No stage fright for NIU's Kube

Alex Kube makes his college football debut today when Northern Illinois tries to take down Iowa in a sold-out opener at Soldier Field.

There'll be no need to worry the 2006 Cary-Grove grad might be overwhelmed by a raucous atmosphere at a world-class venue.

When the Huskies' redshirt freshman strong safety was 10 years old and living in Germany, he was a "futbol" prodigy who had the chance to play in front of some of the craziest fans imaginable.

One day, a sellout crowd showed up at Munich's massive stadium to watch a Bundesliga match. But first, both sides' professional youth teams took the pitch for a friendly.

"Soccer over there is like a Super Bowl every day," Kube said. "There, my mouth was open (looking at the crowd). Because I have that experience, I don't want to go into (Soldier Field) like that. I want to take in everything and enjoy everything."

Kube played center midfield for HSV's side, which meant his team wanted him to control the action as much as possible. Northern Illinois' plans for Kube aren't any different.

While NIU's starting strong safety will line up for every snap as far away from the ball as anyone on the field, that's not where he'll finish. In NIU's 4-3 defense, the strong safety must make tackles. Lots of them.

It's no coincidence that the graduated Dustin Utschig, whose job Kube has inherited, led the Huskies in tackles the last two seasons.

When NIU took Iowa deep into the fourth quarter last Oct. 28 before falling 24-14, Utschig's game-high 15 tackles were 6 more than any of his teammates.

Kube, who has stacked 24 pounds of muscle on his 6-foot-1 frame since moving from Cary to DeKalb last summer, can't wait to play like Utschig and use his body as a 211-pound guided missile.

"I don't want to say I'm a mean guy or anything like that," Kube said. "It's just that I want to play the game and hurt you. Not injure you, but I just like to hit people."

Kube isn't the only Northern Illinois defender eager to rush onto the Soldier Field grass today.

Junior defensive end Larry English already has made a name for himself. He's on the Bronko Nagurski Award preseason watch list.

But the 2004 Marmion graduate hasn't played a snap since tearing the ACL in his right knee early in the Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 19. English underwent surgery Jan. 2 and received clearance to go all out on the earliest possible date: July 2, exactly six months later.

"The rehab and the surgery both went perfect, so I've got no complaints," English said.

Now he's looking to improve on last season's 12-sack performance, which tied the Northern Illinois single-season record.

If Iowa's depth chart is correct, then English will go head to head with sophomore left tackle Kyle Calloway, who has seen only junk time against Montana and Purdue in his career. He's one of three Iowa offensive linemen expected to make his first college start. Might that be a good thing for the Huskies?

"Of course it is," English said. "It's good in a sense that maybe they haven't got that much experience. But on the other hand, it's a little bit of a mystery because you can't get a look at them on tape."

Iowa vs. Northern Illinois

When: 2:36 p.m. at Soldier Field

TV: ESPNU. Radio: WSCR 670-AM

Series: Iowa leads 6-0

Coaches: Joe Novak (61-66, 12th year at NIU); Kirk Ferentz (55-43, ninth year at Iowa)

Players to watch: Lockport native Jake Christensen takes over as Iowa's quarterback for the graduated Drew Tate. Christensen's only previous start came in last year's 24-14 win over NIU. Senior running back Albert Young ranks among the Big Ten's finest, while the Huskies' relatively inexperienced offensive line must deal with a tested and talented front four in Bryan Mattison, Mitch King, Matt Kroul and Kenny Iwebema. Northern Illinois retains 13 starters from last year's Poinsettia Bowl lineup, though not all of them will start today. Junior Montell Clanton gets the first chance to make NIU forget Garrett Wolfe, but soph Justin Anderson and true frosh Chad Spann will get their chances, too. Even if the Huskies don't get much out of MLB Tim McCarthy (staph infection), they like their depth on defense.

The skinny: This marks Northern Illinois' debut at Soldier Field, but it wasn't supposed to be this way. A well-timed call to SID emeritus Mike Korcek turned up this nugget: The Huskies and Miami (Fla.) were tentatively scheduled to play at Soldier Field on Sept. 12, 1987, but it didn't come off. Regardless, this is a better time and a better opponent for a Soldier Field gig. Both NIU and Iowa believe they have something to prove after underachieving 2006 campaigns -- and both lost important players who must be replaced by inexperienced young'uns. Maybe it's asking a lot of this Northern Illinois squad to pull off the program's second win over a Big Ten school. On the other hand, senior kicker Chris Nendick didn't practice 55-yard, last-second, game-winning field goals this week for his health.

-- Lindsey Willhite