Northwestern Wildcats football statistical leaders

The Northwestern Wildcats football statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the Northwestern Wildcats football program in various categories,^[1] including passing, rushing, receiving, total offense, defensive stats, and kicking. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. The Wildcats represent Northwestern University in the NCAA Division I FBS Big Ten Conference.

Although Northwestern began competing in intercollegiate football in 1876 (150 years ago) (1876),^[1] records from before the 1950s are often incomplete and inconsistent, so players from then may not make it onto these lists.

These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:

• Since the 1950s, seasons have increased from 10 games to 11 and then 12 games in length.
• The NCAA didn't allow freshmen to play varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of the World War II years), allowing players to have four-year careers.
• Bowl games only began counting toward single-season and career statistics in 2002.^[2] The Wildcats have played in 10 bowl games since the decision, allowing many recent players an extra game to accumulate statistics.
• Since 2018, players have been allowed to participate in as many as four games in a redshirt season; previously, playing in even one game "burned" the redshirt.^[3] Since 2024, postseason games have not counted against the four-game limit.^[4] These changes to redshirt rules have given very recent players several extra games to accumulate statistics.

These lists are updated through the end of the 2025 season.