Northwestern introduces 'heavily recruited' freshman class

The 17-man freshman class Fitzgerald introduced to the masses Wednesday weaves seamlessly into the fabric of a program riding two straight bowl games and first-division Big Ten finishes.

"It's a solid group," Fitzgerald said. "Fits who we are. They're leaders and they're winners and they're pretty talented on video."

With that disclaimer out of the way, there's something different about NU's Class of 2010.

"This is probably the most heavily recruited class that we've been able to sign," he said.

Nebraska, which boasted the nation's best scoring defense in 2009, offered defensive end Chance Carter (Loyola Academy) and defensive tackle Will Hampton (Houston, Tex.).

Wide receiver Tony Jones (Flint, Mich.) and linebacker Chi Chi Ariquzo (Gahanna, Ohio) turned away half the Big Ten.

Oakland native Adonis Smith decommitted from Washington State to become the Wildcats' lone running back in the class, while Denver native Kain Colter reversed his Stanford commitment to be one of NU's two new quarterbacks.

Fitzgerald and recruiting coordinator Adam Cushing tried to orchestrate a balanced class - and NU did sign nine offensive players and eight defensive recruits.

But with just six scholarship wide receivers on the roster for spring ball, the Wildcats needed to replenish their talent and hit four states to find Jones, Venric Mark (Houston), Jimmy Hall (Sylvania, Ohio) and Rashad Lawrence (Orlando, Fla.).

Mark, a return specialist who also ran the ball for St. Pius X High School, boasts 4.4 speed. The Detroit News listed Jones as one of Michigan's "Top 15" blue-chippers.

"Really, really talented group," Fitzgerald said. "I like the speed. It's a very athletic group. You can never have enough speed."

Lawrence, who missed the first month of his senior year, already has a head-start working with quarterback commit Trevor Siemian: The duo led Orlando's Olympia High School to its first district title.

Siemian won the Orlando Sentinel's Central Florida Offensive Player of the Year honor as he hit 195 of 291 passes (67 percent) for 2,494 yards and 22 TDs. For his career, Siemian piled up 6,144 passing yards and 53 scores.

The Wildcats don't consider Siemian and Colter to be the same style of quarterback - other schools recruited Colter, a coach's son, as an "athlete" - but like them equally.

"I think they're both really dynamic athletes," Fitzgerald said. "They both throw it. You know, we're not a cookie-cutter, 'You have to look like this (mechanically) and do this.'

"From a standpoint of mechanics, they're both going to improve a lot in college. But we think they can make all the throws that we ask our quarterbacks to make. Both guys can run the football and are really great leaders."

NU needed multiple quarterbacks as junior Dan Persa and redshirt freshman Evan Watkins are the only scholarship holdovers.

At the other end of the spectrum, Fitzgerald already has six scholarship running backs but was delighted to find the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Smith willing to change schools in the final week of recruiting.

"He's got good size," Fitzgerald said. "He's got really good vision. He catches the ball well. He's smooth in his transitions cutting and he's got good burst and top-end speed. I still think his best football is in front of him - and that's what's exciting to me. I think he's really going to blossom."