Northwestern lands 20 players in 2015 recruiting class

Northwestern head football coach Pat Fitzgerald announced Wednesday that 20 players from across the nation have signed National Letters of Intent with the Wildcats.

Here's the statement released by NU on the 11 defensive players and nine offensive players signing Wednesday:

“Today we are thrilled to welcome another group of talented and determined young men into our Northwestern Football Family,” said Fitzgerald. “They come from tremendous families from every corner of this country and we're grateful that they have made the commitment to become part of ours, as well. Each young man has demonstrated the ability to excel in three key areas of his life: in the classroom, character in their communities and on the football field, and I have no doubt that they will continue to do so here at Northwestern.

“I am confident that they will finish the next few months of high school on a strong note and I look forward to welcoming them to their new home in Evanston this summer,” added Fitzgerald.

2015 signing class notes:

• The positional breakdown for this year's class is as follows: defensive backs (5), wide receivers (4), linebackers (3), defensive linemen (3), offensive linemen (3), running backs (1), quarterbacks (1).

• Five of the 20 incoming Wildcats (25 percent) hail from Illinois. All five are from the Chicagoland area, and two - Adam Lemke-Bell and Lloyd Yates - were teammates at Oak Park River Forest High School. Northwestern's newest Football Family members come from 11 different states.

• Half of today's 20 signees reached their state's championship game last season. Six of those 10 players - Joe Gaziano (Massachusetts), Cameron Green (Illinois), Jared Thomas (Indiana), Jordan Thompson (Ohio), Simba Short (California) and Steven Reese (Georgia) - were crowned state champions. The entire class posted a combined 195 wins in 2014.

• Northwestern welcomes two sets of high school teammates as part of the National Signing Day class of 2015. Alonzo Mayo and Jelani Roberts prepped together at The Gilman School in Baltimore, Md. Offensive lineman Adam Lemke-Bell blocked for quarterback Lloyd Yates at Oak Park River Forest High School in suburban Chicago. Rising sophomore safety Tommy O'Dell also attended at OPRF.

• The Wildcats will add another pair of brothers to the roster in 2015. Incoming linebacker Tommy Vitale will join brother, and rising senior superback, Dan Vitale. Northwestern's squad already features Cameron (senior wide receiver) and Garrett (sophomore superback) Dickerson and Kyle (sophomore safety) and Cameron (redshirt freshman linebacker) Queiro.