(07-28-2009 12:34 PM)Nick in Cleveland Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the info EpaSnoopy. Already have him listed so I'll admit to wrong on that pick right off the bat.
What's your thoughts on this year's NIU team? With the losses on defense to graduation, I see the Huskies taking a step back this year before being a force to win the west in 2010. Your thoughts?
Based on the
current depth chart nine of the 11 defensive starters are upperclassmen and seven of the 11 backups are also upperclassmen. We still have a good amount of experience on defense.
Quote:NIU's defensive prowess of a year ago was far from a one-man show as the Huskies employed a liberal substitution philosophy that saw 22 different players make at least 10 tackles on the year and 19 start at least one game. Nearly all of the 19 defensive letterwinners returning in 2009 played in key moments and contributed last year.
"The defensive coaches did an excellent job a year ago of getting people in the right places, and I think our philosophy of playing a lot of players will benefit us this year," Kill said. "If you look at our starting linebackers, all of them played a lot of football for us last year. Both our inside tackles are back, and all three safeties are back. So, if you look down the middle - I always say it's like baseball, you better be good down the middle - that core is returning."
Source:
http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-footb...09aae.html
I think our defense will be good again this year, in the top 3 or 4 amongst MAC teams. I think too many people are discounting our D because of Larry English. But think about the two seasons prior to last season that our D was average or below average with Larry English. I think a big reason for the improvement was the new coaching staff and how they rotated the front seven so much, plus we weren't devastated by injuries like 2007.
On the DL we return senior starter Mike Krause. DJ Pirkle, Brandon Bice, and Jake Coffman all have a lot of experience on the line. DT Adam Coleman saw a good amount of action as a true freshman last season. We brought in 6'4" 263 lbs JUCO DE Kyle Jenkins, who had 19.5 sacks at Harper College last season.
I think the safety and linebacker units should be amongst the top 3 in the MAC.
Safety David Bryant had a really good season last year in his first season at safety. Coach Kill thinks he is NIU's next NFL player. Sophomore Tracy Wilson made such a big impact as a freshman last season he will supplant last year's 12-game starter Mike Sobol at the strong safety spot.
At LB, we only return one starter, Alex Kube, from last season but there is still a lot of depth at that position. Former safety turned OLB Spencer Williamson will backup Kube. He is a senior who has a lot of game experience and has started past games at safety. Cory Hanson who will start at OLB missed most of last season due to injury and he has played in 30 games (25 of which he started). John Tranchitella who has played in 36 games (11 of which he started) will backup Hanson. Pat Schillar played a good amount last season as a freshman and will start at the ILB position. Redshirt freshman Victor Jacques will back him up. The coaching staff moved Victor Jacques from FB to ILB this season and was really impressed with him in spring practice.
The biggest position of worry by most fans on defense is CB. We lost two good corners in Melvin Rice and Chase Carter. Junior Patrick George is about all we have in the way of experience at that position.
On offense, we should be more productive than last season. The offense was the problem last season as our D was the reason we had the chance to win most of our games.
At QB, we should only get better. Chandler Harnish was the most productive freshman QB in the history of the program with over 2,000 yards of offense. He started nine games and missed others due to injury. I would imagine with a good amount of playing experience and a year under his belt of learning the new offensive system he should have a much better sophomore season. Backup sophomore QB DeMarcus Grady should also be better like Harnish. He played in six games and started in one against Miami.
Our offensive line should be amongst the top 3 in the MAC and it all starts up front. We return 88 career starts on the OL and the starting five average 6'4" and 302.4 lbs. The left side of the line is cemented with LT Trevor Olson and LG Jason Onyebuagu. Center is locked up with senior Eddie Adamski. We lost two starters on the right side but the RT spot is locked up by 6'7" sophomore Kevin Skatrud. RG is the only spot still open with Panan Tense and Joe Pawlak fighting for top honors.
At WR, we lost five seniors but only three of them made any impact on the program and two of them were injured a lot last season in Matt Simon and Britt Davis, who are both now in the NFL. I would think we'd actually be better at this position than last season because of the lack of productivity by the seniors and their injuries. Willie Clark, Nathan Palmer, Landon Cox, and Marcus Lewis who will play for us this season played a lot last season because of the injuries to the seniors. Kill wants one or two of the new true freshman WR's to step up for us in fall camp.
At RB, we're deep as usual. This position has three or four guys who could start in Me'Co Brown, Chad Spann, Justin Anderson, or Ricky Crider. Brown or Spann should end up the starter though as the two of them combined for almost 1,000 yards and 10 TD's. We bring in a transfer from Iowa State by the name of Cameron Bell (6'2" and 243 lbs) who will probably play on short-yardage and goal-line situations. The coaching staff is awaiting his NCAA appeal to play this season but seems very confident he will win the appeal.
At TE, we return a lot of experience. Jason Schepler walked on last season and played a lot as a true freshman. He was thought of so highly the coaching staff gave him a schollie and made him our starter this season. Junior Bryan Beckner and senior Reed Cunningham back him up. Coach Kill said he would like to use a two-TE set more this season due to the depth and experience at the position.
At FB, a position added with our new coaching staff, we have two good juniors in Kyle Skarb and Connor Flahive. Like the TE position, Coach Kill would like to use the fullbacks a lot more this season.
At special teams, we return one of the top 3 kickers in the MAC in Mike Salerno who had a very good season as a first year starter and transfer from Winona State. We lost our starting punter but brought in a JUCO in Josh Wilbur who can apparently bomb them so we shouldn't be any worse at that position.
I think we'll end up with at least a 2-2 non-conference record with what should be easy victories over Idaho and Western Illinois at home. We should have a very good shot at beating Purdue. They lost so much on offense and have a new coaching staff. Wisconsin will be tough but is winnable. They were an average team last season that got destroyed in their bowl game and lost a lot of players on offense and defense.
In MAC play we
should win all our home games and the Miami road game. Western Michigan is our HC game and we've done very well in our HC contests the last decade. The last three contests have been decided by two, four, and three points against WMU. It's about time we get revenge. I see Toledo and Ohio as toss-ups and CMU most likely as a loss.
I see us as 7-5 overall, 5-3 MAC record. We could potentially have a 9 or 10-win season at best but a 5 or 6-win season at worst. In the last decade, we have had eight winning, one .500, and one losing MAC record.