Northwestern head football coach Randy Walker spent more time watching high school basketball games in the course of recruiting his 2002 class than he had in his entire life – and it wasn’t always pretty.

“Most of those guys need to go on to other things in their lives,” Walker joked. “We’re going to give them that opportunity.”

Walker officially announced that opportunity for 22 recruits who signed national letters of intent Wednesday, and this year’s class stresses the speed and all-around athleticism that Walker thought he could find away from the gridiron.

Signing Day didn’t include any surprises for the Wildcats. All 22 high-school players were expected to sign, and had done so on the dotted line – via fax – before noon.

“It reminds me of how different this day has become,” Walker said, reminiscing about when he used to show up on a player’s doorstep at 7 a.m. on Signing Day to compete with other coaches for last-minute commitments.

“Now, it’s waiting for faxes,” he said. “Today it was like, ‘OK, we’ve got them all signed. Let’s go get lunch.'”

NU’s signees did not attract much media attention – there are no future Wildcats included in ESPN’s Top 100 recruits, and ESPN analyst Tom Lemming put the class in the middle of the Big Ten, behind Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and Illinois.

“Behind those, there’s a second group,” Lemming said. “It’s Michigan State and Purdue, and that’s about where Northwestern fits in.”

Walker’s third recruiting class at NU may have attracted almost as much attention on the basketball court and track as it did on the football field. More than half of the 22 recruits were track-and-field standouts in high school.

The class could even have an intrasquad game of hoops – with two teams comprised entirely of high school basketball players.

The speed and athleticism of basketball and track stars is precisely what Walker said he was looking for in this year’s class, perhaps even more than filling specific positions.

NU signed three quarterbacks: local prospect Derell Jenkins from Bolingbrook, Joseph Ferguson out of Kansas City, Mo., and Alexander Webb from Dallas.

All three ran track in high school and boast excellent speed, particularly Ferguson, who runs the 100 in 10.66 seconds. Jenkins was also recruited as a safety, and Lemming said Ferguson could also make an excellent defensive back.

“I have a bias (for) good athletes,” Walker said of his decision to sign three quarterbacks. “They all have potential to play quarterback, but they have to realize that there’s only one ball on the field at a time. One of those guys will be the quarterback, and the other two will learn to play something else.”

Walker said he was happy with the improved speed across the board and the skill players the Cats acquired.

“By and large, we hit the right things,” he said.

While NU’s disappointing 2001 season had an effect on recruiting, Walker said, most players look beyond the short term to see a team that has won three Big Ten championships in the last seven years.

Defensive lineman Jim Devine, like many of the NU recruits, did not let last season’s 2-6 finish in the Big Ten deter him.

“Last year they had so much injury,” Devine said. “That isn’t the team’s fault, it’s more bad luck. Really, it didn’t even cross my mind.”

After last season, the Cats have the biggest gaps to fill on defense, where their most highly regarded recruit is defensive lineman Loren Howard from Scottsdale, Ariz.

Howard, who also lettered in basketball and track, was ranked the No. 2 prospect in Arizona by the publication Superprep. Kurelic called Howard the best defensive lineman NU has landed in over a decade.

Although Walker said the class should blend well with the current NU team, he also said there were slots the Cats did not fill on Signing Day.

“I’m not gonna tell you what that is, though,” Walker said. “We’re still engaged in a couple of things, still working with a couple of guys.”

And even if Walker doesn’t fill all the positions, he can always teach his versatile, athletic new recruits to play new positions. After all, there have to be benefits to going to all those high school basketball games.