The 25-yard touchdown strike sailed over the head of a Northwestern defensive back and straight into the hands of wide receiver Kunle Patrick.

Not bad for a high school quarterback playing with the big boys, even in a spring scrimmage.

Alexander Webb could be back at Highland Park High School in Dallas immersed in senioritis. Instead, he’s participating in NU’s spring football practices and taking three college courses.

“I like him,” head coach Randy Walker said after the scrimmage. “(That’s) the first thing you always ask yourself in recruiting because there are a lot of recruiting mistakes, just a part of the deal. (But) we didn’t make a mistake with him. I like everything I’ve seen in him so far.”

Webb – along with fellow high schooler Clifton Dawson, who had 29 rushing yards on five carries in Saturday’s scrimmage – decided to give up his last few months of high school to join the Wildcats and get a head start on the fall football season.

But that’s not all the duo gave up.

Neither player will attend his high school graduation – or his prom.

“Things like prom and senior semi-formal, those are important memories, but I wanted to take the opportunity to come here early,” said Dawson, a 5-foot-10 running back. “It was hard leaving behind your friends and girlfriends, your family. But very few kids get an opportunity to do this.

“When you have that opportunity, you can’t back down just because you’re scared or you have commitments to friends.”

If Dawson, who is from Scarborough, Ontario, had stayed in high school, he would have finished his 13th year in June and attended graduation in November, right in the middle of the Big Ten season. Dawson is one of three Canadian players on the Cats’ roster – the others are senior running back Kevin Lawrence and junior fullback Gilles Lezi, both of whom are from Quebec.

Webb echoed Dawson’s feelings about missing the second half of senior year.

“Sure, I’ll miss prom and the graduation ceremony, but everyone’s gonna leave eventually, I guess,” Webb said. “And I was getting a head start on what was to come in the future, so I think it’s the best thing.”

Even though trading high school friends and senior year festivities for college classes and spring football practices wasn’t an easy choice, both players – and their parents – are pleased with the decision.

“(My parents) were excited about it,” Webb said. “My dad was real excited about a great opportunity. Mom was a little hesitant in that she liked the graduation ceremony stuff.”

Neither player’s parents have been to NU to visit since Dawson and Webb started college, but they are planning trips for the spring and summer.

The two are roommates for the spring, living together in Sargent Hall, where Dawson’s main concern is making it up four flights of stairs to his room.

“Coming in early for spring practice and spring quarter has been extremely tough,” said Dawson. “But the guys have been extremely nice, helping me any way they could. Luckily I had a second person in my class come in. We’ve both been able to lean on each other.

“Whenever we can, we try to stick together. Of course, we have different classes and our schedules are a little different, but whenever we can, we make the time to eat together or to walk over to practice together.”

And the older members of the squad haven’t been too hard on the high schoolers, right?

“Well, a little bit,” Webb admitted. “But it’s all out of fun.”

Of course, that might be because Dawson doesn’t quite know every player’s name yet.

“Although I don’t know every name because there are a hundred guys on the team, I know every face,” Dawson said. “They know us by first name – it’s a lot easier because it’s only two guys.”

Dawson and Webb are the only two of the 24 incoming freshmen to start college before the fall. According to Walker, no freshman has ever come to college early on a team he has coached.

Walker said he neither encouraged nor discouraged the idea of Dawson and Webb graduating high school and enrolling at NU for Spring Quarter.

Although Walker has never been in Webb’s and Dawson’s position, he sympathizes with their situation.

“I really admire those guys,” Walker said. “I think it’s real hard to come in mid-year, mid-stream. I keep telling the coaches, players, let’s make sure we’re loving those guys up. I know how hard it was the first time I went away from home and those two red taillights left and you’re in a strange place with people you don’t know.”

While the surroundings aren’t familiar for Webb, at least something remains the same. Webb ran a spread offense in high school that was very similar to the one NU runs.

In his senior season, Webb threw for 2,968 yards and 30 touchdowns. He also scampered for 700 yards and 10 scores.

“He’s going to do real well,” Walker said. “He played in a very similar (offense) conceptually. It’s new, but it’s familiar. There’s less of a transfer than most quarterbacks going through spring ball.”

In 2001, Dawson gained 1,623 yards on 114 rushes for an average of 14.2 yards per carry.

Neither player is quite ready to make the jump from high school football to the Big Ten, but the difference in both speed and size hasn’t intimidated Dawson and Webb. They have confidence that their extra time spent on the NU practice fields will get them ready for summer drills and fall play.

“Guys are, of course, a lot bigger,” Dawson said. “And with that, they’re a lot faster. Besides those two things, they’re a lot stronger and they’re a lot smarter, they’re used to the game. All those things make it very challenging for incoming freshmen. By summertime I’ll be able to handle those things a little easier.”