Huskie Nation

Liberty's Barnette commits to Northern Illinois | jacksonsun.com | The Jackson Sun
"The coaches have a really good plan for me, and they like to run the ball up and down the court," Barnette said. "I like that kind of basketball, and I think they can make me a better basketball player in that style."

Huskie Wire | Strength in numbers
"I tell some of the linebackers all the time, if we can tackle those four guys, I can tackle anyone in the country," NIU senior linebacker Alex Kube said. "I firmly, truly believe that."

Huskie Wire | Barnas ready to contribute
"Everybody else already knew everything and I was learning from scratch," Barnas said. "This year I think I'm going to be able to just go out there and play instead of thinking so much about what I'm doing."

Huskies By Position: CHASING DOWN THE NIU RUNNING BACKS - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
"It's a really versatile group," said NIU running backs coach Robert Reeves. "Spann is quick, strong and explosive, he runs low to the ground and is tough to tackle. Jas is not as big, but he runs as strong and runs powerful. He's got great quickness into the hole and doesn't have to slow down to make a cut. Ricky is your experienced vet. He's smart and has great vision. He sees things on the field that a lot of backs just don't see, and he's also great in pass protection. Then Cameron brings the big physical force to the program. Running the football, you need a pounder, but you'll see when he gets into the open field, he can really run too. He's got an extra gear and a burst."

Huskies by Position: CATCHING UP WITH THE TIGHT ENDS - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
"Our guys are going to be very involved in the offense this year," Anderson added. "They are very involved in our passing game, as well as our run game. If we continue to grow as a unit, we're going to help this offense succeed.

NIU's Grady has look of a starter in open QB derby :: Beacon News :: Local Sports
"The spring was a boost of confidence for me," he said. "I'm just going into this camp trying to make plays and doing what I'm capable of doing. (Former QB coach) Pat Poore taught me a lot about the position and football.

Huskie Wire | NIU men's basketball schedule out soon
Huskies open the season against Northwestern.  They also host UIC and travel to Depaul and Maryland Eastern Shore.

Huskies Fall to Milwaukee in Exhibition Contest - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
"Today was our first competition of the year and I give a lot of credit to UWM, they have a great program," head NIU women's soccer coach Carrie Barker said. "We started our schedule with one of the best teams in the country and it was a great gauge to see where we are at."

Around the MAC and beyond

Rivals.com College Football - Temple, NIU aim to end CMU's MAC reign

Rivals.com College Football - Rivals.com expert predictions: MAC

Who Are These People? Glancing At Every MAC Quarterback Race - Hustle Belt

2010 Mid-American Conference preview – College Gridiron 365 Blog – Orlando Sentinel

Rush The Court » Blog Archive » Summer School in the MAC

13 Teams.13 Days.: Akron Zips Team Preview - MAC-Sports.com—Official Web Site of the Mid-American Conference

Tale of the Tape: Ron Zook and Tim Brewster, dead coaches walking? - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF  - Yahoo! Sports

In case you haven't heard, Ames, Iowa is underwater from flooding the past couple days.  Make sure to check out these pictures to see the extent of the damage the constant rainfall has caused.

Ames On My Mind - Clone Chronicles

Cyclones spurn morning practice to turn back Ames flood - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF  - Yahoo! Sports

And the water didn't quite make it to Trice Stadium, which will be fine for the season opener against Northern Illinois on Sept. 2. You may take their land, Squak Creek, but you'll never take their football.

The Wiz of Odds: Iowa State Players Battling Floodwaters

Huskie Nation

Huskies by Position: DEFENSIVE LINE DEEP IN 2010 - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

"This is the deepest we've been across the board, top to bottom since I've been here," NIU defensive line coach Jeff Phelps said. "The first three groups are pretty solid. The fourth group is the younger guys. They're still in the learning process."

Continue reading this post »

Huskie Wire | Proving ground

Grady continues to practice with the first-team offense after holding the No. 1 spot on the depth chart through the spring. Harnish has taken snaps with the second team with Weston, who’s adapting to the Huskies offense.

Huskie Wire | Kill not too concerned about QB decision

"A lot of people (say), ‘Boy, that’s going to be a tough decision.’ Nah. That’ll come a lot easier as this thing goes."

Huskies By Position: CATCHING UP WITH THE NIU WIDE RECEIVERS - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

"Martel Moore has really lit it up the first four days of camp," Kill said. "You can tell he wants to win a championship. Akeem Daniels has done some good things. We have a lot of competition at wide receiver. We need our receivers to make plays, and make big plays."

Huskie Wire | Freshmen LBs surprise in camp

"The thing about college football is you're going to need nine backers," Matukewicz said. "I mean, I play seven in one game. You're going to need true nine because we're athletic guys, we're a little smaller so we're going to get banged up a little more than some, so you have to have a lot of guys."

Continue reading this post »

After much deliberation and analyzation, we've decided that the Daily Diesel Fuel will now include strictly links and quotations, providing you with a definitive rundown of Huskie news every day.  And by every day, I mean when there's enough news to gather up and post on here.  In the meantime, enjoy this new format:

Huskies Don Shoulder Pads for Practice No. 3 - NORTHERN ILLINOIS OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Following Sunday's photo day, Northern Illinois will practice in shells (shorts, shoulder pads, helmets) again on Monday before going in full pads for the first time Tuesday. Wednesday will bring the first two-a-day session of the preseason, but Kill said the players and coaches are already looking ahead to Thursday, the first full scrimmage of the spring.

