Okay WickerTurk, let me ask you, how low do you want to go when it comes to academics?
Here are some facts, taken from the 2017-2018 common data set, for first year students:
SAT, 25 percentile: 1420
SAT, 75 percentile: 1560
ACT, 25 percentile: 32
ACT, 75 percentile: 35
1% had SAT Math in 500-599 range, and 1% were 400-499.
3% had SAT Verbal in 500-599 range, and 1% were 400-499.
1% had ACT in the 18-23 range.
100% were in the top 25% of their graduating class.
So it looks like we do have kids who didn't score well on standardized testing, as long as they put in honest work in the classroom to finish at least in the top 25% of their class.
We know that Ryan Greer got accepted with a 1310 SAT, not a bad score, but which places him in the bottom 25% of the incoming freshman class. The PWO kicker from Alabama reported a 24 ACT, a decent score, but which is almost at the bottom 1% of the class.
As GCG and others have mentioned, NU takes athletes with even lower scores than these two that I mentioned.
Note that 37,000 kids applied to Northwestern last year, with 9% being accepted. Every kid is fighting for a spot, and to gift a spot worth more than $300K over 4 years to an athlete who is underprivileged is something that NU apparently does, but not enough to liking of some ignorant fans. You can only give away so many spots. That's why Fitz, Collins, and other NU coaches have some of the most challenging jobs in the country.