No drama. Pat Fitzgerald wants as little of it as possible on national signing day. Northwestern's recent recruiting cycles follow a familiar pattern: the Wildcats load up early on commitments, pick up a few more later in the process and have few, if any, surprises on the first Wednesday of February.
Although Northwestern had a few recruits head elsewhere late in the process, it finalized a diverse class Wednesday featuring 20 prospects from 11 states. The Wildcats went heavy on perimeter players with five wide receivers and four defensive backs.
ESPN.com caught up with Fitzgerald to discuss the class.
Was it another no-drama signing day? How would you describe finishing off this class?
Pat Fitzgerald: It was a perfect job by our staff. We had 14 guys verbally committed prior to their senior years, which has become par for the course for us. We had to make some additions late in the process, six guys during their senior year. It's a great group of guys, a great group of families.
What positions were the biggest needs in this class?
PF: Like everyone, you look at your needs not only for this year but next year's class of guys who will move out. We felt we had to get some competition on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Added six guys who I feel are going to do that. And our skill positions, especially at wide receiver and DB, to add nine guys who can really run, good size, physical DBs.
Guys seem to play earlier at the perimeter spots. What impact do you see the new guys making at those positions?
PF: Singling one guy out would be a little premature. Charlie Fessler's a wide receiver who's a big, tall, athletic kid. Same thing with Cameron Green from here in Chicago, a tall, athletic wide receiver. And then in the slot we added two dynamic guys. Flynn Nagel is a Julian Edelman-type guy, 94 catches in his senior year. And Jelani Roberts is as fast a kid as we'll have in our program. He has the fastest 40-yard dash that I've timed at our camp that we've ended up signing. As an average, we had him at 4.3 flat. He just ran the 10th fastest 55-meter dash in high school in the country. He can really fly. In the secondary, that group is very talented, so it should add instant competition.
You also picked up several linebackers. What is your assessment of players such as Nathan Fox and Simba Short?
PF: Fox, [Tommy] Vitale and Short are three thick, big, physical, athletic guys. We've looked at guys at linebacker who played in space and have played multiple positions throughout their high school careers. These three guys are similar to that, but they're a little bit bigger and still have that athleticism. With the Big Ten West, you have to be able to stop the run, first and foremost. We really like the additions of these three.
You've redshirted a lot of players in the past. Is that still the message or do you point to Justin Jackson and other freshmen who played a lot?
PF: Philosophically, we've redshirted guys because the young men have redshirted themselves. I haven't really changed what I've told any kid. The No. 1 thing you do after you sign is you have to prepare yourself mentally, physically and emotionally to come here and staff. If you don't do that, you're going to redshirt yourself. I'm not going to have to make a decision. Each year, we've had from 4-10 guys who, two weeks into training camp, we feel like have an opportunity to play. But our staff have to evaluate whether those kids are going to play their position or just play in the kicking game. From a philosophy standpoint, I would prefer not to use a freshman year in the kicking game alone. Every coach has a different approach. I've gotten that reputation that we redshirt a lot of our guys. We don't necessarily do it as a staff. The young man does it to himself first and then if they get to a point where they're close to playing, I just don't believe in wasting a kid's year in the kicking game.
You always recruit nationally and this year saw a wide net -- Maryland, Georgia, California. Are there new areas coming up or the same target spots?
PF: Yeah, 11 states in the class. We're always going to start and end here in Chicago, and to have 25 percent of the class from where we need to win is always going to be important. But we're a national university and to add a couple young men from Maryland, now having that footprint of the league expand; to get down in Georgia and get two DBs and recruit speed and athleticism; and the areas that we always have success because of the academic brand and the Northwestern brand of football -- Texas, California and Ohio -- are always going to be areas we should be strong in.
There are a lot of decommitments now and you saw some of it. Is that just the landscape or you guys struggling the past two years?
PF: I don't think it had anything to do with us on the field. When kids watch us play a couple years ago when we started relationships, we won 10 games and you could argue we could have won some more or lost some. In the last two years, we're a handful of finishes away from me not being a D-minus head coach. That's football. It has more to do with the way the process is. The guys that fit, you have to recruit all the way to signing day. That's just the way it is.
Do I wish it was like other sports, that when you commit other schools stop recruiting kids? That's just not the case. It would be naive to say that. We go about our business a certain way and we've had things happen in the process. I wish those kids the best of luck. I appreciate their families allowing us to be part of the process. It's not the ones you don't get. It's the ones you get. We're fired up about the 20 guys we have.
