Northwestern's Persa true leader of the pack

Pat Fitzgerald says Dan Persa's presence allows him to sleep well at night, but it's not because the Northwestern junior stands outside protecting his home.

That's not to say Persa wouldn't make a great security guard or bouncer.

The 6-foot, 210-pound Pennsylvania native can bench-press 375 pounds, squat 530 and power-clean 310. On a roster rippling with weight-room overachievers, the QB is all but assured of retaining the "TopCat" designation that goes to the team's best pound-for-pound athletic specimen.

"And there's the shuttle run," Persa said matter-of-factly. "I do a 3.9. And then (vertical jump) of 34 inches. Stuff like that."

Fitzgerald appreciates those numbers, but he enjoys Persa's attitude more.

"He's the first to show (for practice) and the last to go," Fitzgerald said. "That's the way you want your quarterback described.

"But he has an uncanny ability to have others around him want to be associated with him. So everybody raises up to his level."

There's one area where Persa will never be matched: The criticism of Dan Persa.

"I try to be my own worst critic," Persa said. "You give yourself the worst, no one else can really touch you. I'm not really worried about everybody else. I've just got to please myself and please my teammates."

Though the redshirt junior has just 34 passing attempts and one start on his career ledger, he's the unquestioned starter when the Wildcats open camp Monday.

There ought to be more competition elsewhere on the offense.

Sophomore Arby Fields gets the first shot at running back, but it's a fluid situation on a team that averaged just 117.5 rushing yards per game and 3.0 yards per attempt.

"If you want to win the championship in this league, you have to be able to run the football efficiently," Fitzgerald said. "We define that by four or more yards on first down, half or more on second down, pick (the conversion) up on third down and fourth, and score on the goal line."

NU must replace six starters on defense, but there are only a few real competitions.

Senior Justan Vaughn has a step on Demetrius Dugar and Mike Bolden at cornerback.

Bryce McNaul, Ben Johnson and Roderick Goodlow will mix it up for the final linebacker job.