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Wide receiver Bennett Skowronek announced his intention to leave Northwestern for Notre Dame on his Twitter account late Wednesday night.
Love Thee ☘️ @NDFootball pic.twitter.com/KzXyvfDvPA
— Bennett Skowronek (@BSkowronek10) January 2, 2020
According to the tweet, Skowronek has signed with the Irish and will enroll at the school for the upcoming spring semester. He has one remaining year of collegiate eligibility.
As reported by the Chicago Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein back in December, Skowronek considered forgoing his final year of eligibility to pursue a career in the pros, but he ultimately opted to enter the transfer portal yet remained open to returning to Northwestern for his final year of eligibility.
Skowronek’s final season in Evanston was cut short by an injury. He only appeared in three games in 2019 with 12 catches for 141 yards. Those numbers still made him the fourth best receiver on the team in terms of yardage. In total, Skowronek caught 110 passes for 1417 yards and eight touchdowns while donning the purple.
The 6-foot-4 receiver will be remembered fondly by ‘Cats fans for his unreal catch against Iowa last season, a game which saw Northwestern clinch the Big Ten West, perhaps the biggest play in modern program history.
The Fighting Irish are coming off of an 11-win season and a blowout Camping Word Bowl win against Iowa State. They return quarterback Ian Book but lose top receivers Chris Finke and Chase Claypool as well as offensive coordinator Chip Long. Skowronek is a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, as well.
For more speculation on the transfer, feel free to dive into these tweets:
For people wondering: there could be, and probably are, other factors involved, but certainly seems like this decision can be boiled down to a greater platform as Skowronek tries to make the jump to the next level.
— Inside NU (@insidenu) January 2, 2020
Every game ND plays is on NBC. Sometimes, it’s just that simple. https://t.co/WVos1PSZ6B
I’d also attribute it to stability. ND has a talented multi-year starter at QB. Having a better understanding of what you’re walking into offensively and ensuring you’ve got a guy who can get you the ball is huge for a guy pursuing the pros. TV/brand/“dream school” doesn’t hurt.
— Kevin Sweeney (@CBB_Central) January 2, 2020
For Northwestern, the thin wide receiver corps remains a huge concern moving forward. In addition to the loss of Skowronek, NU also saw its top 2020 WR recruit flip to Purdue in the Early Signing Period a few weeks ago.