The 'Cats are making a late attempt at a committed player.
Northwestern made another offer last night to a member of the 2027 class, but this time it was to a running back who has already committed to Penn State.
Chukwuma Odoh made his decision to head to Happy Valley a couple weeks ago, but that doesn't stop teams from continuing to submit offers. There's no tampering going on here, but, typically, a team like Northwestern wouldn't swoop in with another offer unless it felt like there was a chance Odoh's commitment wasn't fully solid.
Players are allowed to de-commit, and that's what head coach David Braun and company are counting on with this offer. It might be a long shot, but it's interesting that they chose to make an offer anyway.
Odoh is a three-star recruit, according to both Rivals and 247Sports. The former lists him as the No. 53 player at his position and the No. 20 player coming out of his home state of New Jersey. The latter has him ranked as the No. 50 running back and the No. 21 player from his state. The two industry standard sites are in remarkable agreement about Odoh's place in this class.
While he's committed to the Nittany Lions, Odoh also had offers from Kentucky, Maryland, Syracuse and Miami before he made his decision. Now, with Northwestern's entrance, there's another power-four team waiting in the wings.
Penn State does have a new head coach in Matt Campbell, but Odoh's commitment was recent, and any decision to break it wouldn't have anything to do with coaching turnover. That's why this feels especially strange -- typically there's an obvious reason for a player to go back on a commitment.
Of course, Odoh hasn't chosen to do that yet. It isn't really in his control if other teams choose to make offers in the coming months, just like NU did, but, again, Northwestern doesn't normally make offers for no reason.
It's possible they just really like the player and wanted to take a shot at him even if it's exceedingly unlikely. Northwestern has been making offers to rushers recently, clearly looking to establish a plan for when Caleb Komolafe graduates.
The current RB1 in Evanston turned out to be a gem for the 'Cats, but his tenure is almost up, and they don't have a ton of talent waiting behind him. Dashun Reeder could have been the answer, but he left in the transfer portal earlier this offseason.
Adding a player like Odoh would help secure the vision for the future, but there are quite a few hurdles to jump through for that to happen. If it does, though, the 'Cats will have won a major recruiting battle with a Big Ten foe.
