Northwestern lands commitment from 2019 quarterback Cale Millen

It didn’t take long for Cale Millen to realize that Northwestern was where he wanted to continue his football career.

After visiting this weekend, the 6-foot-3, 190 pound quarterback committed to the Wildcats on Sunday evening. He is the second member of Northwestern’s 2019 recruiting class.

Millen, a native of Snoqualmie, Wash., attends Mount Si High School where he starred his junior season. The pro-style quarterback threw for 2,447 yards and 32 touchdowns with just four interceptions, and completed nearly 70-percent of his passes.

Rated a three-star prospect by both 247 Sports and Rivals, Millen’s lone offer besides Northwestern was UCLA, which he got back in February. Former UCLA head coach Jim Mora played at Washington the year before Millen’s father Hugh transferred from Santa Rosa J.C. to join the Huskies. The following year, Mora was a graduate assistant for the 11-1, Orange Bowl-winning Washington team that was quarterbacked by the elder Millen.

With Chip Kelly replacing Mora in Westwood, it’s unclear and unlikely that the offer to Millen carried over to the new coaching staff. Regardless, Millen’s skillset likely does not fit a traditional Kelly-designed offense. The junior also garnered interest from Utah, Washington, Washington State and Wisconsin, among others. His commitment to Northwestern comes very early in the process.

Fitzgerald loves to build a recruiting class around a quarterback. Jason Whittaker was the first commit of the Class of 2018. There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position in Evanston when three-year starter Clayton Thorson leaves, so Millen could realistically come in and compete for playing time immediately. Barring the addition of a transfer, as a freshman, Millen will join T.J. Green, Aidan Smith, Andrew Marty and Jason Whittaker as Northwestern’s quarterbacks. Should Thorson return for his redshirt senior campaign, there’s a good chance that none of the aforementioned quarterbacks will have meaningful in-game experience.

Millen joins linebacker Bryce Gallagher in Northwestern’s 2019 recruiting class.

Here are the highlights from Millen’s standout junior campaign.