Huskies' Palmer debuts with hit-parade effort

DEKALB - At this point last week, redshirt freshman wide receiver Nate Palmer's biggest contribution to Northern Illinois' football team was this:

His aesthetic vocal cords.

"He sings the plays in our meetings," said Huskies receivers coach P.J. Fleck. "We've told him he should go on 'American Idol."

Palmer, an Elkhart, Ind., native, aspires to a singing career like Usher, his favorite performer. On Monday nights, his only free time during the season, Palmer frequently heads into a DeKalb recording studio to work "on a couple things."

But in the wake of his breakout debut at Minnesota on Saturday night, Palmer is more than happy to go easy on his voice for the time being.

Though he played just 15 snaps as a backup wideout for the Huskies, Palmer delivered 170 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.

Not a bad debut, huh?

"I had no idea what to expect," Palmer said. "I thought maybe I'd have 1 or 2 catches, maybe 18 yards."

Palmer didn't have anything until midway through the third quarter, when NIU faced third-and-10 from its own 9-yard line.

Palmer lined as the middle receiver in a "trips left" formation, ran 20 yards downfield and caught Chandler Harnish's pass.

When Minnesota nickel back Ryan Collado couldn't grab him, Palmer turned upfield and turned on his 4.4 speed to outsprint four Gophers for a 91-yard score.

Fleck was so giddy, he hoisted the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Palmer into the air when he returned to the sideline.

But the bubbly young man who inscribes his nickname "NAPALM" on his eye black wasn't done detonating the Metrodome.

With the Huskies facing another third-and-10 situation midway through the fourth quarter, NIU called for the same play but flipped the formation so there were three receivers to the right.

This time, Collado started in Palmer's face in "press" coverage and tried to knock him off his route.

"If you're going to put a safety or linebacker on Nate Palmer, we have the advantage," Harnish said.

Palmer faked inside, flew outside without having a fingernail laid on him and Harnish hit him in stride for a 52-yard TD and a 27-24 lead.

While NIU's lead didn't hold up in the final minute, Palmer now carries his head high after suffering from a lack of self-confidence during his redshirt year.

Look for him to see more than 15 snaps during Saturday's Mid-American Conference opener at Western Michigan.

"There's two kinds of players: There's a playmaker and a playfaker," Fleck said. "If you're a playmaker, you're going to play. He has all the tools, he really does."