Northwestern Football Offers Two Brothers Early in 2027 Recruiting Cycle
Northwestern's 2026 recruiting class is still being finalized, but the 2027 process is already underway. Back in April, the 'Cats offered an offensive lineman in the 2027 class named Hunter Mallinger. Now, as of yesterday, they've offered his twin brother, Reece Mallinger.
Hunter has a three-star rating on 247Sports, and he's received offers from some higher-profile schools like Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. Early in the brothers' recruitment, he seems like the more difficult player to convince to come to Evanston.
Reece, meanwhile, is an unranked prospect as of right now. That can always change since there's a lot of time left, but Northwestern was his first official offer. He announced the news on X yesterday.
After a great camp and conversation with @DavidBraunFB I’m blessed to say that I’ve received my first offer to play football at Northwestern University!! @OB_Cats @CoachRyanOlson @HHSCoachGumm @Mr_Nellis @MJ_NFLDraft @RivalsFriedman @AllenTrieu @On3sports pic.twitter.com/tc82IKcSO8
— Reece Mallinger (@ReeceMallinger) June 8, 2025
Both brothers attended Sussex Hamilton High School in Wisconsin, and both are self-reported giants. According to their respective X bio's, Hunter is 6-foot-5 with a weight of 290 lbs while Reece is 6-foot-6 and 290 lbs.
These numbers could obviously be slightly inflated, but even if they are, the twins are clearly way ahead of the typical high school lineman in the size department. It makes both of them intriguing prospects early on in the cycle with more limited knowledge of other player traits.
It's unclear if the brothers are a package deal, or if they're willing to separate and head to different programs for college. But offering both feels like a good strategy. Hunter is the more exciting prospect right now, but Reece's recruitment could always pick up steam. And Northwestern is currently the only school that has offered both.
The 'Cats will hope to convince the brothers that Northwestern is the place for them. If they can do that, then NU will have two extremely projectable frame's coming into the program in the near future.
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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.