Northwestern has welcomed 21 new Wildcats, announcing its 2012 recruiting class on Wednesday morning.  Coach Fitzgerald said, "There are some tremendous young men from great families and great high school programs who, we believe, fit all our needs and will help us take the next step in becoming a championship program."

The slate of recruits is fairly balanced between offense and defense (with several recruits having potential on both sides of the ball), with a slight lean toward offense and roughly six recruits that can play on the offensive line.  The class has no quarterback and no kicker (the third straight year with no new punter or kicker). 

Northwestern has apparently struck gold in the Keystone State, snagging five recruits from Pennsylvania.  NU had signed five recruits from Illinois last year; this year they signed four.  The 'Cats also signed four from Ohio (the same number as last year), including star defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo.  The remainder of the class is spread across the country. Both Rivals and Scout rated Odenigbo at four stars.  Rivals also gave four stars to defensive tackle Greg Kuhar, while Scout offered a fourth star to offensive guard Adam DePietro.  Like last year, Rivals no longer provides a national team ranking for schools not in the top 50, and Rivals does not put NU in the top 50 teams for recruiting this year.  However, they do rank NU 9th in the Big Ten (ranked ahead of Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota, up from 11th last year).

Kyle Prater Transfers to NU Jan. 28-- In addition to the 21 incoming recruits listed below, Northwestern will also welcome a five-star transfer from USC.  Wideout Kyle Prater chose NU over Wisconsin as his new home.  Prater's 2010 recruiting status (the top recruit in the state of Illinois) would have put him in an elite group of recruits in the history of NU, including Bill DeCorrevont, who played for the 'Cats in the 1940s. Pater said, according the the NUSports release, "This Northwestern degree will take me far and help me become a better person. The dynamics of the school and the team have shown me a lot and I'm just happy to be a Wildcat."

Scout, however, has taken a slightly more positive view of NU's class, ranking it (as of signing day) 45th in the nation-- down eight spots, however, from just two weeks ago.  Scout ranks NU's class fifth in the Big Ten, behind Michigan Ohio State, MSU and Iowa, and just ahead of Penn State.  Scout had earlier ranked the Wildcats' class third in the conference.

The following table shows the list of recruits who have committed to Northwestern.  The comments are compiled from material taken from Rivals.com, Scout.com, and ESPN. 

Please note that HailToPurple.com does not closely follow recruiting efforts, nor do I have any interest in the recruiting process, crucial though it is-- for more detailed info and analysis, be sure to check out Lou V.'s great work at Rivals, LakeThePosts, and Scout.com/FoxSport's efforts on PurpleReign.

Congratulations and good luck to this promising group of soon-to-be Wildcats!