Don’t look now, Northwestern Football has a top-5 recruiting class

Northwestern football has done an amazing job on the recruiting trail in the 2023 class and after a recent 4-star addition, the Wildcats have a top-5 class so far. 

Few would have predicted that Northwestern football would have a top-5 college football recruiting class in the month of June, just six months before the early signing period begins, yet that’s where the Wildcats are, even after a 3-9 season.

What Northwestern football has done on the recruiting trail has been nothing short of spectacular. We broke down what Pat Fitzergald was doing last month and since then, the Wildcats haven’t slowed down at all, adding two more recruits to their 18-player haul.

The most recent commitment is also the highest-rated pledge in the class for the Wildcats as Ashton Porter, a four-star defensive end who ranks 304 overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for the 2023 class, committed last Saturday.

Northwestern recruiting is on a roll

It also pushed Northwestern to fourth overall in the 247 sports team rankings.

Porter is the second four-star in the class but Northwestern has six that rank in the top 500, while all but two rank in the top 1,000 overall in the 247 sports composite rankings.

That’s solid work by Fitzgerald and company and it’s a sign that this program isn’t going anywhere after a down year. The Wildcats are just two years removed from playing for the Big Ten title and obviously aren’t having any problem attracting recruits.

What makes the group even more impressive is that it has come from 10 different states. Four commitments are from Illinois, but there are also three from Arizona and Ohio, as well as two from Texas. Here’s what Cooper Petagna said about Northwestern’s recent success:

"“Northwestern beat out Texas, Baylor, and Arkansas among others for (Ashton) Porter’s services, as Porter referenced Northwestern’s academics as one of the key reasons he has decided to take his talents to Chi-Town. Fitzgerald, who has been at Northwestern since 2006, has never had a class rank higher than No. 45 during his tenure. Although Northwestern most likely won’t finish in the Top-10, the Wildcats appear in line for their best finish on the recruiting trail in the Fitzgerald era.”"

There’s no doubt that Fitzgerald is putting together his best recruiting class while at Northwestern and it’s interesting how many kids are still interested in the academics, as well as what the Wildcats can offer on the football field.

Then again, after watching Fitzgerald do this kind of work for years, we shouldn’t be surprised.