3-star offensive lineman Anthony Birsa commits to Northwestern

One day after receiving an offer from Northwestern, Joliet (Ill.) Joliet Catholic Academy three-star offensive lineman Anthony Birsa committed Friday to the Wildcats.

“First I want to thank God for this amazing opportunity. I want to thank my parents, grandparents, family, and friends for always supporting me. Thank you to all my coaches, past and present, especially Coach Jaworski, Coach Douglas, Couch Monnot, Couch Ziesmer, and Rudy for their guidance. To my Joliet Catholic family, thank for yo for helping me become a better person, player, and student. With that being said, I am so grateful and excited to announce my (commitment) to Northwestern University,” Birsa said in the statement.

Birsa is the No. 698 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

He joins Dearborn (Mich.) Divine Child three-star offensive lineman Dylan Senda, Mount Prospect (Ill.) Prospect three-star athlete Frank Covey IV and Naperville (Ill.) Naperville North three-star quarterback Aidan Gray as the four commits in Northwestern’s 2023 recruiting class. The class ranks No. 21 in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking.

Senda is ranked as a four-star by On3 and is the No. 271 overall recruit in the 2023 On300 ranking. He also has an On3 NIL Valuation of $8.7k. The On3 NIL Valuation is an index that looks to set the standard market value for both high school and college-level athletes. The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.