“We have to do a good job of evaluating every practice," Kill said. "We're practicing Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so that gives us a day in between to spend a lot of time on the film evaluating our players.”During the Novak era they were getting up early to lift and also going to afternoon practices several times per week. Another good thing this year is that the practices are open to the public, which was not the case starting the last couple years or so.
A Daily Chronicle article Saturday proclaimed that 4 reasons why NIU will succeed include:
1. Dan Nicholson
2. The defense
3. Matt Simon
4. Justin Anderson
Um...what?
Dan Nicholson as the #1 reason why we will succeed? The QB who's career stats are 458 passes for 20 TDs and 22 INTs? The QB who won't throw until May because of off-season shoulder surgery? The player that had 2 concussions knock him out of games last year? Not a way to start a list for success in the 2008 season. Danny N isn't the end-all be-all for this team. Especially not if one of the redshirt freshmen Chandler Harnish or DeMarcus Grady can step up to the plate.
Here's a blurb about Matt Simon:
The senior wide receiver will once again be looked at as the main target for Nicholson. Coupled with a healthy Britt Davis - who also had surgery on his shoulder like Simon and Nicholson - and an emerging 6-foot-3 Landon Cox, who reminds me a little bit like Sam Hurd, Simon will have a good core of wide receivers built around him.An emerging Landon Cox? The WR who had 2 catches LY for 19 yds, which places him 12th on the team in yards? I don't think so. And the comparison to Sam Hurd is a little ridiculous. The only comparison I see is that Cox is 6'3 and Hurd is 6'2".
Also, Nick's season predictions are ridiculous as well, having us winning our first 4 road games and then losing 3 home games.
More random spring notes:
Jerry Kill has a request:
The 13 players from last year that had major surgeries will not be cleared to practice until June 1st, setting the team back a bit."It's been different for us being indoors (for winter conditioning)," Kill said of his staff, most of which followed him from Carbondale. "We never went indoors, but they had nine inches of rain and flood warnings down there not too long ago, so their weather has been miserable, too.
"It's why we need that indoor (practice) facility)."
The base defense will still be a 4-3.
Illinois transfer QB/ATH Paul Blalock is getting some looks at fullback.
QB Chandler Harnish speaks out about the offense:
“Offensively speaking we're going to be in shotgun a lot more compared to last year when we were rarely in shotgun,” Chandler Harnish said. “QB's will be a lot more involved in our offense, which I'm real excited about. It'll be a lot more explosive on offense.”
"There's a lot of running, lot of sprint-out type passes," said Harnish
"Some of those QB runs we have designed, really helps spreading out the defense."
QB DeMarcus Grady:
“We're running a little zone read and trying to open up the offense a little more,” Grady said. “We're trying to have the quarterbacks be a threat and try and give the offense a new dimension.”How Kill makes every day a competition:
"Everything we do in the offseason is competition. Winners or losers," he said. "You don't miss class. If you do, you lose points. There's competition in the classroom, too. If you get A's and B's, you get a certain amount of points. If you get C's and D's, you don't get as many. We make everything we do competition."
And those who aren't accountable, can find themselves attired like one offensive lineman Monday, in the yellow 'I let my team down,' jersey.
"If you don't do the right things, you pay the piper," said Kill. "Then I don't have to scream and yell at 'em. Just put 'em in the yellow shirt and I save my voice and I'll be able to coach longer.
"That (jersey) is something they don't want to be in."
I sure wouldn't want to be wearing that yellow jersey! Good idea coach.
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