Northwestern continued its tradition of mining the Chicago area for talent on Friday, picking up an oral commitment from Lincoln-Way East’s Sean McLaughlin.
“After a lot of thinking I have decided to become a Wildcat,” McLaughlin tweeted. “I grew up watching Northwestern play with my grandpa and I am excited to follow in his footsteps.”
The 6-7, 230-pounder is ranked 15th in Illinois in the Class of 2020 by 247sports.com, which also has him rated 43rd nationally among strongside defensive ends.
Rivals Midwest recruiting analyst Josh Helmholdt sees McLaughlin as a player with a solid upside.
”Sean is a high potential guy who has a lot of growth ahead of him before he’s playing at the Big Ten level,” Helmholdt said.
”I’m very interested to see what he looks like in the fall after an offseason of physical and skill development.”
McLaughlin had 18 offers, according to Rivals, including from six other Big Ten schools: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue and Wisconsin.
He also had offers from three Ivy League programs: Harvard, Princeton and Yale.
The list goes on and on from people who have affected my life so I can’t thank you all enough because I’m officially a wildcat and I couldn’t be happier to say it! pic.twitter.com/2SAMvFvGWR
— Sean McLaughlin (@sean_mac44) June 7, 2019
