Northwestern Wildcats Football Offseason Preview

Longtime defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz, the excellent and trusted assistant to head coach Pat Fitzgerald, has retired, to be replaced by Jim O’Neil. This brings an important era in Northwestern football to an end, since Hankwitz did so much to turn Northwestern into a football program with a trustworthy defense on a regular basis. Northwestern was so schematically solid and disciplined on defense that it could succeed even without a high-powered offense or an elite passing game. Yet, the lack of offense at Northwestern has been a recurring feature of the Pat Fitzgerald years, and when the Wildcats don’t achieve a modest baseline level of competence on offense, their program can regress. Such was the case last season, when the Wildcats won only three games. In all three of those wins, they gave up no more than seven points. Their offense, however, managed an average of just 16.6 points per game, which was near the very bottom of the 130-school Football Bowl Subdivision. It is obvious where Northwestern has to improve, but the other part of the formula for Fitzgerald is to make sure the defense doesn’t regress without Hankwitz.

Key Personnel Lost

Safety Brandon Joseph transferred to Notre Dame. This is a big loss in the Northwestern secondary and reduces the margin for error among the returning players on the Wildcats’ back line of defense. Northwestern has shown that it can defend the better passing attacks in the Big Ten, but losing a player of Joseph’s caliber involves the distinct possibility that his replacement will regress. If that regression occurs and the Wildcats can’t perform as well in the secondary as they did last year, that will have a hugely negative effect on this team and what it can accomplish.

Important Incoming Freshmen

Linebacker Kenny Soares will try to be the next great Northwestern linebacker. Fitzgerald, the team’s head coach, was a linebacker when he played at Northwestern in the mid-1990s and led the Wildcats to the 1996 Rose Bowl against USC. Fitzgerald understands the linebacker position better than anyone, and he knows how to teach the finer points of playing at this spot on the field. Soares will try to soak up knowledge and become the linebacker Fitzgerald knows he is capable of becoming for NU.

Key Position Battles

Northwestern ranked 13^th in the 14-member Big Ten Conference with only 19 sacks. Defensive line transfers Henrik Barndt (Indiana State), Taishan Holmes (UMass), and Ryan Johnson (Stanford) need to prove they can be high-impact pass rushers for this defense. This will be one very important position battle on the roster. The other big battle comes at offensive line, where the Wildcats know they will need a much more imposing front line if they want to lift their offense out of the bottom tier of college football, where it resided throughout the 2021 season. The skill position battles are worth monitoring as well, but the offensive line is where this low-scoring group has to take significant steps forward.

Biggest Offseason Goal(s)

The offensive line and the defensive line are where Northwestern needs to demonstrate growth. The Wildcats were nowhere close to being good enough on either line last year; that’s where this team has to evolve and grow in 2022.