Northwestern men’s basketball’s newest preferred walk-on for 2026-27, small forward Elijah Eschmeyer, has always wanted to be a Wildcat.
“Ever since I started watching basketball, I’ve always been a Northwestern fan,” he said.
Elijah’s parents, Evan and Kristina, met on campus playing basketball for the ’Cats. Evan’s name is plastered all over NU’s record books. He is fifth all-time in points, third in shooting percentage and the program leader in rebounds by a wide margin.
Because the NU blood runs deep in his family, Elijah has been around the basketball program and Evanston for most of his life. At about 8 years old, he attended the ’Cats’ first NCAA Tournament appearance in Salt Lake City in 2017, becoming invested in the team and its success.
Elijah watched three NU’s March Madness appearances from the stands, and now, he’s joining the team two years after its back-to-back trips to “The Big Dance.”
“It means a lot to be a part of the program at a time where playing (in the) tournament is part of the conversation,” Elijah said.
For Evan, a two-time captain, seeing his son don the same uniform he wore is exciting. At NU, Elijah will wear number 42, the same as his father nearly 30 years before him.
Throughout the recruiting process, Evan let Elijah create his own path, avoiding pressuring him about his choice of school. After NU fell to Purdue at Welsh-Ryan Arena to end the season, Elijah said he knew he wanted to commit to NU, and it was his decision alone.
During the Purdue game, Evan stayed back in Colorado to finish his coaching tenure at Peak to Peak Charter School, where Elijah attended. Once Elijah told Evan the news, his father felt immense pride.
“It was joy,” Evan said. “Pure joy.”
Elijah said culture was a key aspect of his commitment to NU. Despite the team’s loss to the Boilermakers in March, Elijah said he felt an “amazing” atmosphere throughout Welsh-Ryan.
He noted the interactions between players on the bench, adding that throughout the game, they could be seen celebrating shots and encouraging those on the court, even as the game fell out of the ’Cats’ control.
“It felt like a program that you would want to be a part of,” Elijah said. “That’s a very rare feeling in college basketball.”
The importance of team culture runs in the family, with Evan describing the Eschmeyers as “culture people.” Years after his time at NU, Evan is proud that the team culture hasn’t changed.
When accompanying Elijah on his official visit to NU, he noticed the way every player and coach contributed to practices and the team’s success.
“The whole thing’s like a chain, and it’s only as strong as its weakest link, and that goes from coaches down to managers,” Evan said. “(Coach) Chris (Collins) has created a value system that embraces everyone’s contribution.”
Elijah’s uncle Jeff, who also played for the ’Cats from 1997 to 2000, similarly noticed the culture Collins has built and Elijah’s potential contribution. As a former walk-on himself, he said he experienced college basketball from the ground up and believes NU’s program stands out.
He is excited to see Elijah embrace his role as a walk-on, Jeff said, as he joins the team from Lake Forest Academy.
“He’ll have an opportunity to go up against some amazing players and to see who he is as a basketball player while doing it at a program, for me, that represents what college sports and basketball is still about,” Jeff said.
Even as Elijah joins a basketball program so deeply intertwined with his family, he plans to create his own legacy.
Kristina and Evan are both all-time greats. Evan finished his career with the second-most all-time scoring and blocks, and, at the time of his retirement, led all Wildcats in career field goal percentage and rebounds. Kristina led the Big Ten in scoring and was a first-team All-Big Ten selection during her junior year.
Still, Elijah noted that there is one thing missing from his dad’s record books: NCAA Tournament runs.
“He loved his team so much,” Elijah said. “He wanted to win for them and with them and make (the NCAA Tournament) for the first time ever, so if I can leave any legacy on this team, it’d be to be a member of a team that makes a run in the tournament. Win those big games that haven’t been won in the past.”
For Kristina, making sure Elijah truly wanted to be a ’Cat — and wasn’t going just because his family wanted him to — was important.
But since his childhood, there was no question Elijah wanted to be in Evanston, she said. Kristina added she is “super excited” for him to join a community she feels so personally connected to.
“As parents, you just want the best for your kids,” Kristina said. “And we want to make sure that they all take their own journey. We just want to make sure that this was not just a family thing — this is something that he wanted, and it very much was.”
After watching NU from the sidelines for so long, Elijah can’t wait to step on the court.
“It feels surreal to be seeing a picture of myself in the uniform and just knowing that I’m gonna be practicing with these guys,” he said. “I’m a part of the program that I’ve grown up really loving.”
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified the year and location where the featured photo was taken. The Daily regrets these errors.
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