Seated with three hats in front of him, one of No. 4 Stanford, another of 11-time national champion Notre Dame and the last one of Northwestern, ESPNU top 150 defensive end/linebacker Ifeadi Odenigbo chose the white hat with the purple N.

Ranked No. 50 in the Class of 2012 by ESPN and a four-star recruit on Scout.com, Odenigbo and his verbal commitment provides a major boost to the Wildcats’ recruiting class. With Odenigbo, NU’s recruiting class jumped to 38th in Scout’s rankings, good for third best in the Big Ten.

For the first time under coach Pat Fitzgerald, NU has landed two four-star recruits. Offensive tackle Adam DePietro committed to the Cats in June. Fitzgerald had recruited just one four-star prospect to NU prior to this year, junior offensive tackle Patrick Ward.

Though Odenigbo, who was recruited primarily by linebacker coach Randy Bates, played defensive end in high school, his size ­- six-foot-three, 212 pounds – likely leaves him better suited to play linebacker in college.

Odenigbo played in the Under Armour All-American Game last week and posted two sacks.

Odenigbo, who placed a heavy emphasis on academics in his college decision, also had scholarship offers from Cal, UCLA, USC, Ohio State and Michigan.

– Colin Becht