These are truly the dog days of summer (no pun intended) with it being 80 the past couple days with most of the 10-day hovering around the 70 degree mark.  The weather can't get any better in the Chicagoland area, so get outside, start up the grill and play some bags before it gets TOO hot out there.

66 Northern Illinois Student-Athletes earned degrees for the 2008-09 academic year

I like how the sub-title emphasizes how the football graduated 20 players.  It is the most, but I'm sure some people are surprised by the number.

Congrats to DE Brandon Bice as well as LBs Zach Larsen, David Pratt and Spencer Willamson for completing their degrees in just 4 years.  All four of those players will be returning for their last season of eligibility.  Bice managed to somehow complete his degree in Biology, which is extremely hard to finish in just 4 years here.  Even NFL players Larry English and Britt Davis both managed to complete their degrees this year.  Congrats to all of the NIU student-athletes and good luck with your future endeavors!

Basketball Recruiting

Class of 2010 Center out of Dekalb HS Jordan Threloff adds Bradley to an impressive array of scholarship offers that include Southern Illinois, Depaul and of course Northern Illinois.

Football

C Eddie Adamski has been named to the Rimington Award Watch List, which contains 44 of the top centers in the nation.  Adamski is arguably our best player on offense, along with G Jason Onyebuagu.  Both offensive linemen were named 3rd Team All-MAC this past season.

Former FB/TE walk-on Connor Krisch will be transferring to NAIA University of St. Francis.  The former JCA Hilltopper won't have to travel far, as USF is also located in Joliet, IL.  Krisch didn't play a game this past season and will have 4 years left to play.

Longtime Defensive Coordinator for the Huskies Denny Doornbos (2004-07) finally found a job landing at D-III St. Norbert College in Wisconsin.

Former NIU WRs Coach George McDonald (2001-03) has been promoted to the same position a level up with the Cleveland Browns.  You can follow all of the former NIU Coaches on the Joe Novak Coaching Tree link on the left sidebar under special pages.

Here's video #99 of the new FieldTurf being installed at Huskie Stadium.  This is going to look GREAT compared to the eyesore pink of last season.

Football Recruiting

Byrnes WR Nick Jones out of South Carolina finally has been offered by USC and is expecting an offer by Penn State.  I think we should start crossing him off our recruiting board, as the in-state Cocks are his new favorite.

Baseball

OF Jordin Hood was named 2nd Team All-MAC, finishing with a .382 avg (9th in the MAC), .474 obp (6th in the MAC) and .628 slugging.  Hood continued a strange Huskie tradition by getting hit by 23 pitches, ranking him 3rd in the nation.  Current pro SS Bobby Stevens got hit by 27 last season.

The all-time hits leader for Northern Illinois, 1B Scott Simon will be playing for the Rockford Riverhawks this year.

A massive power outage temporarily suspended MAC Tourney play in Chillicothe, OH.

Misc

The Joe Cribbs Car Wash rips on Alabama for scheduling 2 of the worst Sun-Belt teams and an FCS opponent, while giving credit to the Tide their past scheduling:

Where's the Southern Miss or Northern Illinois or Central Florida of yesteryear?

The last meeting went well.

Akron has a shiny new website for their new stadium in the works.