Northwestern has dipped into Florida and has received a pledge from a big-time offensive tackle in the 2022 class.

Wednesday morning, the Wildcats landed a verbal commitment from 3-star offensive tackle Austin Firestone, a native of Niceville, Florida. Rivals.com reported on the pledge.

Firestone received more than two dozen offers on the recruiting trail. He picked Northwestern over Virginia, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Duke, Florida State, Kansas State, Louisville, Mississippi State, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee, UCF and others.

Per 247Sports, the 6-foot-5, 260-pound Firestone is ranked as one of the Top 50 offensive tackles in the 2022 recruiting class and is a Top 500 overall talent, ranking No. 440 nationally. He becomes the 13th player to commit to the Wildcats and is the second-highest-ranked member of the class, behind 4-star wide receiver Reggie Fleurima.

Firestone’s decision comes after a visit to Evanston to see the Northwestern campus. He also recently visited Vanderbilt, Virginia and Penn State.

Northwestern now has three offensive tackles committed in the 2022 class. Along with Firestone, the Wildcats have verbal pledges from 3-star talents Danny McGuire and Nick Herzog.

The ‘Cats currently own the B1G’s 11th-ranked recruiting class in the B1G and sit at No. 40 in the national rankings, per 247Sports Composite.