Northwestern is rolling in the recruiting trail this month and now Mason Robinson has jumped onboard. The Owings Mills (Md.) McDonogh four-star defensive end chose the Wildcats over Penn State.

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"At Northwestern, you can't really beat being 20 minutes away from Chicago," Robinson said. "Being right on Lake Michigan, they have a great beach. I feel like I can be pushed academically and athletically. I think we have a chance to have one of the best classes this year. We have some dogs coming in this year and I feel like the coaches there really support and love me. I think we can really turn that program around.

"Pat Fitzgerald, being a head coach for 17 years is almost unheard of in college football today and having a coaching staff like theirs that is seasoned and knows what they're doing isn't all that common right now," he said. "You can tell, once you step on campus, that they like the guys they like. They've only given out like 50-some offers. They want everybody they've offered to come to their school and that was really noticeable. That left a crazy impact on me. I loved it when I went down there and all the coaches were real. It was a good vibe.

"Even though they didn't have a great season last year, they have a great mindset coming into this season and they're really changing some of the things," said Robinson. "Their strength and conditioning coach is always pumped up, always on 10 and I liked that."

Landing Robinson’s commitment is a big deal for Pat Fitzgerald and his squad. Robinson is an explosive edge rusher with a very high ceiling. He has advanced hand techniques, plays with good leverage, disengages from blockers well, and has plenty of room to fill out his frame. Keeping Robinson away from Penn State is a huge move by Northwestern. The Nittany Lions were the favorite to land Robinson for the majority of his his recruitment. Penn State has signed a player from McDonogh in four of the last five recruiting classes so they had a pretty fairly large leg up on the competition but that didn’t matter for Northwestern once they got him on campus earlier this month.