Huskie tales, NIU: September 2008 Archives

That's what Jerry Kill did Tuesday and Wednesday during practice at Huskie Stadium as his team prepared for Saturday's opener against Indiana State.

But this wasn't the usual marching band fare or raucous stadium noise coaches sometimes pump in as they prepare to play in hostile, noisy venues. Rather, Kill instructed Director of Football Operations Adam Clark to put together a mix of songs that might be featured on the players' i-pods.

Wednesday's session opened with Welcome to the Jungle from Guns 'n Roses and continued throughout the practice with a variety of selections that included hard rock, hip-hop and rap. Many, of course, were beyond the recognition of this old fart. Lil' Wayne was, no doubt, in the house, but I couldn't swear to it.

"I'm trying to make it more like a game situation, plus it creates a little atmosphere," said Kill, who is emphasizing playing hard for four quarters.

"Coach Kill wanted some energy out here," said senior quarterback Dan Nicholson. "It's not distracting. It's similar to having a crowd."

Clark had something for everyone, it seems, except veteran Huskie play-by-play man Bill Baker. Word on the sidelines was his request for some Nat King Cole fell on deaf ears.

Then again, it might be. Broke that is.

NIU coach Jerry Kill said Monday morning he really doesn't know the status of quarterback Chandler Harnish's foot injury.

"He goes to the doctor today," Kill said during the Mid-American Conference coaches teleconference. "Hopefully, we'll find out the situation with his foot.

"During the game, he felt like he broke his foot. We had doctors look at him and had x-rays taken but they didn't see anything (broken). It swelled up pretty good."

Northern is off this week and has its home opener Sept. 20th against Indiana State.

As debuts go, redshirt freshman Chandler Harnish was pretty impressive last week passing for 326 yards under tough conditions at the noisy Metrodome in Minneapolis in a close loss to a Big Ten opponent.

The kid, who got the nod over senior Dan Nicholson, was very poised and appears to have a bright future.

That said, don't write off Nicholson just yet. He's probably still not 100 percent as he continues his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery, but he may need to be an on-field contributor before the season is completed.

Before we get caught up too much in the euphoria of Harnish's debut, let's not forget the first time Nicholson saw significant playing time at Northern. Back in 2005, when he was a redshirt freshman, Nicholson saw mop-up duty early in the year in blowouts over Tennessee Tech (42-3) and Kent State (34-3).

In the ninth game of the season at Central Michigan, he was thrown into the fire early on after starter Phil Horvath was injured and saw his first significant playing time with a game on the line. How did he respond? By completing 19 of 27 passes for 320 yards and two TDs in a 31-28 win.

The following week he passed for 176 yards and two scores to lead the Huskies to their only win over Toledo (35-17) in the Joe Novak era. He was also at the helm when the Huskies beat Western Michigan 42-7 to earn a berth in the MAC title game, which they lost on a last-second score to Akron, 31-30.

It's too early and it would be unwise to give him afterthought status just yet.

NIU men's basketball coach Ricardo Patton announced the Huskies' 2008-09 schedule Wednesday.
It features two tournaments, including the Great Alaska Shootout, Nov. 26-29 at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The Huskies 12 home games include dates with in-state rivals Southern Illinois, Loyola and Chicago State as well as 2008 MAC champ Kent State and 2008 NIT entry Akron.
first tip.

Men's Basketball season tickets for 12 home games are on sale now for
$119 for the general public and $109 for senior citizens. A season
ticket package for both the men's and women's basketball teams is
available for $135 at www.niuhuskies.com or by calling the Athletics
Ticket Office at 815-752-6800.

The schedule follows ...

Nathan Palmer, a redshirt freshman wide receiver from Central High School in Elkhart, Ind., had his coming out party in the season opener at Minnesota. The speedster caught three passes for 170 yards, including TDs of 91 and 52.

Marcus Perez, a fifth-year senior wide receiver from Elkhart who preceded Palmer at Central High, had a stay put party. Two years ago Perez was second on the team with 30 caches for 406 yards and led the Huskies with five TD catches.

On Saturday, Perez didn't get on the field. He was in uniform as one of the 70-man travel squad but was one of 16 who did not participate.

Hmmmm. Attitude? Discipline?
None of the above, said coach Jerry Kill.

"Marcus just needs to get better," he said of the receiver who is listed along with sophomore Tyler Clasey as a second string X wide receiver behind senior starter Britt Davis. Perez also backs up the top two punt and kick return men.