Northwestern had itself quite a weekend.
The Wildcats hosted 12 Class of 2019 commitments for their official visits over the weekend, as well as three uncommitted prospects. They landed two of those prospects on Saturday: three-star safety Brandon Joseph committed in the morning, and three-star wide receiver Malik Washington joined him later than afternoon.
That brings the class’s membership up to 18 and its Rivals ranking up to 41, just before the early signing period starts on Wednesday.
So, now what? With just a couple spots and a few days left, what positions are the Wildcats focused on, and which prospects are in the hunt? We’ve been talking to sources and working the phones to bring you the latest.
While the exact number of scholarships remaining is always fluid – dependent on factors such as how many walkons head coach Pat Fitzgerald rewards with a scholarship – the Wildcats are looking to land a couple more players for the 2019 class. One will almost certainly be a running back, the other a best-available type.
But it’s doubtful that they land any more commits until January.
Running back is a priority for Northwestern, even after the emergence of true freshman Isaiah Bowser as the Wildcats’ mail carrier in the second half of the 2018 season. The two running backs still in the picture are three-stars that WildcatReport has written about a few times in the last week: Evan Hull of Maple Grove (Minn.) and Micah Kelly of Ocean Springs (Miss.). Running backs coach Louis Ayeni visited both of them earlier this month, and both think that they could be close to an offer.
Hull, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, was named to the Associated Press all-state first team over the weekend after running for 1,915 yards and 19 TDs this season. He has 16 offers, from MAC, Ivy League and FCS schools, as well as Air Force, but told WildcatReport that NU would be his favorite if he were to receive an offer. Northwestern has been recruiting Hull for almost a year and he has visited the school twice.
Kelly is a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder who made first team all-state in Mississippi and ran for 1,560 yards and 17 TDs. He has yet to visit Northwestern but all but said that he would commit if offered. Kelly pulled in his first FBS offers last week, from Toledo and Western Kentucky, and he called those two schools plus Illinois State his three favorites in a tweet on Sunday – all while stating that his recruitment is still open. (In other words, his recruitment is still wide open.)
WildcatReport has learned that NU was all set to make an offer to Kelly when Ayeni visited, but a split among the coaches halted it at the last minute. Kelly almost certainly would have jumped on the offer quicker than he can get around the corner on a toss sweep.
But Hull and Kelly aren’t in a battle with each other for the final spot. Northwestern has time on its side and will probably wait until after the early signing period to make a decision on who to offer. If a running back they like doesn’t sign with a school on Wednesday, they could zero in on him. They only offered a handful of backs in this cycle – Jirehl Brock (Iowa State), Austin Jones (Stanford), Nathaniel Peat (Stanford) and Aaron Young (Michigan State) all committed elsewhere, while Ainias Smith seems like a longshot destined to play his preferred wide receiver position at Texas A&M. But even if one of them doesn’t spring loose, there could be other possibilities out there. NU is taking a wait-and-see approach.
The best-available scholarship is more difficult to predict. Linebacker could be a position to be addressed, but it will depend more on who the prospect is than where he plays that will determine whether the Wildcats pounce.
There was a surprise visitor over the weekend who could be in contention for a best-available spot: four-star offensive tackle Kevin Pyne. He is the No. 23 player in the nation for 2020 who just reclassified from 2020 to 2019 and has a 23-school offer list that includes Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. Just getting Pyne on campus for an official is a coup, and he would immediately become by far the highest-ranked player in the class should he commit.
However, Pyne’s situation is much more complicated than that. He is not a 2020 anymore, but he is not quite a 2019, either. And he will definitely not be part of the Wildcats’ class in December or in February; in fact, he probably won’t sign with anyone until after February.
Why? According to our sources, Pyne will be 19 years old by next fall, making him too old to compete in high school football in Massachusetts. That’s why he reclassified and is set to graduate in June.
However, Pyne doesn’t plan on enrolling in college until January of 2020. He reportedly wants to take the fall off to gain the weight and strength he believes he needs to compete at the next level – he is all of 6-foot-8 and a rather skinny 280 pounds.
So, in essence, Pyne is greyshirting himself. Our source doesn’t think Pyne will sign with anyone until March, at the earliest.
