The Northern Illinois Huskies wrapped up their third week of spring football Saturday morning at Gately Stadium in Chicago, where the Huskies scrimmaged for almost two hours with the defense getting the best of most of the action, according to NIU Head Coach Rod Carey.
“Today’s scrimmage, I didn’t think it was . . .
“Today’s scrimmage, I didn’t think it was . . .
. . . good enough offensively at all,” Carey said. “They didn’t respond to the change of location. I didn’t see enough juice out of them. The defense had the best of it from what I could see. It was great to see them flying around and making plays.”
Saturday’s scrimmage began with third down situations before moving into goal-line drills, where the offense was held to field goal attempts. The offense then was challenged to begin on its own one- and five yard lines with neither the first or second team units advancing past the 20-yard line.
Defensive big plays during the scrimmage included an interception by safety Mycial Allen, a fumble recovery by Jawaun Johnson and an interception return for a touchdown by freshman cornerback Cassius Grady.
During the “Move the Ball” segments from the 30-yard line, the defense made four stops in seven drives as veterans Drew Hare , Kenny Golladay , Joel Bouagnon and Shawun Lurry, among others, sat out the scrimmage. Redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Santacaterina led the Huskies on a 52-yard drive for a field goal during the earlier Move the Ball periods.
One possession after Grady’s defensive score, quarterback Ryan Graham led the offense on a touchdown drive as he connected with five different receivers to the 31-yard line. On fourth and short, running back Marcus Jones drew oohs and aahs from the crowd as he used a nifty spin move to get out of traffic before using his speed to outrun defenders to the endzone.
Two series later, Santacaterina capped off the day’s action by leading a second touchdown drive, hitting redshirt freshman Adam Buirge from 36 yards out on a fourth down pass.
With three practices remaining this spring, Carey said he has seen improvement from many players over the last 12 practices and defensively mentioned a trio of linebackers, along with returning All-American Lurry.
“Jamaal Payton has been playing well this spring, along with Sean Folliard,” Carey said. “Juwaun Johnson has really had a heckuva spring. Those three really stand out. Shawun Lurry is playing really well, and the great thing to see is he is improving. The rest of the secondary is coming along. There is a lot of competition there, those guys are battling every day.”
Offensively, Carey mentioned wide receivers Ezra Saffold and Christian Blake as players whose progress he has noted this spring.
“Christian Blake has probably had the best spring of anyone on the offensive side,” Carey said. “Ezra Saffold has stood out. Ty Harmston’s move to tight end has gone great, he’s doing really well over there.”
Saturday’s scrimmage began with third down situations before moving into goal-line drills, where the offense was held to field goal attempts. The offense then was challenged to begin on its own one- and five yard lines with neither the first or second team units advancing past the 20-yard line.
Defensive big plays during the scrimmage included an interception by safety Mycial Allen, a fumble recovery by Jawaun Johnson and an interception return for a touchdown by freshman cornerback Cassius Grady.
During the “Move the Ball” segments from the 30-yard line, the defense made four stops in seven drives as veterans Drew Hare , Kenny Golladay , Joel Bouagnon and Shawun Lurry, among others, sat out the scrimmage. Redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Santacaterina led the Huskies on a 52-yard drive for a field goal during the earlier Move the Ball periods.
One possession after Grady’s defensive score, quarterback Ryan Graham led the offense on a touchdown drive as he connected with five different receivers to the 31-yard line. On fourth and short, running back Marcus Jones drew oohs and aahs from the crowd as he used a nifty spin move to get out of traffic before using his speed to outrun defenders to the endzone.
Two series later, Santacaterina capped off the day’s action by leading a second touchdown drive, hitting redshirt freshman Adam Buirge from 36 yards out on a fourth down pass.
With three practices remaining this spring, Carey said he has seen improvement from many players over the last 12 practices and defensively mentioned a trio of linebackers, along with returning All-American Lurry.
“Jamaal Payton has been playing well this spring, along with Sean Folliard,” Carey said. “Juwaun Johnson has really had a heckuva spring. Those three really stand out. Shawun Lurry is playing really well, and the great thing to see is he is improving. The rest of the secondary is coming along. There is a lot of competition there, those guys are battling every day.”
Offensively, Carey mentioned wide receivers Ezra Saffold and Christian Blake as players whose progress he has noted this spring.
“Christian Blake has probably had the best spring of anyone on the offensive side,” Carey said. “Ezra Saffold has stood out. Ty Harmston’s move to tight end has gone great, he’s doing really well over there.”
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