It’s hard to believe it now, but there was a time that Northwestern actually had a chance to land Justin Fields.
Fields had only been offered from six other schools – North Carolina, Appalachian State, East Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest and Duke – when he received an offer from Northwestern in June 2016, and just days after participating in a camp at Northwestern.
Blessed to have received an offer from Northwestern!! #B1GCats pic.twitter.com/dIZHlKQ3M9
— Justin Fields (@justnfields) June 14, 2016
At the time, which was before Fields’ junior season at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia, he wasn’t even ranked among the top 300 prospects in the country by 247Sports, Rivals or ESPN. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald, though, could tell Fields had the qualities both on and off the field to be special.
“I remember our recruiting office showing me his tape, and he was, I call him a three-play guy: You pop on three plays and you go ‘Yeah, he could play for us,’” Fitzgerald said. “And then you start to dive in a little bit more and you’re like, ‘This guy is unbelievable.’ Then you find out all the background about his family and you find out about who he was as a student, all those things, and you’re like, ‘This is potentially a program-changing type player at the quarterback position.’”
Just a few months later, Fields made a visit to Northwestern for the Wildcats’ second game of the 2016 season against Illinois State, and his relationship with Fitzgerald grew to the point that Fields gave real consideration to committing to the Wildcats.
“I was really actually close to actually going to that school,” Fields said this week. “I love Coach Fitzgerald, he’s a great person, great coach, and I just love the way he runs his program. I think they have a great culture over there, and I think they do things the right way over there.”
Fields’ recruitment blew up over the course of his junior year at Harrison, as he ended up receiving offers from top programs all over the country and soared up the rankings to end up becoming one of the top two overall prospects in the entire class of 2018, along with Trevor Lawrence.
For Fitzgerald, it didn’t take long for reality to set in that Northwestern – who has never landed a five-star recruit out of high school in the era of 247Sports composite rankings –wasn’t going to have a shot at Fields, who eventually committed to and decommitted from Penn State before ultimately signing with Georgia, then transferring to Ohio State after his freshman season.
“We thought we’d take a hard swing, and we thought we built a great relationship, and then everybody else I think watched the same tape we did, and we kind of got back to the back of the line,” Fitzgerald said.
“I remember our recruiting office showing me his tape, and he was, I call him a three-play guy: You pop on three plays and you go ‘Yeah, he could play for us.’”– Pat Fitzgerald on Justin Fields
Nonetheless, Fitzgerald still thinks as highly of Fields as ever as Northwestern prepares to play Ohio State in this week’s Big Ten Championship Game.
“He’s a great young man, and a great family, and just so impressed by watching him play,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s an unbelievable leader. Watching from afar, you can see it. The way that he carries himself, the way he leads that offense and the team, he makes such great decisions with the ball. When things break down, he can make you pay with his athleticism, and it’s just been so impressive to watch as he’s just continued to raise his game to levels that are just unbelievable.
“I’m a huge fan in every game but when we play. It’s one of those where you’re cheering for them except when you gotta go compete against him. He’s a heck of a football player and just a terrific young man.”
