Northwestern Competes with In-State Rival for 2027 Shooting Guard
In this story:
Northwestern offered two unranked members of the 2027 recruiting class over the past couple of days, Jimmy McKinney III and Quinton Kitt. The latter, an Illinois native, announced his offer on Sunday via X.
after a great conversation with Coach Lowery, i am extremely blessed to receive my 4th D1 offer from Northwestern University 🟣⚪️#gowildcats pic.twitter.com/i79XRHhKRw
— Quinton Kitt (@quintonkitt) May 19, 2025
Kitt is a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from East Peoria, according to 247Sports. He is currently not ranked by the website, but it's early on in the process for 2027 recruits. It wouldn't be surprising to see him pick up a star rating of some sort in the future, especially since he's already received a separate offer from a different Big Ten school.
Northwestern's in-state rival Illinois put itself in the running as well, offering Kitt on the same exact day as the Wildcats. Now, we have a competition on our hands between two programs that have fought some tight battles in recent seasons.
In this era of 'Cats basketball, a recruiting victory over the Illini would feel like a major win. Illinois has a much richer basketball tradition and found more recent success than Northwestern prior to the past few seasons.
If the Wildcats can start poaching in-state talent from Illinois, that would be a major step for Chris Collins's program. Historically speaking, Northwestern has had more trouble attracting the state's best given its high academic standards and lack of success.
But it's a new day in Evanston. The university is embracing NIL, and its basketball program is competing with the best of the best in the Big Ten. If Kitt chooses NU, the school will hope he can be part of the next core and further this program's momentum. But the 'Cats have to beat out their biggest rival first.
Read More Northwestern Wildcats Coverage
Ryan Cole is a writer for Northwestern Wildcats On SI covering every team on campus. He’s currently a junior at NU where he’s studying journalism and previously wrote and edited for Inside NU. He also studies business with an eye towards eventually helping develop business models to revive local news. In his free time, Cole enjoys watching sports, playing sports, reading the news and singing.