On the map

Sporting News, The, Feb 5, 1996 by Gene Wojciechowski

Before the Dream Season, the 10-2 record, the first Rose Bowl appearance since 1949, the Charlton Heston overdose and the purple mania, there was this:

"Uh, this is Coach Smith of Northwestern University, which is located near Chicago and is a member in good standing of the Big Ten Conference."

At least, that's the way Jeff Genyk remembers the recruiting pitches. Genyk should know because he oversees Northwestern's football operations and coordinates the program's recruiting efforts.

"In many cases," Genyk says, "there was a lack of general awareness of Northwestern University."

Making a pitch to a prized high school player often was greeted with expressionless, blank stares, as if you were looking into the eye of a chicken. So lacking in knowledge were some recruits that they probably thought the school was located not in Evanston, but in the Pacific northwest.

All that began to change after the Wildcats shocked Notre Dame in the season opener and later upset Penn State and Michigan and nearly beat Southern California in the Rose Bowl. Suddenly Gary Barnett was doing "The Tonight Show"-- that is, when he wasn't turning down offers from Georgia and UCIA Darnell Autry became the country's most recognizable theater major. Northwestern became America's sweetheart.

No dummies, Barnett and Genyk expanded and refined their recruiting plan. As always, they would sell Northwestern's tradition of academics, as well as its affiliation with the Big Ten. But now they could sell an actual football program. The results were immediate.

"During this year we've been able to remain involved in the recruiting of the top-flight blue-chip players in the country," Genyk says. "It's to the point now with the exposure, the dream season, the America's-team thing, that there's a great deal of awareness, a desire to learn more. Previously, a lot of the top-flight athletes would show no interest."

Rick Kimbrel, managing editor of Blue-chip Illustrated, one of the leading recruiting publications, says: "The caliber of football player that's looking at Northwestern is outstanding."

As next Wednesday's national signing day approaches, Northwestern has oral commitments for nearly aR its available scholarships, which number, Genyk says, between 13 and 17. It is a relatively small recruiting class, but only because the Wildcats have 19 of 24 starters returning in 1996.

NCAA rules don't allow Genyk to discuss specific recruits. However, he did say the school was attracting more quality athletes (who also meet Northwestern's rigid academic entrance standards) than ever before.

"Early on (in Barnett's tenure) I maybe we were only batting 1 for 20 on crecruiting topflight players," he says. "As we continue to get better, we're now able to get a handful of that 20."

Asked to update the batting percentage, Genyk says, "Let's just say it's up dramatically."

Among those players who have given Northwestern an oral commitment is Jack Harnedy, an offensive lineman from Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. Harnedy was wooed by Michigan, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Illinois, Stanford, Ohio State and Indiana, but he wasted little time choosing Northwestern.

"I was just so impressed by the way Coach Barnett and (assistant) coach (Gregg) Brandon presented Northwestern," says Harnedy, who had attended football camps at Michigan and Northwestern. "With the academics, you don't go wrong -- that was the main thing. And the coaches and the players were so open. They brought you into their family. It was 'Wow' -- you were blown away."

He must have been. Harnedy canceled his other recruiting trips and committed to the Wildcats immediately after his official visit. He says he feels even better about his decision now.

"When they were having such a great season, I could tell this is how it would be for a while," he says.

With such a small incoming class, Harnedy already has become friends with fellow Northwestern recruits Neil Carroll, a second-team all-state offensive lineman from Chicago's St. Patrick High School, and Ty Garner, a top offensive and defensive lineman from St. Mary's Springs in Fond du Lac, Wis. Corbett Elsen, a quarterback from East Grand Rapids High School in Grand Rapids, Mich., also has committed to the Wildcats. Harnedy, Carroll and Garner attended the Wildcats' rose Bowl welcome-back celebration at the Evanston campus. Garner even stays at Harnedy's house on occasion.

We've talked about why we went (to Northwestern)," Harnedy says. "That's all we talk about."

Still to be determined is whether Barnett and his staff can sign the Top 10-type of recruit, the elite high school player of the year. For perhaps the first time in Barnett four-year tenure, Northwestern has begun to find itself in what recruiting evaluator Allen Wallace calls, "The better living rooms." The reason: a storybook season.

Case in point: Wallace, who works for SuperPrep Magazine, says Northwestern was briefly on wide receiver/defensive back Troy Garner's short list. Considered by some to be one of the best players in the country, Garner, of Sherman Oaks, Calif., will sign with USC.