NEWS: Treveon Howard and Braden Turner headline another multi-commitment day for Northwestern

As the most palpable heat of the summer approaches, Northwestern football’s recruiting efforts have remained red hot.

On Friday, the Wildcats added another two prospects to its Class of 2022, with commitments from safety Trevon Howard and cornerback Braden Turner. The defensive backs’ announcements come just two days after three recruits made commitments of their own to NU. The 2022 class now contains 11 student-athletes, all but three of whom decided on Northwestern after the start of the month, when Pat Fitzgerald and his staff were allowed to welcome recruits to campus for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Per 247Sports’ class calculator, NU’s 2022 group is the country’s 29th-best and the Big Ten’s eighth-strongest, sitting directly behind Michigan State on both of those lists.

Howard is one of the most notable members of the class so far, ranked 448th nationally by 247Sports and sitting behind only Naperville Central WR Reggie Fleurima in terms of recruiting pedigree in the newest group of incoming Wildcats. Hailing from Florida’s IMG Academy — the same school that Greg Newsome II attended — his commitment to Northwestern likely incited envy in several other Big Ten programs, as Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Indiana and Illinois all had extended him a scholarship offer. Though in the end, it seems that the safety — who is originally native to Minneapolis — chose NU over Iowa State, Colorado and Arizona, where he also took official visits this month.

Turner comes in with a slightly lower profile when compared to Howard. He isn't ranked by 247Sports, nor has he been assigned a star rating by the recruiting-focused outlet, but Rivals has him as a three-star prospect. While no other Big Ten school’s extended him an offer, his talents were sought by fellow Power 5 programs Kentucky, Colorado and Wake Forest.