Growing up in Ohio in the 1950s, Ron Burton always expected to be the star running back at Ohio State. Woody Hayes recruited him and there was mutual interest until Ara Parseghian, the new head coach at Northwestern, convinced Burton to come to Evanston where he’d have the opportunity to try to beat Hayes.
At the time, this was a major gamble: Northwestern was coming off of a winless season and had a new coach. But Burton bet on himself, and the Wildcats ultimately beat Hayes and the Buckeyes 21–0 in ’58. However, that didn’t exactly usher in a new era for the program. Over Burton’s four years, Northwestern went 15-20-1.
In ’60, Burton became just the third Wildcat to be a first-round NFL draft pick when the Eagles selected him ninth. In the 60 drafts since, you can count the number of first-round NFL picks from Northwestern on one hand.
So when the Wildcats saw offensive lineman Rashawn Slater (No. 13 to the Chargers) and cornerback Greg Newsome II (No. 26 to the Browns) drafted in Thursday’s first round, the first time the program has ever had multiple first-rounders in the same draft, it put Northwestern in an unfamiliar spotlight.
“We have a belief here that we want to be the best player development staff in the country,” current Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald says. “To see this happen where you’ve got a top 10 academic reputation, you’ve got a top 10 football team and now I have multiple guys developed to be first-round picks, I think it makes a statement that you can have it all here at Northwestern.”
