Primary Sidebar
Contact Info
Questions? Comments? Tips?
Feel free to contact us if you want to contribute to RABA. We're looking for special talents (Audio/Video/Photography/Photoshop) and somebody to specialize in some of the 'minor' sports being played @ NIU
Next Game
2010 NIU Recruiting Class: The Preferred Walk-ons
by Mike Breese on Feb 8, 2010 12:00 AM CST
in Football
1 comment
Walk-ons have always played a big part of Northern Illinois football. Just look at this past year: RB Chad Spann, TE Jason Schepler, RG Joe Pawlak, FB Connor Flahive, WR Willie Clark, DE Sean Progar, S Garrett Barnas & K Mike Salerno were all originally walk-ons. A lot of starters in that group.
NIU is great at giving local players an opportunity to prove themselves during their redshirt year. Sometimes they don't even redshirt like Schepler and Spann. Here are a few of the names that popped on or around signing day. Both Hayes and Santacaterina (that rolls off the tongue nice) were part of the official list, so are they 'more preferred' than the other walk-ons? Your guess is as good as mine.
It's interesting to note that all four of these walk-ons played running back in high school, but will likely switch to a defensive position full-time for the Huskies. This is akin to Coach Kill's recruiting philosophy of "recruiting athletes and sticking them on the field where needed."
| DB Marckie Hayes | Sycamore HS (Sycamore, IL) |
|
 |
5'8" 180 lbs / 40 time: 4.54 secs / Bench: 285 lbs / Squat: 425 lbs / Hang Clean: 305 lbs | Youtube | Commitment Story | Commitment Video Awards: 5A 1st Team All-State, Daily Chronicle POY, Western Sun Conference MVP Notes: Played RB, DB and KR for the Sycamore Spartans. Teammate and good friend of signee C.J. Compher. |
| S Michael Santacaterina | Geneva HS (Geneva, IL) |
|
 |
6'0" 205 lbs | Youtube | Commitment Story | Feature Story ESPN Profile: NR Awards: 7A All-State, Kane County Chronicle & Daily Herald Player of the Year Notes: Was team MVP his senior year and a team captain. The tremendous athlete also returned punts. Nickname is "Santa". I can't tell you how fun it will be writing about him once he breaks the lineup. Teammates with signee Frank Boenzi. |
| RB/LB Bobby Winkel | Marmion Academy (Aurora, IL) |
|
 |
6'0" 212 lbs | Youtube [1] [2] | Commitment Story ESPN Profile: NR Notes: I'm just going with the trend and say that this high school running back will make the switch to defense and play linebacker with the extra size that he has. |
| OLB Darrell Shepherd | Evanston Township HS (Evanston, IL) |
|
 |
6'1" 220 lbs Other offers: Illinois, Toledo, Illinois State Rivals Profile: NR Notes: The Illinois offer probably didn't last long, but nevertheless he seems like a real good get. Chose Northern over Eastern Illinois, guess he wanted to stay in the area. Yet another guy that played RB as well as his LB position. Teammates with DT Jeff Brown, a U of Miami signee (that Miami). |
1 comment | 0 recs |
Weekend Open Thread: Where the O-Line Shines
by Mike Breese on Feb 6, 2010 10:48 AM CST
in Football
0 comments
Satuday
1:00 PM: Watch C Eddie Adamski in the Texas vs. the Nation All-Star Game
TV: CBS College Sports
3:00 PM: Miami Redhawks (9-13, 6-3) @ Northern Illinois Huskies (8-13, 4-5)
Radio: 670 The Score
I like the Huskies in this one solely because it's Miami's 2nd straight road game in 3 days. Probably won't mean much though. Keys to the game: get to the free throw line, maybe play defense?
Sunday
For detailed coverage from a Colts perspective, make sure to check out SB Nation's own Colts blog Stampede Blue who is credentialed and in Miami for the Super Bowl.
0 comments | 0 recs
2010 NIU Recruiting Class: The Sleepers (and why MAC rankings don't mean much)
by Mike Breese on Feb 5, 2010 3:16 AM CST
in Football
9 comments
You can form whatever opinion you want about recruiting, but with out a shadow of a doubt is a vital component of having a good football team. Any scheme you could have possibly come up with would not have beaten the South Florida Bulls in the International Bowl. We weren't big enough and we didn't have the speed to match up with the opponent that Saturday in Toronto and it showed. Kill's first real recruiting class was either a true freshman playing or redshirting, as NIU had one of the younger teams in the nation this past year.
