“Olympus something” is the only phrase Cameron Queiro could conjure up following his trip to the movies Thursday, where he attended a showing of “Olympus Has Fallen,” an action flick featuring Morgan Freeman. Queiro didn’t particularly enjoy his jaunt to the theater, and when he walked out after having sat through an unsatisfactory two hours, something was amiss. Queiro had lost track of time.
Then it hit him. “I was so excited,” Quiero recalled of the situation. Queiro was going to make his college commitment, and he knew just the people he needed to call. Moments later, he dialed up his parents and Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald on a conference call. Quiero formalized the decision that – in the mind of his mother, who Queiro said already “considered him a Wildcat” months before he finally made it official – has long been merely procedural. Queiro gave his verbal commitment to join Northwestern in 2014.
“They’ve been communicating with me for a really long time,” Queiro said of his recruitment process. “I felt like I could trust them with my life for the next four years. It was time.”
To wipe out any and all indecisiveness, Queiro recently visited some North Carolina schools over spring break. He enjoyed his trip, particularly NC State, but enjoyment and general intrigue have nothing on the trust and interest Queiro has cultivated with Northwestern and its coaches. Queiro returned home unmoved by the North Carolina schools and, in turn, even more convinced about Northwestern.
With every alternative option thoroughly explored – he also held offers from Vanderbilt and Pittsburgh – Queiro was ready to end the speculation. Now he can focus on what’s in front of him: football, school, enjoying his senior year of high school, you name it.
“It feels good to have gotten it over with,” he said. “Now I can relax and just enjoy school and football.”
Academics and coaching ties and football goals are only part of what made Northwestern such an obvious fit for Queiro. His older brother, Kyle, a 2013 signee, pulled him closer to the program with each and every conversation and positive encounter. By the time Kyle committed last summer, Cameron had already been in contact with Northwestern coaches. The rest was naturally conceived – as Kyle grew more and more enamored with Northwestern, Cameron’s recruiting priorities fell in line with his brother’s.
Before long, Cameron was on Northwestern’s campus for an unofficial visit, a trip he called “one of the best weekends of my life.” His experience at Northwestern crystallized the nature of his recruitment. From then on, his mindset was unequivocal: it was Northwestern until proven otherwise. Various schools took interest in the 2014 linebacker, but in the back of his mind, and with his mom casually offering her opinion on the subject along the way, Queiro had Northwestern at the top of his list. It was up to other programs to convince him otherwise; none did.
“I didn’t have any words,” Queiro said about his conversation with Fitzgerald Thursday. Cameron wasn’t the only one. When receiving word of his brother’s decision, Kyle nodded in approval, and nothing else. “don’t you have something to say?” Cameron asked. Kyle didn’t need to – the consummation of a promise made long ago was enough to christen the moment.
“The last time we played together, I told him this wouldn’t be the last time,” Cameron said. “Now we have four more years.”
It wasn’t long before Kyle dropped the tough guy big brother act and congratulated his brother. Cameron has seen this act before – the playful but competitive attitude his older brother exudes – and he couldn’t be more excited to have guaranteed himself four more years of it.
“It’s going to help me a lot,” Cameron said of playing with his brother.
Only one Queiro brother will join the Wildcats this fall. Cameron will have to wait a year before he joins Kyle in Evanston. In the meantime, the newly committed Wildcat has some thinking to do. The Queiro brothers don’t have a nickname.
“I’ll need to think about it,” Cameron chuckled. Maybe a simple description is easier to digest. Northwestern is on the verge of welcoming Kyle (2013) and Cameron (2014) Queiro, two excellent football players with very bright futures ahead of them.