A lot has been going on in the world of 'Cats' basketball since the season ended at the Big Ten Tournament and two-time B1G leading scorer Nick Martinelli laced up his shoes for the final time.
First, freshman forward Tre Singleton chose to enter the transfer portal, a decision that shocked many Wildcat fans who had grown used to high retention rates. Then, a ton of his teammates chose to follow in his footsteps, bringing Northwestern's exiting transfer class up to nine members.
Since then, head coach Chris Collins has been slowly rebuilding his roster. He's brought in guards like LA Pratt, and forwards like Luke McEldon. Next year's team will be comprised of more shooters and more size than last year's team, that's for sure. There's still more work to be done in the portal, but Collins has the makings of a team that is, at the very least, different.
With that being said, Collins' job is also to prepare this program for the future. Just because he chose to embrace or was pressured to embrace high roster turnover this offseason doesn't mean that's his plan for the future. His program has always thrived on recruitment and internal development.
Yesterday, Collins made a high-profile offer in the 2027 recruiting class, submitting one to four-star guard Jeremiah Profit out of California. Profit, who will be a difficult recruit to nab, is a top-100 recruit in has class, according to 247Sports. He announced his offer himself in a post to X.
Standing at 6-foot-5 and 180 lbs, Profit is currently listed as a small forward, but that size is more likely to play at the two-guard spot in college. He's listed as the No. 83 player in his recruiting class, according to 247, as well as the No. 22 SF and the No. 5 player from California.
Northwestern will be fighting an uphill battle to land his services, as it typically is when recruiting anyone above the three-star range. But the 'Cats have done better in that department in recent recruiting classes, adding back-to-back four-stars in Singleton and incoming freshman Jayden Hodge.
Other schools in the mix for Profit right now include Cal, Maryland, Stanford and TCU. None of those schools should scare Northwestern too much, but any one of them individually could certainly bring Profit into the fold.
The concern is that there will likely be more entrants before this recruiting process is over. If a true blue blood submits an offer, it's going to be much harder for Northwestern to differentiate itself.