​The Northwestern Wildcats will open the season tonight, with a home matchup against FCS powerhouse South Dakota State. Leading the way for the Cats is fifth year safety Robert Fitzgerald (no relation to Pat). He was second in the Big Ten and 25th nationally in tackles last season. Fitzgerald’s 70 solo stops led the Big Ten and tied for 2nd nationally in 2025.By some draft boards, Fitz is the Cats best rated NFL Draft prospect. If the general rankings are correct, then he should be among the top 30 defensive backs, and/or top 130 players selected next April.During his weekly Monday press conference, Northwestern head coach David Braun discussed the development of Fitzgerald over the course of his career, including the challenge presented to him by the coaching staff to improve his space tackling. We asked him about that challenge this past week.“I was focused on improving a lot of things,” Fitzgerald said in an interview with USA Today Draft Wire and one other media member.”Like you said, tackling like is something that Coach (Tim) McGarnigle (the Defensive Coordinator) talks about  is that tackling is a thing where you’ve never arrived.”You always need to improve every single day out there, when we practice. So tackling, man coverage, and then taking the ball away, getting turnovers, getting more interceptions, punching out the ball, things like that.”The hard-hitting safety brings a lot to the table, including leadership. Fitzgerald is the Wildcats’ face of the franchise, in every way, shape and form. He also has a golden opporunity to improve his NFL Draft stock this season. Every day in practice, he and his defensive teammates scrimmage against a sophisticated offense led by their offseason splash hire and brand name OC Chip Kelly.”It’s been great,” Fitzgerald said of practicing against Kelly’s high profile, fast-paced attack. “You know, Chip’s a genius. He’s got a lot of good stuff in that’s going to challenge our opponents, and we got some of the best weapons on offense in the country. So excited to see what they can do this year.”Kickoff against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, is slated for 7pm central, and it will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: Northwestern’s Robert Fitzgerald a rising prospect at safety