Northwestern left tackle Peter Skoronski declares for the NFL draft. One of the top linemen in the class, he is a likely 1st-round pick.

Northwestern left tackle Peter Skoronski announced he is foregoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft, where he is expected to be a first-round pick.

The Park Ridge native who starred at Maine South before becoming one of the biggest recruits secured by coach Pat Fitzgerald, announced his decision Friday morning on his Twitter account.

Skoronski’s grandfather Bob is in in the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame. He was an offensive tackle in the 1960s for the Packers teams that won five NFL championships, including two Super Bowls.

Skoronski is one of the top offensive linemen in the draft. He and Ohio State’s Paris Johnson could be the first two linemen selected, and it’s possible Skoronski comes off the board before Northwestern’s Rashawn Slater did in 2021 when the Los Angeles Chargers grabbed him 13th overall.

The Wildcats, coming off a 3-9 season, were probably going to have Skoronski compete for the right tackle position during the 2020 COVID-19 season. But Slater opted out to prepare for the draft and Skoronski wound up winning the left tackle job as a true freshman, a rarity in the Big Ten. He started 33 games.

Early in the fall, some college scouts asked about Skoronski said he might project as a guard in the NFL, but there is a good chance he could stick at left tackle. Fitzgerald told pro scouts that Slater, who many figured would play on the interior, was a left tackle and proved to be correct.

“So many similarities between Rashawn and Peter,” Fitzgerald said in October. “They are different guys but they’re kind of cut from the same cloth — they’re O-linemen. They’re part of that brotherhood that makes them who they are. Both really off-the-charts intelligent, off-the-charts football intelligence, functional strength, there is so much comparison with their feet. They are such easy movers, it almost looks like they’re floating.

“Peter coming off the ball was a little bit different than Rashawn coming in — he could move people in the run game. That’s where you have seen Peter now become a complete guy, run and pass, and he was great in pass pro as a freshman. He’s a complete player.”