Experience, transfers highlight new-look Northwestern football that aims to move on from 2024

David Braun talks Northwestern football's fall camp: 'can't spray perfume on a 4-8 season'

Northwestern football is looking to move on from a 4-8 season 2024, to which head coach David Braun said you "can't spray perfume on a 4-8 season." Here's how the 'Cats are looking to move on.

Coaching clichés usually dictate that any struggles in a previous season are left behind. After all, why discuss what was in the past?

That wasn't the case for Northwestern head coach David Braun on Wednesday. After practice No. 7 for the Wildcats, he was blunt about how last season lingers around the program. 

"You can't spray perfume on a 4-8 season, it just stinks," Braun said. "We've all had to evaluate, but ultimately, everything that does or does not happen within this program ultimately comes back to me."

The backstory:

The Wildcats reveled in Braun's 8-5 record in his first season. The interim tag was taken off, and Braun ended his chaotic year with a Las Vegas Bowl win over Utah.

In 2024, Northwestern fell backward with a 4-8 record. Losses to Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio State were proof of how much of a gap there was between NU and the top-half of the Big Ten. That required Braun to do some soul-searching.

What Northwestern needed was an infusion of talent, and the ‘Cats looked to the transfer portal. This is synonymous with the new age of college football, and Braun found 11 potential starters in the portal this offseason. This includes quarterback Preston Stone, cornerback Fred Davis, wide receiver Griffin Wilde, linebacker Yanni Karlaftis and offensive linemen Xavior Gray, Evean Beernsten, Talan Chandler and Martes Lewis. These players needed to fit NU’s scheme, but Braun also wanted them to fit the locker room.

"I'll acknowledge is our staff and everyone involved in that process hit a home run in terms of character evaluation," Braun said. "That entire group has done a great job of buying into, what Northwestern's all about, what this team's all about."

Northwestern's mix of transfer players and returning players has to provide a combination of talent that can stand up to the 'Cats 2025 schedule. They open on the road against Tulane, travel to Nebraska, USC and Penn State, while hosting Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota. The latter two games against the Wolverines and Gophers play at Wrigley Field.

This schedule demands a better roster, and that's reflected in how Braun is conducting fall camp.

"We are challenging them," Braun said. "Whether it be the off-season – whether it be spring ball and the way that we practice, the way that we're practicing and the way that we're challenging 'em right now in fall camp – we're challenging them in ways that we've never challenged 'em before, and they just continue to respond."

Big picture view:

These incoming transfers give Northwestern depth and talent. Some came from Group of 5 teams, a few are from Power 4 programs and others are from FCS programs. It's all part of Braun's evaluation process, too.

It doesn't matter what level of football someone is playing. If Braun identifies them as a fit, he'll pursue them. The players Braun recruited have fit seamlessly.

"They fit well into our culture," NU running back Cam Porter said. "Coach Braun is big on that, finding guys that ultimately are going to help us win football games, but, at the end of the day, can come in in jell well with the guys, and that's exactly what's happened. These guys, I've only known them for six to eight months, but I felt like I've known them for a lifetime."

The returning players understand what Northwestern needs. Porter, specifically, had such a bad taste in his mouth after the 2024 season he bypassed NFL aspirations to return for one more season.

College football teams with a plethora of experience are the norm now with the transfer portal as active as it is. Northwestern, understanding this, hired Christian Sarkisian as the athletic department's general manager. He'll oversee all the teams within NU's athletic program, but will have a specific focus on the football program, the NCAA v. House settlement that passed earlier this summer and NIL evaluations. 

Hiring general managers has been commonplace in the past year for college football programs. Hiring Sarkisian was a sign of the times, but something NU deemed a requirement.

"College football has flipped on its head, and for us to think that we can operate in a similar fashion to the way that we have over the last three years, last 10 years, the last 20, we'd be kidding ourselves," Braun said. "Him being on board allows me to be very involved in how we're operating in that space, but ultimately trusting that he's the one that's thinking about that 24/7 and allowing me to focus on our team and what we need to do this season to win a bunch of games."

Moving into the modern day of college football will be a big step for Northwestern.

But, Braun knows that's a necessity after a 4-8 season that showed college football has no problem leaving Northwestern behind. All the offseason changes Braun has made will have a chance to impact the program starting now in fall camp.

"If we want to talk about winning Big 10 championships, if we want to talk about playing in the CFP, we have to evaluate daily if the way that we're operating aligns with that," Braun said. "And when it doesn't, there needs to be accountability."