Find out how and why three-star Mich. QB Jason Whittaker became the first commitment of the Wildcats' Class of 2018.
Story: Meet Jason Whittaker, NU's newest Wildcat ($)
Story: Meet Jason Whittaker, NU's newest Wildcat ($)
Meet new Northwestern 2018 commit Jason Whittaker
- Thread starter lou v
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Great story Lou. I love how the staff identified him early, targeted him early, and secured him right away.
For all of our star counters, please note that he is rated a high 3-star--5.7 on Rivals. Come camp season, he could easily attain the vaunted 4 star status, at which point Lou will make t-shirts and coffee mugs to commemorate the occasion.
This probably means so long to Re Al Mitchell and his considerable skill set, unless we somehow convince him to change positions.
For all of our star counters, please note that he is rated a high 3-star--5.7 on Rivals. Come camp season, he could easily attain the vaunted 4 star status, at which point Lou will make t-shirts and coffee mugs to commemorate the occasion.
This probably means so long to Re Al Mitchell and his considerable skill set, unless we somehow convince him to change positions.
Experience says it is more likely that Rivals downgrades an NU commit than increases his rating to a 4*.....
Experience says it is more likely that Rivals downgrades an NU commit than increases his rating to a 4*.....
Greg Kuhar, Clayton Thorson and Rod Campbell beg to differ.
If he camps, I think he has a great shot at the 4 star ranking. Either that or after the inevitable Hardballs offer.
Why would we not take 2 QBs in this class? We did it with Colter and Siemian, I believe.
Wasn't colter an 11th hour add and thought of more as an athlete not necessarily a QB?
Because the coaches have apparently already told Whittaker that they're taking one QB... for what it's worth, that's pretty typical across P5 programs.
Specific to NU, the 2017 depth chart should look something like this, with the seasons of eligibility for each player noted:
1) Thorson (2017, 2018)
2) Alviti (2017) -- a 5th-year transfer is a possibility, but I haven't heard anything
3) Smith (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
4) Yates (2017, 2018, 2019)
5) Marty (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021*)
6) Whittaker (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022*)
We've got plenty of young QBs on the roster or committed, even if Yates ends up moving to another position. There's no NEED to take another QB in 2018 and the coaches seem to have decided taking one will be fine. Personally, I could go either way (taking a QB/ATH with the second spot would be just fine, but can see the reasoning above).
He came available late when Stanford stated playing their "admissions games," but he was recruited with a clear understanding that he would get a shot at QB first and move to another position only if that didn't work out.
(Cue ECat's rant about how it didn't actually work out, we were sitting an NFL QB in favor of Colter, yada yada. I'm not interested in rehashing that debate.)
What do you think the chances are that Yates will finally switch positions for next season. WR? DB?
No clue, though I'm not 100% convinced that he's actually athletic enough to make a permanent move to either of those spots.
We might want to but harder to get the second one as many want to be the only guy in the class. Besides, how many scholarship slots can you devote to one position? With him, I believe we would have 5. And unlike other positions, only one or two play.
Pretty sure it's been reported that coaches told Whittaker they would only be taking one 2018 QB.
