Northwestern Wildcats Suffer Unfortunate Recruiting Flip

Northwestern's 2026 recruiting class is down to two players after its highest ranked recruit reversed his commitment yesterday. Three-star defensive back Joshua Sims has decided to go to Tulane after commiting to the Wildcats about a month ago. He announced the news on his X account.

Crib!! 110% Committed!! @CoachJonSumrall @JJMcCleskey @CoachGasparato @laura_j25 @youknow_2cool @BallHawkU @d1westnashville @Coach_AD615 @PCHS_Firebirds @GreenWaveFB @SeanW_247Sports @adamgorney @LoyaltyPerform @Radir_Annoor @jaxon_rose8 pic.twitter.com/0admKJAxv2
— Joshua Sims (@JoshSims_23) May 8, 2025

This is an unfortunate blow for the 'Cats. A Nashville native, Sims is the No. 16 ranked player out of Tennessee and the No. 46 corner in the class, according to 247Sports. That's a talented player exiting the program, even if he wasn't a part of it for very long.

Northwestern has clearly been trying to bolster its defense in the 2026 class. When Sims was in the fold, two of its three commits were defensive players. David Braun and co. also have a slew of outstanding offers to other defensive talent.

Those offers now become more important as the 'Cats look to replace the 6-foot-even, 170 lbs prospect.

Flipped commitments are always hard to figure out, even more so now in the NIL era. It isn't worth speculating on why Sims may have made this decision. But the decision has been made, and he'll be heading to Tulane.

Jon Sumrall is the head coach down in New Orleans. Sims will be joining a program that did have significantly more success than Northwestern in 2024, finishing with a 9-5 record. But he is passing up the opportunity to play power-conference football, at least as a freshman.

This news is obviously not what Braun wanted to hear, but the 2026 class is far from full-formed. He still has time to adjust his plans.

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