March 27, 2010
DeKALB, Ill. -- In just its third day on the practice field this spring, and the first day in full pads, Northern Illinois went full speed on Saturday, including a 30-minute scrimmage, during a two-plus hour workout at Huskie Stadium. Despite chilly temperatures and winds at 10 to 20 miles per hour, NIU head coach Jerry Kill was most pleased with the play of his quarterbacks, led by junior DeMarcus Grady (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids HS).
"The encouraging thing for me today was we threw into the wind and the quarterbacks threw well. Overall, the quarterbacks have been a bright, bright, bright spot," Kill said. "DeMarcus just keeps getting better and better and better. I'm proud of the work he's done and excited about his progress. He's looking off the defenders, going through his progression and completing the long ball. He is throwing one hash to the other into the wind."
With freshman Jordan Lynch (Chicago, Ill./Mt. Carmel HS) temporarily sidelined after hitting his throwing hand on a helmet and receiving stitches on the hand, Grady and redshirt freshman A.J. Hill (DuQuoin, Ill./DuQuoin HS) and Tommy Coughlin (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) are receiving increased repetitions.
Kill was also pleased with the pace of practice and the lack of mistakes during the workout, despite the steep learning curve many of the players have had to tackle this week.
"I think things went really well today," Kill said. "We went 11 on 11, full tackle in our first day in pads and just our third day overall. Not many teams go 11 on 11 on the first day in pads and do all the things we did today. I didn't see many balls on the ground. We had officials here and we didn't see a lot of penalties. I think the first week has gone fantastic."
The defense, which returns 10 players who have started at least seven games, appeared to have the upper hand during the scrimmage session as the offense works without both quarterback Chandler Harnish (Bluffton, Ind./Norwell HS) and tailback Chad Spann (Indianapolis, Ind./North Central HS).
"I'll be honest with you, I'm very, very optimistic we're going to have a better defense than we've had the last two years," Kill said.
In Spann's absence, newcomer Jasmin Hopkins (Stanley, N.C./Fort Scott CC) and Iowa State transfer Cameron Bell (Round Rock, Texas/Iowa State), as well as redshirt freshman Antione Kirkland (Boca Raton, Fla./Olympic Heights HS), are receiving a lot of carries. The contrast between the 5-9, 174-pound Hopkins and the 6-2, 242-pound Bell presents a challenge for the NIU defenders.
Kill also reiterated the team's goals for this spring.
"We need to identify personnel at every position. We've got to get better at the fundamentals, at blocking and tackling and we've got some young guys that need to learn how to play," he said. "We have thrown a boatload of stuff at the team. We scrimmaged for 30 minutes today in and that went well, we just have to keep improving."
The Huskies return to the practice field Tuesday morning for the fourth of 15 spring workouts.
-- NIU --
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