By Abe RakovThe Daily Northwestern
Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald announced his first recruiting class Wednesday afternoon, signing 19 prospects to NU’s Class of 2011.
The Wildcats received National Letters of Intent from all of their verbal commitments early Wednesday morning, the first day high school seniors could officially commit to a school to play football.
“It’s a big relief,” NU recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach Kevin Johns said. “Our entire staff was hovering around the fax machine this morning waiting for them all to come in.”
NU signed 10 defensive players, and nine on offense. Fourteen members of NU’s class earned three stars in Rivals.com’s five-star prospect-rating system. The Cats signed 14 three-star prospects in the previous two classes combined.
Overall, Rivals ranked NU’s class 53rd in the country, while Scouts Inc. rated NU’s group 56th.
“I’m very proud of this class,” Fitzgerald said. “We won’t know a whole lot about where they’re at exactly maybe for a couple of years. But from an on-paper standpoint … we feel like we’ve got 19 perfect fits for our program.”
The Cats signed five players from the Chicagoland area – including Evanston Township High School cornerback Mike Bolden, who is set to become the first player from ETHS to play for the Cats since Leonard English in 1993. Chicago Robeson’s Charles Brown extended NU’s streak of signing a Chicago Public League recruit to three years in a row.
Before Rasheed Ward committed to NU in 2005, NU hadn’t signed a Chicago Public League football player since 1997.
“We’re going to always start here in Chicago,” Fitzgerald said. “With me being from Orland Park, I’m going to make sure that we evaluate, as quickly as we possibly can, every young man here in Chicagoland. Now whether or not he’s a fit, that’s up to us.”
Another highlight of the class is Pennsylvania’s Class AAAA player of the year, quarterback Dan Persa, Rivals’ 22nd best dual-threat quarterback in this years class. Fitzgerald said he “fits (NU’s) offense perfectly.”
Nordonia, Ohio, native Jordan Mabin finished his high school career No. 6 on Ohio’s career rushing list, but is projected to be a defensive back at NU. The Cats signed a total of five players from Ohio, which will give NU 12 players from the Buckeye State. Only Illinois will have a bigger presence on NU’s 2007 squad, with 22 Cats players hailing from the state.
Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].
