2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team

The 2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team represented Northwestern University during the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois, and competed in the West Division of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by 12th-year head coach Pat Fitzgerald. This was the Wildcats' fifth ten-win season, three of which were led by Pat Fitzgerald. They finished the season 10–3, 7–2 in Big Ten play to finish in second place in the West Division. They were invited to the Music City Bowl where they defeated Kentucky.

2017 Northwestern Wildcats football
Music City Bowl champion
Music City Bowl, W 24–23 vs. Kentucky
ConferenceBig Ten Conference
DivisionWest Division
Ranking
CoachesNo. 17
APNo. 17
2017 record10–3 (7–2 Big Ten)
Head coachPat Fitzgerald (12th season)
Offensive coordinatorMick McCall (10th season)
Defensive coordinatorMike Hankwitz (10th season)
Home stadiumRyan Field
(Capacity: 47,130)
2017 Big Ten Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
East Division
No. 5 Ohio State xy$  8 –1     12 –2  
No. 15 Michigan State  7 –2     10 –3  
No. 8 Penn State  7 –2     11 –2  
Michigan  5 –4     8 –5  
Rutgers  3 –6     4 –8  
Indiana  2 –7     5 –7  
Maryland  2 –7     4 –8  
West Division
No. 7 Wisconsin xy  9 –0     13 –1  
No. 17 Northwestern  7 –2     10 –3  
Iowa  4 –5     8 –5  
Purdue  4 –5     7 –6  
Nebraska  3 –6     4 –8  
Minnesota  2 –7     5 –7  
Illinois  0 –9     2 –10  
Championship: Ohio State 27, Wisconsin 21
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

Recruiting

Position key
Back B Center C Cornerback CB Defensive back DB
Defensive end DE Defensive lineman DL Defensive tackle DT End E
Fullback FB Guard G Halfback HB Kicker K
Kickoff returner KR Offensive tackle OT Offensive lineman OL Linebacker LB
Long snapper LS Punter P Punt returner PR Quarterback QB
Running back RB Safety S Tight end TE Wide receiver WR

Recruits

The Wildcats signed a total of 19 recruits.

Schedule

Northwestern announced its 2017 football schedule on July 11, 2013. The 2017 schedule consisted of 7 home and 5 away games in the regular season. The Wildcats hosted Big Ten foes Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Penn State, and Purdue, and traveled to Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, Wisconsin.[1]

The Wildcats hosted two of the three non-conference opponents, Bowling Green from the Mid-American Conference and Nevada from the Mountain West Conference, and traveled to Duke from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
September 22:30 p.m.Nevada*
BTNW 31–2033,018
September 911:00 a.m.at Duke*
ESPNUL 17–4120,241
September 166:30 p.m.Bowling Green*
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 49–733,706
September 3011:00 a.m.at No. 10 Wisconsin
ABCL 24–3380,584
October 711:00 a.m.No. 4 Penn State
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ABCL 7–3141,061
October 142:30 p.m.at Maryland
ESPN2W 37–2138,325
October 2111:00 a.m.Iowa
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPN2W 17–10 OT40,036
October 282:30 p.m.No. 16 Michigan State
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPNW 39–31 3OT39,369
November 42:30 p.m.at Nebraska
BTNW 31–24 OT89,721
November 116:00 p.m.PurdueNo. 25
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
ESPN2W 23–1333,765
November 1811:00 a.m.MinnesotaNo. 23
  • Ryan Field
  • Evanston, IL
BTNW 39–030,014
November 253:00 p.m.at IllinoisNo. 22
FS1W 42–730,456
December 294:30 p.m.vs. KentuckyNo. 20
ESPNW 24–2348,675
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game
  • All times are in Central time
Schedule Source:[2]

Rankings
Further information: 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Final 
AP RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR RV RV 23 20 20 17 
Coaches RV RV NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR RV RV 23 20 20 17 
CFP Not released NR 25 23 22 21 21 Not released

