No one will admit it yet, but Jovan Witherspoon is not your ordinary transfer student.
Northwestern coach Randy Walker and his staff were surprised at the media attention given to the team’s newest addition as Witherspoon arrived in Evanston Monday for his first practice. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound transfer from Notre Dame took part in several drills and spent most of the time observing the Wildcats’ no-huddle, four-wide offense in action.
“I don’t get it (the media attention),” Walker said. “I don’t think he’s caught a pass in a Big Ten game yet.”
“He was a good high school player that we liked a bunch, but there are a lot of good high school players,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “He was a guy we wanted, so hopefully he’s as good as we thought — maybe he is, maybe he isn’t.”
The reason for all the hubbub is that Witherspoon was one of the more highly touted recruits in the Midwest and comes to NU from the most storied college program in the nation. In addition, Witherspoon was the fish that got away from NU in the recruiting wars last year and returned to the Cats after looking at a large pool of schools as potential destinations.
Soon after arriving in South Bend, Witherspoon became dissatisfied with the system and the role he was expected to play with the Fighting Irish. Prior to NU’s game with Duke, Witherspoon called Walker and expressed his interest in transferring. After a brief visit, Witherspoon opted to join the Cats.
“I talked to him about 30 minutes after that Saturday’s game,” Walker said. “(I told him) I am what I am. I have no reservations about it. You need to go ask our kids what we are, what I am. Ask the the most brutal, hardest questions and they’ll be ready to answer.
“I said, if it ain’t a good fit, don’t come here. You can’t make a mistake. You need to be right this time.”
Clearly the new attraction to NU was this year’s offensive scheme, which emphasizes passing and employs several receivers.
When Witherspoon was being recruited in high school, the Cats had a more conservative offensive approach: running out of the I-formation with the tailback as the main focus.
This season’s shotgun formation, four- and five-wideout set looks like a gold mine to any receiver — Witherspoon being no exception.
“I don’t blame him for not wanting to come (last year),” Walker said. “If the kid wanted to play in a passing offense, at least a balanced offense, and looked at what Northwestern looked like a year ago, this wouldn’t have been the right place.”
With the new approach, Witherspoon seems to feel right at home.
“They’ve got me playing the X (flanker), which is what I’ve been playing ever since middle school,” he said. “I think I can fit pretty well into this offense and I’m going to do my best and see what happens.”
Witherspoon will join fellow high school standout Tony Stauss, who gives every indication he is NU’s quarterback of the future.
The two will have plenty of time to watch and learn together, as Stauss is likely to redshirt and Witherspoon will sit out the 2000 season, as the NCAA mandates for transfers.
“I just want to help the team — right now I’m scouting them and we’ll see what happens in later years,” Witherspoon said.
Similar to his high school recruiting experience, bushels of teams responded to Witherspoon’s interest in transferring. He considered about 15 schools after making the decision to transfer, including Big Ten teams Purdue and Michigan State.
Witherspoon totalled 1,140 yards and 11 touchdowns for Bishop Luers High School, which won the Indiana Class 2A state championship in 1999.
That same year, he attended a camp at NU at which Walker took notice of his impressive talents.
It became apparent early in Witherspoon’s recruitment that it would take something special to lure him to Evanston. Walker knew that the Cats’ offense was a liability and saw Witherspoon slowly slipping away as the process went on.
Yet even after Witherspoon committed to Notre Dame, Walker had an inkling that it would not be the last time he would hear from him.
“I remember real plainly, talking to coaches, I said, ‘Let’s just make sure we walk away from this thing in a positive way because I just got a feeling there might be a rebound,'” Walker said. “Nothing against Notre Dame, but I just didn’t think (they) were going to be a good fit.”
Witherspoon spoke highly of Notre Dame and coach Bob Davie, acknowledging their desire to win and denying that he was brought in on false promises.
Ultimately it was the option offense that frustrated Witherspoon, who felt the Irish would simply not throw enough passes.
As Walker took a laid-back approach with the receiver the second time round, Witherspoon’s decision was certainly affected by conversations with other players.
During his visit several weeks ago, Witherspoon stayed overnight with sophomore wide receiver Louis Ayeni and spoke to quarterback Zak Kustok and guard Jeff Roehl, both of whom transferred to NU from Notre Dame.
“They both said that this was the best decision they ever made, and I think it will be the same for me,” Witherspoon said.