Rivals ranks the Huskies 4th in the MAC behind #1 Toledo, #2 Temple and #3 Kent State. Northern Illinois ranks 83rd overall. So what?
We've already discussed past recruiting classes and why Kill couldn't win more games with Novak's players. Nobody goes back brags about how they beat so-in-so in recruiting 4-5 years ago. So what if we led the MAC in recruiting back then, Central Michigan won the MAC Championship and that's that. Dan LeFevour was a pedestrian player from Lisle, IL back then, just a 2-star prospect with a bunch of MAC offers. Now he's on the verge of becoming a star in the NFL. CMU ranked 6th in the MAC recruiting-wise, but that was the foundation built for 10 wins yesteryear.
Because of the reason stated above, it is important to look at recruiting in a general sense, rather than an end-all be-all. Rivals is just one media outlet. In order to even get on that site, a player must attend one of their camps and/or send gametape. It's also a business, so the teams with bigger fanbases spend more money supporting the site and therefore more attention will be paid to the bigger school's prospects. NIU doesn't even have a rivals site. The HuskiePride scout side does a great job reporting, but evaluation by scout.com itself is paltry.
The Rivals writer for Illinois, EdgyTim, does a great job of getting a lot of the Illinois prospects good exposure throughout the year if they market themselves correctly. That's the issue though, because even though there are a lot of resources out there, kids and parents just don't know that recruiting is a game that starts early in their high school careers. If you wait until your senior year, then you're simply too late to receive maximum exposure to colleges. Here is a slice of Coach Kill's recruiting philosophy:
There are football players and there are ones that like playing football. I want a football player. Not one that just likes playing and at this level I have to get a football player. You've got to get someone that's serious about being a football player and also getting a college degree.
You also have your late bloomers and those kids that simply don't too much marketing of themselves. They just go on the field and play football. This is where mid-major schools salivate and where diamonds in the rough are found. Rivals doesn't even have these guys in their database and come signing day, they just slap 2-stars on them and call it a day.
It's where the rubber meets the road, so after the jump we'll take a look at some of the guys who may have slipped through the cracks:
9 comments | 0 recs |
Top 10 Quotes from the HuskieWire signing day chat
by Mike Breese on Feb 5, 2010 3:15 AM CST
in Football
0 comments
If you haven't checked out John Sahly's chat with the fans on signing , make sure to check it out here. Also make sure to listen to his podcast wrapup with Jon Styf as well.
Lot's of hard hitting analysis by John and he even responded to the crazies as well. Let's review the top ten Q&As of the chat:
[Comment From SweepTheLeg: ]There were some rumblings that Gorgio Bowers changed his mind and went to Akron because of our JC RB Jasmin Hopkins. Any truth to that?
I'll paraphrase Jerry Kill here: "He didn't get away." That's all Kill would say about it. He believes NIU signed the best running back possible in Hopkins.
What an eloquent zinger by Coach Kill on that topic. This was probably the most interesting statement about the actual class of the chat. But keep reading, it gets better:
0 comments | 0 recs
Why Frank "The Tank" Boenzi is awesome...
by Mike Breese on Feb 4, 2010 8:24 PM CST
in Football
10 comments
...despite the fact he hasn't even qualified academically to play for us yet
For those of you who don't know, Frank Boenzi is a ridiculously talented defensive lineman who was All-Everything at Geneva High School and also "has the unique body control of a 200-pounder in a 300-pound body." Basically, he is top-tier Big 10 talent if he had better grades. He will greyshirt his first year at Northern Illinois, which means he isn't allowed to play or practice with the team until he gets achieves a certain GPA at the end of his freshman year. But we all love Frank even though he won't be on scholarship until 2011. Here's why:
Reason #1: He reads "blogs"
Scott Powers of ESPNChicago.com had an unusually good piece on Boenzi the other day and one quote stood out the most out of any:
"I remember after it got out to the newspaper that I committed to Northern, I was reading a blog," Boenzi said. "People were giving me a 25 percent chance to get through college. It got me going. These people don't know me. They don't know my situation. They don't know how I've changed, how I've matured.
