Northwestern and head coach David Braun are back on the recruiting trail, set to host a 2027 quarterback from Winnetka, Illinois next Tuesday.
Jackie Ryder is a three-star prospect, according to 247Sports, and he's listed at 6-foot-5, 215 lbs. He currently attends New Trier High School in the Northern Chicago suburb.
Per 247, Ryder is the No. 60 QB in the 2027 class, as well as the No. 35 player out of Illinois. According to the website's composite rankings, which take into account the opinions of other sites, he's the No. 950 player overall in his class.
Ryder doesn't have a whole lot of offers yet, but 247 lists Arizona State, North Texas, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Illinois State as other programs in the mix. None of those schools should overshadow the 'Cats, so this isn't necessarily a long shot.
It's also worth noting that Rivals, the other industry standard college football recruiting site, has yet to put any star ranking on Ryder's page. Typically, Rivals is ahead, so that's interesting.
For Northwestern, securing a player like Ryder would be important for its future goals. Coach Braun has been adamant that he wants to win Big Ten Championships, and having a good quarterback is obviously crucial to that pursuit.
There is, of course, no guarantee that Ryder will pan out at the college level, but NU needs to start taking shots in the high school recruiting pool.
In recent seasons, NU has cycled through middling transfer quarterbacks and had varying results. Ben Bryant was solid three seasons ago, leading the Wildcats to a bowl game appearance. Then, the following season, Mike Wright didn't work out nearly as well.
This past year, Preston Stone led the team to a bowl after a rocky start, but he's now out of eligibility, and the team will likely turn to incoming transfer Aidan Chiles.
At some point, it would help for Northwestern to have some consistency at the position. In order to do that, it has to hit on a high school product eventually. It can't cycle through transfers forever, especially if the rest of the roster is much improved.
Ryder is the exact prototype that they should be looking at. He's a ranked prospect with a local tie who has a decent chance to actually come to Northwestern. He might not work out, but the 'Cats aren't in a position to recruit quarterbacks at a much higher level just yet.