Pat Fitzgerald is bringing a little East Coast flavor to Chicago.

On Sunday, Northwestern received a verbal pledge from three-star athlete Donnie Gray. The native of New Haven, Conn. becomes the first player to commit in the Wildcats’ 2021 class. He made his announcement public with a tweet on Sunday afternoon.

“After a long talk with my family and coaches, I am extremely excited to announce my commitment to play football and attend Northwestern University,” Gray wrote on Twitter. “Special thanks to Coach Fitzgerald and Coach Springer!”

Northwestern has now joined 12 other B1G programs to have at least one player committed in the 2021 class. Rutgers is the last team without a verbal pledge for the cycle.

Gray is listed as the No. 84 athlete in the 2021 class and is ranked as the No. 12 player out of the state of Connecticut. In addition to Northwestern, he received offers from Brown, UConn, Dartmouth, UMass, Old Dominion, Rhode Island, Temple and Yale.

Northwestern finished the 2020 recruiting cycle with the nation’s 47th-ranked class.