Roster
2017 Northwestern Wildcats football team roster
Players Coaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
WR 2 Flynn Nagel Jr
WR 4 Solomon Vault Sr
WR 5 Charles Fessler  So
WR 6 Jelani Roberts Jr
QB 7 Matt Alviti  Sr
RB 8 Auston Anderson  Jr
SB 9 Garrett Dickerson Sr
QB 10 T.J. Green  So
QB 11 Aidan Smith  Fr
QB 13 Andrew Marty Fr
QB 14 Lloyd Yates  So
WR 15 Macan Wilson  Sr
WR 16 Kyric McGowen Fr
WR 17 Jalen Brown  Jr
QB 18 Clayton Thorson (C)  Jr
WR 19 Riley Lees  Fr
RB 20 John Moten IV  So
RB 21 Justin Jackson (C) Sr
WR 23 Steven Reese  So
RB 25 Corey Acker  Sr
RB 26 Chad Hanaoka Sr
RB 28 Jeremy Larkin  Fr
RB 36 Jesse Brown So
SB 44 James Prather  Jr
SB 46 Eric Lutzen  Jr
OL 50 Samuel Gerak Fr
OL 57 Cam Kolwich  Fr
OL 59 J. B. Butler  Jr
OL 61 Jason Goosen  Fr
OL 64 Andrew Otterman  So
OL 65 Jared Thomas  So
OL 66 Nik Urban  Fr
OL 68 Connor Mahoney  Sr
OL 69 Brad North  Sr
OL 70 Rashawn Slater Fr
OL 71 Tommy Doles  Jr
OL 72 Blake Hance  Jr
OL 73 Gunnar Vogel  Fr
OL 74 Graham Bullmore  Sr
OL 75 Ben Oxley  Jr
OL 76 Ethan Wiederkehr Fr
OL 77 Jesse Meyler  Fr
OL 78 Adam Lemke-Bell  So
OL 79 Trey Klock  Jr
SB 80 Trey Pugh Fr
WR 81 Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman  Fr
SB 82 Alex Oelsner Fr
WR 83 Will Lansbury Fr
SB 83 Heath Reineke  Jr
WR 84 Cameron Green  So
WR 85 Jack Tirmonia  Fr
SB 86 Cody Link  Fr
SB 87 Eric Eshoo  Fr
WR 88 Bennett Skowronek So
WR 89 Berkeley Holman Fr
 Defense
Pos.#NameClass
CB 3 Keith Watkins II  Jr
DB 7 Marcus McShepard  Sr
LB 10 Brett Walsh  Jr
DB 11 Parrker Westphal  Jr
DB 12 Alonzo Mayo  So
LB 13 Warren Long  Sr
S 16 Godwin Igwebuike (C)  Sr
DB 18 Cameron Ruiz Fr
S 21 Kyle Queiro  Sr
DB 22 Bryce Jackson Fr
DB 23 Donovan Sermons Fr
CB 24 Montre Hartage Jr
DB 25 Austin Hiller Fr
DB 26 Brian Bullock  Fr
DB 27 Roderick Campbell So
DB 28 J. R. Pace Fr
DB 29 Trae Williams  So
LB 32 Nate Hall  Jr
DB 33 Travis Whillock  Fr
LB 34 Chee Anyanwu Fr
LB 35 Erik Mueller Fr
DB 37 Moe Almasri  Sr
LB 40 Peter McIntyre Fr
S 41 Jared McGee  Jr
LB 42 Paddy Fisher  Fr
LB 45 Nathan Fox  So
LB 46 Troy Hudetz Fr
DB 47 Joe Bergin  So
LB 49 Chris Bergin Fr
LB 50 Jango Glackin  Fr
LB 51 Blake Gallagher Fr
DL 54 Trent Goens  So
DE 55 Mark Gooden  Fr
DE 56 Xavier Washington Sr
DL 1 Tyler Lancaster (C)  Sr
DE 87 Trevor Kent Fr
DT 90 Jake Saunders  Fr
DL 91 Samdup Miller Fr
DL 92 Fred Wyatt  Jr
DL 93 Joe Spivak Fr
DE 94 Tommy Carnifax  Fr
DL 95 Alex Miller So
DL 97 Joe Gaziano  So
DE 98 Earnest Brown IV Fr
DL 99 Jordan Thompson Jr
 Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
K, P 14 Charlie Kuhbander Fr
H, P 17 Daniel Kubiuk  Jr
K, P 31 Luke Otto  Sr
P 37 Cody Gronewold Fr
K, P 38 Drew Luckenbaugh  Fr
PK 39 Mason Weissenhofer  So
LS 43 Tyler Gillikin  Fr
LS 48 Peter Snodgrass Fr
LS 58 Trevor Stroebel  Sr
P 96 Hunter Niswander Sr
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
  • Randy Bates (Linebackers)
  • Jerry Brown (Assistant Head Coach / Defensive Backs)
  • Adam Cushing (Offensive Line)
  • Mike Hankwitz (Defensive Coordinator)
  • Bob Heffner (Superbacks)
  • Marty Long (Defensive Line)
  • Matt MacPherson (Running Backs / Recruiting Coordinator)
  • Mick McCall (Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks)
  • Dennis Springer (Wide Receivers)
  • Chris Bowers (Director of Player Personnel)
  • Cody Cejda (Director of Football Operations)
  • Darby Dunnagan (Director of Video Operations)
  • Jay Hooten (Director of Sports Performance for Football)
  • Jacob Schmidt (Director of Player Development)
  • Tim Brandon (Offensive Graduate Assistant)
  • Erik Frazier (Offensive Graduate Assistant)
  • Deonte Gibson (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
  • Kevin Koch (Defensive Graduate Assistant)
  • Mike Jasinski (Recruiting Assistant)
  • Bryan Payton (Recruiting Assistant)
  • Christian Sarkisian (Recruiting Assistant)
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injured
  • Redshirt

Roster
Last update: August 18, 2017

Players in the 2018 NFL Draft
See also: 2018 NFL Draft
PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL Club
Justin JacksonRB7251Los Angeles Chargers

References
  1. "B1G Releases Nine-Game Conference Schedules for 2016, 2017" (Press release). Northwestern Wildcats Department of Athletics. July 11, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  2. "2017 Northwestern Wildcats Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
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