uphill battle recruiting vs. MSU. But if you want to pay attention, it's pretty obvious the staff has established - let's be generous, and call it - a good relationship with the kid. It's far from a waste of time or a gimmick.
Not to mention, it's far more a waste of time when you're recruiting a kid who's a road trip or a plane ride away every time you want to see him. Since it takes a member of the staff approximately, what, seven minutes to get from campus to ETHS, it's not like it's a haul.
The fact that kids like Eastern and Smith would even consider us is a huge improvement. If Collins can land one or both, well, that'll be fun.
I completely agree. I thought it was totally bizarre to complain about an offer....but it was right there on my Twitter feed.
It would surprise me if MSU was in the drivers seat if only because MSU is loaded with top-tier guards for the next five years. He wouldn't get major minutes until junior year. Just too crowded there.
Illinois, DePaul, and NU....he'd play heavy minutes immediately.
Another interesting school for Eastern is Marquette. Off topic, has anyone seen that former NU recruit Henry Ellison is projected as a top ten NBA draft pick next summer.
Good for Eastern that he's put himself in position to get a free college education from a fine school.
Illinois, DePaul, and NU....he'd play heavy minutes immediately.
Another interesting school for Eastern is Marquette. Off topic, has anyone seen that former NU recruit Henry Ellison is projected as a top ten NBA draft pick next summer.
Good for Eastern that he's put himself in position to get a free college education from a fine school.
That would be msnow and his tiny crew. They are NU athletics haters (especially msnow) who have extremely little positive to say about anything, and jump at the chance to be negative, even with positive news such as offers, etc. msnow has already said on his Twitter that he's not really excited about NU basketball this season. Funny how he keeps posting about it, huh? He's got the worlds worst chip on his shoulder since you-know-who was fired. He's the worst kind of fan, because he really goes out of his way to tear down the program to those who aren't familiar with it.
His posts do make for hysterical reading sometimes, though...
I know who they are, just didn't want to talk about them at length. Though in that case I should have kept my mouth shut in the first place haha.
It sounds like some people think that Northwestern's recruiting has gone south with an offer to Eastern. I don't like the direction that this is heading . . .
he has been around the NU program since day 1 that CCC got hired. he is familiar with the program.
definitely has an uphill battle from a grades standpoint from some of his early grades but has done much better as of late and really improved his chance for possible admissions. there is real mutual interest.
definitely has an uphill battle from a grades standpoint from some of his early grades but has done much better as of late and really improved his chance for possible admissions. there is real mutual interest.
Perhaps grades are why NU was "late" in offering. I thought there was a policy for all NU sport that a scholarship offer could not be extended unless the school was "confident" the student would be admitted??
State is raising the recruiting bar big time for 2016. They already have a ****PG committed for then along with 2 *****s and another ****. Maybe for NU there is a strong playing time argument to be made, along with proximity, cold water swimming, and academic excellence (not in that order, of course).
Yep. I don't see MSU being the competition. But that's with zero knowledge.
There's a huge mom factor here. A dedicated and smart mom is raising a really good kid. The decision isn't going to be all about the basketball. Look at his effort with raising his grades. You just don't have to do that if you're headed to DePaul or MSU. (not slamming either school, just making the point that this family sets a high bar)
What's crazy but also quite revealing is that inasmuch as he is not really excited about NU basketball, but he was always a stalwart defender and excited about Carmody ball. It's clear he is a Princeton and Carmody fan more than he ever was an NU fan. This is the crew I talked about as the Carmody huggers who were driven off the board and the board is better for it. Good riddance. They were never NU fans.
I have no problem with the Carmody fans who were true NU fans, basically all of whom remain active on this board and never left. I'll disagree with them to the end about Carmody (unless they come to the sensible realization that they were wrong), but they show the color of their blood with their unwavering allegiance to NU and support for Collins.
Count me as one who thought Bill did a good job here but it was time for a change and the hiring of Collins has been GREAT for the visibility of the program (not to mention the improved recruiting). Plus, he and his staff are good people who are strongly tied to Chicago, which is most appropriate for Chicago's Big Ten team. Carmody proved you can win here and helped upgrade the facilities. That set the stage for hiring Collins, who I don't think would have come here otherwise. One thing that bothers me is hearing that Bill was a little bitter about the firing. Hopefully, he's oiver that now. He's where he belongs now, back east, at Holy Cross, where you don't have to be involved in high velocity, non-stop recruiting.
Going back to the original post, there are three or four HUGE offers out. The intelligence has mostly stopped on recruiting after Collins' first summer which is smart. But any one of Smith, Murphy or Eastern would be huge. And if NU kicks some ass through the first half of the season a big name could be added.
A 20 win season which is achievable keeps Collins' plan on track relative to recruiting.
A 20 win season which is achievable keeps Collins' plan on track relative to recruiting.
He really only has offered a few players. Much be confident he will land a couple of these guys because it is late in the game to start relationships with new top players.
The fact that an offer has not yet been extended does not necessarily mean that a relationship hasn't been established...Eastern is a perfect example.
Good point. According to verbal commits.com, NU has offered only 6 players (including Eastern) and it is a generally reliable source.
http://verbalcommits.com/schools/northwestern
6'4" shooting guard out of Eudora, Kansas. Offers from Kansas, Iowa State, Missouri, Creighton, IU, K State...
Yep, saw that...wondering if their is any other confirmation as I hadn't heard of this kid...offer supposedly made in July?
