NIU's quarterback may be a secret, but not team depth
DEKALB - Jerry Kill doesn't plan to reveal his quarterback's identity until shortly before Northern Illinois hits the field for Thursday's opener at Iowa State.
If Kill decides to go with DeMarcus Grady - the young man who has worked with the first-team offense more than anyone else during the spring and fall - the redshirt junior won't be surprised or unprepared.
From the moment Kill declared the Huskies would no longer limit the team's playbook in deference to his inexperienced quarterbacks, Grady vowed to be the one who could do it all.
In most years, the Huskies don't start their informal 7-on-7 workouts until late June or early July. This time around, Grady and several cohorts started working as soon as the spring semester ended in early May.
"You could see that everyone wants to win," said Grady, who's competing with junior incumbent Chandler Harnish for the starting job.
"I'm not saying that it wasn't like that in the past, but you had guys like myself up in May. I didn't go home. You had people like Chad Spann and Tracy Wilson, Nathan Palmer and Willie Clark, D.J. Pirkle and Kyle Skarb all up here.
"We just put it in our mind that we're going to do whatever it takes to get over that 6-6, 6-7 hump that we've been facing the last couple of years."
A middling record hasn't been NIU's only hump in Kill's first two years at the helm.
The Huskies received bowl bids after each season, but they couldn't hang with either Louisiana Tech or the University of South Florida.
And while NIU pulled off an impressive win at Purdue - the program's first over a Big Ten team in more than 20 years - during Kill's tenure it has yet to defeat a team that finished above .500.
So why did the majority of the Mid-American Conference media peg NIU to win its first West Division title since 2005?
Much of that outsider optimism stems from retaining 10 starters on defense and all-MAC tailback Chad Spann (1,038 yards, 19 TDs) on offense.
"With experience comes communication and the type of chemistry that you can't have with people who haven't played," said junior safety Tracy Wilson, who appears to be the team's best NFL prospect.
Kill's optimism stems from the fact the Huskies have recruited well enough to build the team's depth to be a better match with high-major teams.
A sterling group of true freshmen bolsters the linebacking corps while there are redshirt freshmen and other Kill recruits all over the depth chart.
Even if senior cornerback Patrick George (ankle) and senior safety Mike Sobol (knee) need more time to get back on the field, the Huskies should be able to take care of themselves in non-conference tests at Iowa State, Illinois and Minnesota.
And, possibly, for years to come.
"I know as a coaching staff, we feel a lot better about where we're at than where we were," Kill said. "But we're still young. You're talking freshmen and redshirt freshman, really. We're a young team."
Northern IllinoisCoach: Jerry Kill (13-13, 3rd year at NIU; 117-70, 17th year overall)2009 record: 7-6, 5-3 (second in MAC West); lost to South Florida 27-3 in the International BowlLast bowl miss: 2007All-MAC candidates: RB Chad Spann, WR Landon Cox, LT Trevor Olson, DE Jake Coffman, DT D.J. Pirkle, LB Alex Kube, SS Tracy Wilson.The Huskies will go to a bowl: If their quarterback (likely DeMarcus Grady) can throw well enough to take some pressure off NIU's strong running game. The defense will be top-of-the-line while the special teams must be solid. NIU has struggled this fall with its kicking game.BCS finish the last five years (2009 listed first*): 79th, 101st, 112th, 64th, 72nd* Ratings courtesy Blue Ribbon Football YearbookProjected lineup OffenseQB 3 DeMarcus Grady Jr.TB 28 Chad Spann Sr.FB 34 Kyle Skarb Sr.SE 1 Martel Moore So.FL 80 Landon Cox Sr.TE 87 Jason Schepler Jr.LT 62 Trevor Olson Jr.LG 70 Logan Pegram So.C 71 Scott Wedige Jr.RG 72 Joe Pawlak Jr.RT 68 Keith Otis Jr.Defense LE 54 Jake Coffman Sr.NG 58 Mike Krause Sr.DT 98 D.J. Pirkle Sr.RE 95 Sean Progar So.SLB 37 Alex Kube Sr.MLB 9 Devon Butler So.WLB 36 Tyrone Clark So.CB 5 Chris Smith Sr.CB 23 Kiaree Daniels Sr.SS 25 Tracy Wilson Jr.FS 20 Tommy Davis So.Special teamsK 36 M. Cklamovski Sr.P 49 Josh Wilber Sr.KR 22 Ricky Crider Sr.and 15 Jasmin Hopkins Jr.PR 20 Tommy Davis So.NIU scheduleThurs. at Iowa State 7 p.m.Sept. 11 N. DAKOTA 6 p.m.Sept. 18 at Illinois 11 a.m.Sept. 25 at Minnesota 7:30 p.m.Oct. 2 at Akron 5 p.m.Oct. 9 TEMPLE 11 a.m.Oct. 16 BUFFALO 2:30 p.m.Oct. 23 C. MICHIGAN 3 p.m.Oct. 30 at W. Michigan 11 a.m.Nov. 9 TOLEDO 6 p.m.Nov. 20 at Ball State NoonNov. 26 at E. Michigan 11 a.m.Dec. 3 MAC title game 6 p.m.Home games in CAPS