"It's a pride issue. I can do it, and I can succeed."
10 comments | 0 recs |
C Eddie Adamski to play in Texas vs. The Nation All-Star Game
Gametime: Saturday, Feb. 6th @ 2:00 P.M. in El Paso, TX. TV: CBS College Sports
One of the QBs he'll be hiking the ball to will be Western Michigan's Tim Hiller. It's a huge chance for Adamski to showcase his talents and improve his potential draft stock.
4 days ago
Mike Breese
0 comments
0 recs
Rumor Mill: Me'co Brown kicked off of the Huskies
by Jerry Burnes on Feb 4, 2010 1:15 AM CST
in Football
17 comments
Sources have told me that when the Spring roster comes out next week, sophomore running back Me'co Brown will not be listed, and has been kicked off the team by NIU head coach Jerry Kill.
Brown was in Kill's doghouse at the end of the 2009 season. He did not travel with the team to Toronto for the International Bowl against South Florida. The original reports were that he had some 'family issues' to deal with in Mississippi. He wouldn't have played anyways due to injuries.
We have reason to believe there were some more serious issues that Me'co had to deal with regarding himself and his status on the team.
Brown's dismissal has not been made official and it is believed to be related to the running back's academics and/or a violation of player conduct policy. There is no word yet, if Brown is kicked off, that he will have a second chance to rejoin the team if his grades improve; or if this will be a final decision by Kill.
17 comments | 0 recs |
2010 NIU Recruiting Class: The Hometown Crowd
by Jerry Burnes on Feb 3, 2010 9:00 PM CST
in Football
9 comments
We saw last season that Jerry Kill has some good recruiting ties SEC Country but not what he could do in homeland.
This year Kill has 11 recruits from Illinois and 14 total from Big Ten states (two from Michigan and one from Wisconsin). Highlighting the Illinois class is defensive lineman Frank Boenzi (6'3" 305, Geneva, Ill.).
Boenzi was recruited by almost every Big Ten school but his poor grades had the Midwest schools scampering away. As ESPN Chicago's Scott Powers reported, Boenzi still has some academic issues to work out and still may not be eligible by NCAA standards this season.
Tyler Loos (6'6" 270, Sterling, Ill.) may be the next most promising Illinois recruit on the offensive line. Matt Battaglia (6'4" 240, Chicago, Ill.) needs to add some weight but Loos and Tyler Pitt (6'6" 278, McRae Ga.) may be a nice combination in a few years.
I'm interested to see how C.J. Compher works out as a true H-back with time to develop.
The rest of the IL recruits include: Monster LBs Mike Hellams, Cameron Stingily and Greg Barksdale. What a trio. WR Da'Ron Brown of Morgan Park was one of the best pure athletes playing in the CPL. And let's not forget a potential Punter/Kicker prospect in Tyler Anderson of Rockford.
The preferred walk-ons include DB Marckie Hayes of Sycamore and S Michael Santacaterina of Geneva.
While I like the numbers coming out of Illinois, it's obvious Kill still has some recruiting ties to lock down in the Chicago area. Looking through some of the top Chicago-area recruits, it was a bit disturbing how man ran off to MAC schools. There's no indication whether we even recruited these players or if they fit our system, but you never know. Just look at Benet graduate Dan LeFevour.
9 comments | 0 recs |
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Mid-American Conference Standings
(updated 2.7.2010 at 1:21 AM CST)
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
| Kent St. Golden Flashes | 8 | 2 | 17 | 7 |
| Akron Zips | 7 | 3 | 17 | 7 |
| Miami (Ohio) RedHawks | 7 | 3 | 10 | 13 |
| Buffalo Bulls | 5 | 5 | 12 | 9 |
| Bowling Green Falcons | 4 | 6 | 11 | 11 |
| Ohio Bobcats | 3 | 6 | 12 | 11 |
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
| Central Michigan Chippewas | 6 | 3 | 11 | 10 |
| Ball St. Cardinals | 6 | 4 | 12 | 10 |
| Western Michigan Broncos | 5 | 5 | 13 | 10 |
| Eastern Michigan Eagles | 4 | 6 | 12 | 11 |
Northern Illinois Huskies
|
4 | 6 | 8 | 14 |
| Toledo Rockets | 0 | 10 | 3 | 21 |
Weather in Dekalb
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
