Night game. Big Ten opener. Big crowd.
Northwestern’s Saturday night tilt against Nebraska is the marquee game on the schedule this year, certain to produce an electric atmosphere at Ryan Field. And both the football and basketball programs will try to take advantage of that while hosting visitors this weekend.
Let’s take a look at who’s coming in for the game.
Football
Four-star athlete Elijah Hicks is obviously the headliner. The Wildcats only have a few scholarship slots left, and Hicks is No. 1 on their board. The 6-foot, 185-pounder from La Mirada (Calif.) has well over 30 offers, including hometown schools USC and UCLA, but he’s taking his first official visit to Northwestern. The 4.0 student also has an official visit to Notre Dame scheduled for Oct. 15, for the Stanford game. He told BruinSportsReport this week that the schools currently in contention for his final three official visits include UCLA, USC, Oregon, Cal, Washington and some Ivy League programs. (WildcatReport’s attempts to reach Hicks this week have been unsuccessful.)
The Wildcats are also bringing into Evanston perhaps their three biggest 2017 commits to help recruit Hicks. Defensive ends Earnest Brown and Trevor Kent and superback Trey Pugh will be on hand to make Hicks feel welcome. Pugh plans to enroll early at Northwestern in January, so he is taking his official visit, too. Brown and Kent are unofficial visitors.
UPDATED: WildcatReport has learned that four-star 2018 WR Micah Jones will be in the stands for the Nebraska game. In addition, NU assistants Mick McCall and Randy Bates will be at Jones' game tonight against Lake Zurich.
Basketball
The Wildcats’ men’s basketball team looks to leverage the big football game-day experience as well. Three-star 2017 shooting guard Anthony Gaines is taking his official visit to Northwestern this weekend. After striking out with several high-profile 2017 targets (Jordan Goodwin, Savion Flagg, Maxwell Evans and Luka Garza among them), the 6-foot-4 Gaines, from New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, is now a focal point for the class. Gaines narrowed his list to a Top 6 in August: Northwestern, Butler, Cincinnati, Dayton, Michigan and George Washington. He does not have offers from Michigan or Butler.
In addition to Gaines, Northwestern will also be hosting 6-foot-7 2018 shooting guard Drew Peterson of Libertyville (Ill.), 6-foot-4 2019 guard Perry Cowan of Chicago (Ill.) DePaul Prep and 6-foot-6 2019 wing Max Martz of Upper Arlington (Ohio) for unofficial visits.
UPDATED: Four-star 2018 point guard Ayo Dosunmu from Chicago Morgan Park will be visiting Saturday.
UPDATED: Dosunmu's teammate at Morgan Park and the Mac Irvin Fire AAU club, 2020 point guard Nimari Burnett, will also be visiting. And yes, he's just a freshman.
Northwestern’s Saturday night tilt against Nebraska is the marquee game on the schedule this year, certain to produce an electric atmosphere at Ryan Field. And both the football and basketball programs will try to take advantage of that while hosting visitors this weekend.
Let’s take a look at who’s coming in for the game.
Football
Four-star athlete Elijah Hicks is obviously the headliner. The Wildcats only have a few scholarship slots left, and Hicks is No. 1 on their board. The 6-foot, 185-pounder from La Mirada (Calif.) has well over 30 offers, including hometown schools USC and UCLA, but he’s taking his first official visit to Northwestern. The 4.0 student also has an official visit to Notre Dame scheduled for Oct. 15, for the Stanford game. He told BruinSportsReport this week that the schools currently in contention for his final three official visits include UCLA, USC, Oregon, Cal, Washington and some Ivy League programs. (WildcatReport’s attempts to reach Hicks this week have been unsuccessful.)
The Wildcats are also bringing into Evanston perhaps their three biggest 2017 commits to help recruit Hicks. Defensive ends Earnest Brown and Trevor Kent and superback Trey Pugh will be on hand to make Hicks feel welcome. Pugh plans to enroll early at Northwestern in January, so he is taking his official visit, too. Brown and Kent are unofficial visitors.
UPDATED: WildcatReport has learned that four-star 2018 WR Micah Jones will be in the stands for the Nebraska game. In addition, NU assistants Mick McCall and Randy Bates will be at Jones' game tonight against Lake Zurich.
Basketball
The Wildcats’ men’s basketball team looks to leverage the big football game-day experience as well. Three-star 2017 shooting guard Anthony Gaines is taking his official visit to Northwestern this weekend. After striking out with several high-profile 2017 targets (Jordan Goodwin, Savion Flagg, Maxwell Evans and Luka Garza among them), the 6-foot-4 Gaines, from New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, is now a focal point for the class. Gaines narrowed his list to a Top 6 in August: Northwestern, Butler, Cincinnati, Dayton, Michigan and George Washington. He does not have offers from Michigan or Butler.
In addition to Gaines, Northwestern will also be hosting 6-foot-7 2018 shooting guard Drew Peterson of Libertyville (Ill.), 6-foot-4 2019 guard Perry Cowan of Chicago (Ill.) DePaul Prep and 6-foot-6 2019 wing Max Martz of Upper Arlington (Ohio) for unofficial visits.
UPDATED: Four-star 2018 point guard Ayo Dosunmu from Chicago Morgan Park will be visiting Saturday.
UPDATED: Dosunmu's teammate at Morgan Park and the Mac Irvin Fire AAU club, 2020 point guard Nimari Burnett, will also be visiting. And yes, he's just a freshman.
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