No 76 Ranked Northwestern Commit Undergoes ACL Surgery

One of the Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball program's bright young future stars just went under the knife for ACL surgery, and will now begin the lengthy rehab process.

Wildcats recruit Jayden Hodge, the No. 76-ranked prospect among his senior high school class, tore his ACL two weeks ago. The Montverde Academy forward rejected overtures from Vanderbilt University and Georgetown University to sign with the Wildcats, a major coup for Chris Collins' program.

As Charlie Perlman of The Daily Northwestern noticed, Hodge's father Odell shared photos of his son on his Instagram stories.

"@jayden.hodge33 Baby boy surgery was very successful, road to recovery starts now!!" the older Hodge wrote in one post, adding "You got this buddy boy!!" in another.

Hodge had been averaging 11 points in his six healthy games with Montverde.

“Northwestern has great coaching staff, and they made me a priority as a high schooler this year,” Hodge reflected after announcing his decision to commit in October, according to Perlman. “Coach Collins really came in and started coming to my games, so the connection just got better and better every single day. I felt like I could go (to NU) and work hard and try to bring an impact immediately.”

Could Hodge replace the scoring void left by outgoing senior Nick Martinelli?

Martinelli declared for the 2025 NBA Draft last season while maintaining his collegiate eligibility (a nifty option to have in today's hyper-competitive pro hoops atmosphere). He ultimately returned to the Wildcats for 2025-26. The club has had a disappointing encore to its 2024-25 season, and now appears to be in serious jeopardy of missing March Madness entirely. A five-game losing skid has dropped Northwestern to an 8-10 record on the season as of this writing, with Los Angeles road tilts on the team's slate this week.

The club's second- and third-leading scorers, transfer additions Arrinten Page and Jayden Reid, are juniors who have yet to pop, so presumably they'll return in 2026-27. Freshman forward Tre Singleton had some big moments during a recent otherwise-forgettable blowout loss against Nebraska earlier this week. So whenever Hodge does return, there will be room for him to score.

“You can expect a player who plays to win,” Hodge said of what he'll bring the Wildcats, prior to his ACL tear. “Every time I step on the court, I make winning plays. I’ll dive on the floor, play both sides of the ball and guard every position on the court. I’ll just do anything on the court that helps the team win.”

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