An early March visit to Evanston was enough to convince Texas Longhorns defensive end target Earnest Brown to commit to the Northwestern Wildcats on Tuesday evening despite high-profile offers from around the country:
I thank God and the coaches for giving me such a great opportunity, but I decided to commit to Northwestern #GoCats pic.twitter.com/GY9mg22HI9
— Earnest Brown IV (@ErnieBIV) March 23, 2016
The 6'5, 233-pounder is every bit as earnest as his name would suggest and visited Texas for the Junior Day in late February, but his high-level interest in academics was eventually enough to convince him to commit early to Northwestern, representing a rare win for the Wildcats over top programs like Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, and Texas A&M.
Burnt Orange Nation spoke with Brown at the recent Dallas The Opening Regional camp and the first thing that he mentioned was the academic presentation at Texas when he visited for the Junior Day, so that was clearly a factor in his decision as his biggest point of emphasis during his recruitment.
When asked which programs were standing out to him, he mentioned the Wildcats first, so head coach Pat Fitzgerald's program was clearly in his mind at the time. Brown added that stability is another important factor for him and after winning 10 games last year following two 5-7 seasons, Fitzgerald should currently have plenty of it at his alma mater.
However, the Denton Ryan product did have several other visits planned for this spring and a possible summer trip back to Austin, so it will be worth watching to see whether he follows through on those trips or whether he shuts down his recruitment entirely.
Brown is ranked as a consensus four-star prospect and the No. 302 player nationally, the No. 11 strongside defensive end, and the No. 44 player in the state of Texas, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings.