Northwestern All-Quarter Century Team: Defense
With 25 years already behind us, we are heading into the second quarter of the 21st century. So we thought we would look back on the first quarter century of Northwestern football and hand out some accolades.
We already named the All-Quarter Century Offense. Now, it’s time to turn our attention to the defense.
When the century began, Northwestern was carried by its prolific offense. As an early adopter of the spread, the Wildcats typically outscored teams to win under head coach Randy Walker. But head coach Pat Fitzgerald hired Mike Hankwitz as his defensive coordinator in 2008 and things began to change. Northwestern became a program that relied on its defense to win games, as the offense often struggled to score.
So here is our first-team All-Quarter Century defense, the best Wildcats at each position over the last 25 years.
DE Corey Wootton (2006-09)
Wootton exploded on the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2006, when he led the team in sacks and TFL, was named a Freshman All-American and became the first Wildcat since Hudhaifa Ismaeli in 1995 to record every major defensive statistic in a single season (tackles, TFL, sacks, pass deflections, interceptions, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, QB hurries and blocked kicks). Wootton repeated the feat in 2008, when, as a junior, he was named first-team All-Big Ten and was NU’s MVP after leading the team with 10 sacks, third-most in a single season in school history.
Wootton, who also picked off four passes at NU, was a fourth-round draft choice of the Chicago Bears in 2010. He played in 60 games over five seasons and recorded 12 sacks in his pro career.
DT Luis Castillo (2001-04)
Strong, athletic and disruptive, Castillo made 251 tackles in his Northwestern career, the most ever for a defensive tackle. He ranked fourth on the team in 2004 with 75 stops, including a team-leading 8.5 TFL — all while playing the season with an injured elbow. He had a career-best 11 tackles against Indiana that year and wound up as a second-team All-Big Ten selection. In all, Castillo started 34 games at Northwestern, including the last 31 in a row.
Castillo was taken in the first-round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Diego Chargers, the 28th selection overall. He started 79 games over seven years for the Chargers, making 210 tackles and 12 sacks.
DT Tyler Lancaster (2014-17)
Lancaster, a space-eating, 315-pound monster in the middle, redshirted in 2013 as a freshman and played in just one game in 2014 before an injury sidelined him. Then he started the next 39 games in a row. Lancaster had his finest season in 2017, when, as a redshirt senior and captain who wore the coveted No. 1 jersey, he was named honorable mention All-Big Ten. He made at least two tackles in all 13 games and finished with career highs in tackles (40), TFL (9.5) and sacks (2) for a Wildcats’ defense that ranked 20th in the nation in scoring defense.
Lancaster went undrafted but played in 62 games, with 21 starts, over five seasons for the Green Bay Packers.
DE Joe Gaziano (2015-19)
Gaziano became Northwestern’s all-time sack leader (30) by getting better every year. As a redshirt freshman in 2016, he finished second on the team with 4.5 sacks. He made second-team All-Big Ten in both 2017 and 2018, when he totaled 16.5 sacks. As a redshirt senior, his sack of Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan enabled him to pass Casey Dailey as NU’s all-time leader, and he earned All-Big Ten first team honors with nine sacks and a total of 17 TFL.
After going undrafted, Gaziano has played in 26 games over the last five years in the NFL for three different teams: the Los Angeles Chargers, the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
OLB Napoleon Harris (1998-2001)
Harris, one of the best athletes to ever wear purple, was All-Big Ten at two different positions and even played basketball for two seasons at Northwestern. In 2000, Harris, then a junior, was a second-team All-Big Ten pick at outside linebacker for the Big Ten co-champions and capped the season with a game-high 14 tackles in the Alamo Bowl. He moved to defensive end in 2001 and had 78 tackles, nine TFL, three sacks, 19 quarterback hurries, an INT, five PBUs, a forced fumble a blocked kick. He was again named second-team all-conference. Harris finished his career with 334 tackles and four interceptions.
Harris was drafted in the first round of the 2002 NFL Draft, 23rd overall, by the Oakland Raiders. He was the first NU first-rounder in 19 years and wound up playing eight years as a linebacker in the NFL.
MLB Anthony Walker Jr. (2014-2016)
An athletic freak, Walker ranks third all-time at NU with 38 TFL despite playing just three years. He had a team-high eight tackles and a pick-six in his first start as a redshirt freshman at Penn State in 2014. He broke out in 2015, when he was a consensus first-team All-Big Ten pick, finishing the year with a team-high 122 tackles and 20.5 TFL, fourth-most in the country and second-most in Northwestern annals. As a redshirt junior in 2016 Walker, wearing the No. 1 jersey, battled injuries and still wound up as a second-team All-Big Ten selection with 105 tackles and 10 TFL.
Walker skipped his senior year to enter the NFL Draft and was a fifth-round draft choice of the Indianapolis Colts. He has played in 99 games with three teams over the last eight years: the Colts, the Cleveland Browns and the Miami Dolphins. Walker is on a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 2025.
OLB Kevin Bentley (1998-2001)
Bentley, playing opposite of Harris, made 390 tackles in his career, the sixth-most in Northwestern history, and his 34 TFL places him in a tie for eighth all-time. His seven fumble recoveries are tied for the most in school history, and his 101 fumble-return yards is the most. A three-time All-Big Ten second-team pick, Bentley recorded 12 tackles and three TFL, returned a fumble for a TD and blocked an extra point in a 47-44 double-overtime upset win over Wisconsin.
Bentley was a fourth-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in the 2002 NFL Draft and played in 136 games over 10 years in the league for four different teams.
CB Sherrick McManis (2006-09)
Maybe the greatest diamond-in-the-rough recruit of all time, McManis went from a last-minute recruiting addition to a special teams standout to a first-team All-Big Ten corner to a long NFL career. He earned Freshman All-Big Ten honors in 2006, when he averaged 21.0 yards on kick returns and was the starting cornerback by the end of the season. McManis, whose only other offers were from FCS schools, started at corner the next three years. In 2009, he was named a captain, a first-team All-Big Ten corner and the team’s defensive MVP after making a conference-leading five INTs. He finished his career with nine INTs, tied for ninth-most all-time at NU, and 30 PBUs, fifth-most.
McManis was a fifth-round draft choice of the Houston Texans in the 2010 NFL Draft. He played in 142 games over his 11-year NFL career for the Texans and Bears.
S Godwin Igwebuike (2014-17)
Igwebuike, an outstanding athlete who had his pick between safety and running back for Northwestern, made a big splash in his first career start as a redshirt freshman in 2014, becoming the first Wildcat in 41 years to intercept three passes in one game against Wisconsin. He went on to start 44 of the next 45 games for Northwestern, finishing his career with 324 tackles and 24 PBU, tied for seventh all-time in the program.
After going undrafted, Igwebuike played three years in the NFL as a safety and four more as a running back. In all, he played in 40 games over seven season with six different teams.
S Brandon Joseph (2019-21)
Joseph played in just four games in 2019 to preserve his redshirt and then put together maybe the greatest season a Northwestern defensive back has ever had. He intercepted six passes in just nine games to co-lead the nation, picking off two passes in a game twice and adding a sensational one-handed INT in the end zone in the Big Ten title game that has become legendary (see the image above). He wound up as a first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten selection. His production fell off in 2021 but he was still made honorable mention all-conference and led NU with three interceptions.
Joseph transferred to Notre Dame for his final year of eligibility. He went undrafted in 2023 but has played in 16 games for the Detroit Lions over the last two years.
CB Greg Newsome II (2018-20)
An aggressive, physical lock-down corner who loved to talk trash, Newsome hit the ground running, appearing in six games with four starts as a true freshman in 2018 and finishing second in the Big Ten with 11 PBUs as a sophomore in 2019. He then put together a brilliant 2020 season, leading the Big Ten with 10 passes defended and, according to PFF, not allowing a third-down completion in the regular season. He was a first-team All-Big Ten pick and made second- and third-team All-America teams.
Newsome declared for the NFL Draft after the 2021 Citrus Bowl and was selected with the 26th pick of the first round by the Cleveland Browns. He has appeared in 54 games, with 42 starts, for the Browns and has 155 tackles and three INTs.