Scout.com: 2010 CFN MAC Preseason Preview

Game of the Year
Temple at Northern Illinois, Oct. 9 – This was almost the MAC title game last year, and it certainly could be this year if the two teams play up to their capabilities. If nothing else, the battle between NIU’s Chad Spann and Temple’s Bernard Pierce will be among the nation’s most exciting this year, and there are more than enough talented players on both teams to make this one of the must see games on a national scale, and not just for MAC fans.

Bold Prediction... DeMarcus Grady, and not Chandler Harnish, will be the NIU starting quarterback in the MAC title game.

Continue reading this post »

Paul Myerberg of Pre-Snap Read takes on the Huskies at #55 in his countdown:

Can N.I.U. win the MAC altogether? Without question. Do I think it will? No, I don’t. I really like Temple — even more than I like the Huskies — and feel the Owls are the clear top dog in the conference. Don’t let that detract from how I feel about Northern Illinois. Ten wins is clearly possible. Nine wins would not be shocking. Eight wins seems likely, with at least six wins coming in MAC play, with a definite bowl bid in the cards. When all is said and done, I feel very confident in N.I.U. landing a berth in the conference title game; this will be the program’s best team since 2004.

In his "Five and Five", we're really scraping to find anything to dislike beyond the uncertainty at QB and OL:

Continue reading this post »

Free-falling like Alice in Wonderland.  Sean Kowal leaves the men's basketball team.  The 6'11" senior-to-be made it pretty cut-and-clear that he didn't want to attend the school or be part of the squad anymore:

"I will not be attending NIU in the fall. I have decided not to return there," Kowal said. "I've decided not to say anything until after the appeal hearing [today] up on campus."

The weirdest thing about the situation is that Sean actually originally came with Patton to NIU from Colorado originally.  Patton is surprised that he is leaving at this point.  Just another stake in the coffin... while Kowal wasn't the most dominating force on the court as more of a 6th man, he still scored 10.5 ppg and led the team with 6.4 rpg last year.

I got away with this plenty of times, but I'm not 6'0" 285 lbs:

According to a report from DeKalb Police, Pirkle was spotted around 1 a.m. near the DeKalb County Credit Union, which is at 305 E. Locust St., where an officer saw a man "urinating in full view of the public" on the west side of City Parking Lot 4. The police report says that Pirkle provided his ID, said he really had to go and "claimed he was being discreet."

The officer then "pointed out to him he was standing 10 feet from the nearest vehicle in full view of anyone driving by." Parking Lot 4 is on Third Street between Locust and Oak streets.

But seriously though, If this is the extend of this Huskie team's rap sheet for the whole summer color me impressed.  Everything off-the-field has been squeaky clean during Jerry Kill's tenure here as head coach and I'm proud that he instills strong values on this team.

Continue reading this post »

SINGLE GAME ROAD TIX ARE AVAILABLE NOW!!!  You know what that means: Huskies taking over Memorial Stadium.  Make sure you buy up the Champbana boletos by July 2nd or you'll be left in the dust.  July 30 for Minneapolis & Ames.  Bus trips available for all three!

Miami, OH-I-WHO?  NIU's APR score was through the roof this year scoring a 975, good for 10th in the nation!  The APR takes into account the 2004-09 school years, so kudos to Kill for keeping the team together without any significant departures through his first season in 2008.  Coach Novak made sure to emphasize the "student" part of student-athlete when he was recruiting players as well.  The opening of the Yordon Center in 2007 was huge in providing the resources to get our athletes set up academically.  This also is an extremely important tool especially if we're up against a team like the Redhawks in a recruiting battle.

Around the MAC/Big 10/11/12

Northwestern AD Jim Phillips hires a marketing genius to spread the word of the Wildcat... BHGP breaks down Ball State's offense and their defense... Rock M Nation provides us Illinois links and beyond the box score offensive and defensive breakdowns... every MAC coach is cool except for Doug Martin... and Stan Parrish apparently

Preseason rankings (we haven't been ranked in either of these yet)

Pre-Snap Read

No. 82: Central Michigan / Five and Five: Central Michigan

No. 83: Minnesota / Five and Five: Minnesota

College Gridiron 365

No. 78 Illinois

No. 79 Minnesota

Is College Football Armageddon upon us?

"Nebraska has until 5 p.m. on Friday to tell us what they’re going to do," one school official said, adding that he has heard it is a possibility they could extend that deadline to June 15. "The same deal for Missouri. They have to tell us they’re not going to the Big Ten or …" Or at least six Big 12 schools, including Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, will be inclined to accept an invitation to join the Pac-10 Conference. Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado are the other three schools that could bolt what would be a dissolving Big 12.

What does this mean for Northern Illinois?  I have absolutely no idea.  And I don't think anybody else does until something actually happens.  It remains to be seen that anything actually will go down.  Things could get crazy.  If Nebraska and Missouri take off for the Big 10, where does that leave teams like Iowa State & Kansas?

Now even Boise State's invitation to the Mountain West is being put on hold due to the fact they may want to scarf down some Big XII leftovers instead.

Garrett Wolfe hooks Eisenhower up with some brand new football equipment straight from his own pocket.  The coach of Ike?  None other than former standout defensive end for the Huskies Travis Moore.  Current San Diego Charger Larry English also held a youth football clinic at Marmion Academy.

Offensive savior Tommy Coughlin goes all sunshine on us and decides to transfer to Pasadena Community College of all places... Rise and shine for NIU's game against the Illini on September 18th, where we will go up against a starting quarterback named Nathan Scheelhaase... and finally NIU finishes up near the rear in the MAC All-Sports trophies.

Around the MAC

Continue reading this post »