The Wildcats hosted 12 Class of 2019 commitments for their official visits over the weekend, as well as three uncommitted prospects. They landed two of those prospects on Saturday: three-star safety Brandon Joseph committed in the morning, and three-star wide receiver Malik Washington joined him later than afternoon.
That brings the class’s membership up to 18 and its Rivals ranking up to 41, just before the early signing period starts on Wednesday.
So, now what? With just a couple spots and a few days left, what positions are the Wildcats focused on, and which prospects are in the hunt? We’ve been talking to sources and working the phones to bring you the latest.
While the exact number of scholarships remaining is always fluid – dependent on factors such as how many walkons head coach Pat Fitzgerald rewards with a scholarship – the Wildcats are looking to land a couple more players for the 2019 class. One will almost certainly be a running back, the other a best-available type.
But it’s doubtful that they land any more commits until January.
Running back is a priority for Northwestern, even after the emergence of true freshman Isaiah Bowser as the Wildcats’ mail carrier in the second half of the 2018 season. The two running backs still in the picture are three-stars that WildcatReport has written about a few times in the last week: Evan Hull of Maple Grove (Minn.) and Micah Kelly of Ocean Springs (Miss.). Running backs coach Louis Ayeni visited both of them earlier this month, and both think that they could be close to an offer.
Hull, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, was named to the Associated Press all-state first team over the weekend after running for 1,915 yards and 19 TDs this season. He has 16 offers, from MAC, Ivy League and FCS schools, as well as Air Force, but told WildcatReport that NU would be his favorite if he were to receive an offer. Northwestern has been recruiting Hull for almost a year and he has visited the school twice.
Kelly is a 5-foot-10, 190-pounder who made first team all-state in Mississippi and ran for 1,560 yards and 17 TDs. He has yet to visit Northwestern but all but said that he would commit if offered. Kelly pulled in his first FBS offers last week, from Toledo and Western Kentucky, and he called those two schools plus Illinois State his three favorites in a tweet on Sunday – all while stating that his recruitment is still open. (In other words, his recruitment is still wide open.)
WildcatReport has learned that NU was all set to make an offer to Kelly when Ayeni visited, but a split among the coaches halted it at the last minute. Kelly almost certainly would have jumped on the offer quicker than he can get around the corner on a toss sweep.
But Hull and Kelly aren’t in a battle with each other for the final spot. Northwestern has time on its side and will probably wait until after the early signing period to make a decision on who to offer. If a running back they like doesn’t sign with a school on Wednesday, they could zero in on him. They only offered a handful of backs in this cycle – Jirehl Brock (Iowa State), Austin Jones (Stanford), Nathaniel Peat (Stanford) and Aaron Young (Michigan State) all committed elsewhere, while Ainias Smith seems like a longshot destined to play his preferred wide receiver position at Texas A&M. But even if one of them doesn’t spring loose, there could be other possibilities out there. NU is taking a wait-and-see approach.
The best-available scholarship is more difficult to predict. Linebacker could be a position to be addressed, but it will depend more on who the prospect is than where he plays that will determine whether the Wildcats pounce.
There was a surprise visitor over the weekend who could be in contention for a best-available spot: four-star offensive tackle Kevin Pyne. He is the No. 23 player in the nation for 2020 who just reclassified from 2020 to 2019 and has a 23-school offer list that includes Clemson, Ohio State, Michigan and Notre Dame. Just getting Pyne on campus for an official is a coup, and he would immediately become by far the highest-ranked player in the class should he commit.
However, Pyne’s situation is much more complicated than that. He is not a 2020 anymore, but he is not quite a 2019, either. And he will definitely not be part of the Wildcats’ class in December or in February; in fact, he probably won’t sign with anyone until after February.
Why? According to our sources, Pyne will be 19 years old by next fall, making him too old to compete in high school football in Massachusetts. That’s why he reclassified and is set to graduate in June.
However, Pyne doesn’t plan on enrolling in college until January of 2020. He reportedly wants to take the fall off to gain the weight and strength he believes he needs to compete at the next level – he is all of 6-foot-8 and a rather skinny 280 pounds.
So, in essence, Pyne is greyshirting himself. Our source doesn’t think Pyne will sign with anyone until March, at the earliest.
