{"id":7246,"date":"2025-02-15T12:14:29","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T12:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7246"},"modified":"2025-02-15T12:14:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T12:14:29","slug":"princetons-noah-laporte-changing-his-stripes-signs-with-northwestern-friday-night-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/princetonillinois.com\/?p=7246","title":{"rendered":"Princeton\u2019s Noah LaPorte changing his stripes, signs with Northwestern – Friday Night Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"


Princeton Class 3A senior all-stater Noah LaPorte signs to play for the Northwestern Wildcats Wednesday afternoon at Prouty Gym. He was joined by his signing by his grandfather, Bob LaPorte, Jr.,, his mother, Kristin Wright, his father, Bob LaPorte, and his brother, Luke. <\/span>(Kevin Hieronymus)
Noah LaPorte has changed his stripes on the football field from the Princeton Tigers to the Northwestern University Wildcats.
The Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 3A All-Stater from Princeton signed to play Big Ten football for the Wildcats in front of a gathering of family, friends, coaches and teammates Wednesday afternoon at Prouty Gym.
Northwestern was the first school to make an offer to LaPorte on April 20, and he committed to the Wildcats exactly a month later.
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of an unreal feeling. Finally, I put the pen to the paper, and now I\u2019m going to be a part of that team. I\u2019m looking forward to it and excited to get to work with my teammates,\u201d LaPorte said.
A two-way, unanimous all-conference player for the Tigers, the 6-foot-6 LaPorte will focus on offense, playing tight end for the Wildcats.
\u201cPlan on bulking up and everything. I don\u2019t have any doubt they can do that for me,\u201d he said.
Princeton coach Ryan Pearson is excited to see LaPorte have the opportunity to play at the highest level.
\u201cAnytime you can get a kid, get the opportunity to play Big Ten football and get his education paid for and play the game he loves, you really can\u2019t ask for anything more than that,\u201d he said.
\u201cHe has the entire package. You have the physical attributes. He\u2019s 6-foot-6, athletic, but it\u2019s the character that truly sets him apart from a lot of other kids. He\u2019s going to be a great student academically. You don\u2019t have to worry about him character-wise. Just a great teammate and then a great leader. Most importantly, what a great example for all our kids coming up in our program to watch him go and play at the highest level, that\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d
LaPorte made his first big splash for the Tigers as a sophomore, setting a single-game school record with 206 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
As a senior, LaPorte made 30 receptions for 450 yards and five TDs. On defense, he had 44 tackles, including 3.5 tackles for loss, two blocked punts and two fumble recoveries.
LaPorte is the second Princeton<\/a> player and third from Bureau County to sign with a Big Ten school in two years, following former teammate Teegan Davis (Iowa)<\/a> and Hall\u2019s Mac Resetich (Illinois)<\/a> in 2022. He is the fourth Tiger to go on to the NCAA Division I ranks during that time, including 2024 grads Payne Miller (Western Illinois) and Bennett Williams (Air Force).
He also received an offer from Michigan State, among other schools, including Kansas, and made multiple trips to Illinois.
LaPorte appreciated all the support from the many well-wishers who attended his signing.
\u201cIt\u2019s an unreal feeling having all these friends and family care about me, coming out supporting, watching me sign,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m glad I had the support from them.\u201d
LaPorte plans to study something business-related at Northwestern, saying, \u201cI\u2019m good with numbers.\u201d
Northwestern is hoping he can help it turn those numbers into wins the next four years.
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network
Copyright \u00a9 2023 Shaw Local News Network<\/p>\n

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Princeton Class 3A senior all-stater Noah LaPorte signs to play for the Northwestern Wildcats Wednesday afternoon at Prouty Gym. He was joined by his signing by his grandfather, Bob LaPorte, Jr.,, his mother, Kristin Wright, his father, Bob LaPorte, and his brother, Luke. (Kevin Hieronymus)Noah LaPorte has changed his stripes on the football field from the Princeton Tigers to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t