Elijah Eschmeyer, son of Wildcat great Evan, joins Northwestern as a PWO
Northwestern fans are very familiar with the last name of the Wildcats’ latest addition.
Elijah Eschmeyer, a 6-foot-7 wing in the Class of 2026, announced his commitment to the Wildcat program on Monday as a preferred walkon. He is the son of Evan Eschmeyer, one of the program’s all-time greats.
The younger Eschmeyer graduated from Lafayette (Colo.) Peak to Peak Charter School in 2025 and played a post-grad year this past season at Lake Forest (Ill.) Academy, just north of Northwestern’s campus.
He averaged 13.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game as a senior at Peak to Peak in 2024-25, and 16.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per contest as a junior, according to MaxPreps. Statistics were not readily available for Eschmeyer’s year at Lake Forest Academy.
He reportedly earned an offer from Loyola-Maryland back in 2023.
Northwestern would love Elijah to turn out to be a fraction of the player his father was. Evan played at Northwestern from 1995-99 and is still the school’s all-time leader with 995 career rebounds. He ranks fifth in school history in both points (1,805) and blocks (132). The 6-foot-11 center was a three-time, first-team All-Big Ten selection and a second-team consensus All-American in 1999.
Evan was then drafted in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft and played four years in the NBA with the New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks. He was the last Wildcat drafted before Brooks Barnhizer was selected in the second round in 2025.
Elijah’s twin sister, Alex Eschmeyer, averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game as a freshman this season at Stanford. She was a McDonald’s All-American in the 2025 class.
Elijah joins Northwestern’s two scholarship players in the Class of 2026: shooting guard Jayden Hodge and center Symon Ghai, who are both four-star, Top 100 prospects.
