Football | March 19

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University Huskies held the first of 15 2021 spring football practices Friday morning as head coach Thomas Hammock and his staff put the spring roster of 81 players, including 72 returnees and nine newcomers, through their paces at the Kenneth and Ellen Chessick Practice Center.
 
NIU returns 19 starters on offense and defense from a year ago, with 47 players on the roster who saw action in at least three games. NIU was one of the youngest teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) a year ago.   
 
"It's been a treat to go through a full offseason," Hammock said. "We've seen guys make tremendous strides in the weight room, in football IQ, from an athletic standpoint.  We're certainly excited about the spring. It's going to be a very physical, very intense spring on both sides of the ball."
 
One of the most-watched position battles will be at quarterback where Michigan State transfer Rocky Lombardi, 2020 freshman Dustin Fletcher, returnee Rodney Thompson and freshman newcomer Ethan Hampton have all impressed Hammock.
 
"I think we have four guys we feel really good about at quarterback," Hammock said. "This spring is going to be a great evaluation time for us. Nothing was guaranteed to Rocky [when he transferred to NIU], and he understands that. What he's done every day is earn the respect of his teammates by the way he works. The young guy, Ethan Hampton, has shown that he's not going to take a back seat to anybody. We have four guys that are going to compete."
 
Hammock expects competition at every position throughout the spring, while becoming a more potent offense will be a point of emphasis.
 
"Offensively, we have to become a much more explosive and dynamic unit and score more points," Hammock said. "That's going to be a heavy point of emphasis. We have to create big plays. As an offensive team, it starts up front. Defensively, we have to tackle, we have to take the ball away and give our offense more opportunities to score more points. This spring, we're going to take the gloves off and go after it every day, and I'm excited to watch these guys compete."
 
With every player earning a "do-over" after the 2020 season was cut short due to COVID-19, the roster includes 18 players who return as first-year freshmen with a season, as well as six seniors who took advantage of the opportunity to play another year of college football. Linebacker Kyle Pugh is back for his seventh season as a Huskie as he had earned a sixth-year of eligibility in 2020 after injuries limited his playing time earlier in his career. Also returning are multi-year starters Lance Deveaux Jr. (LB) and Brayden Patton (OL) as well as All-MAC performers Tyrice Richie (WR) and Matt Ference (P).
 
NIU will practice weekdays from 7-8:30 am and Saturdays at 11 am with the workouts on April 3, 10 and 17 open to the public. On April 10, fans are invited to Huskie Stadium for the 2021 NIU Football Spring Showcase. The Showcase will provide an opportunity to see the team scrimmage, an emcee will be on the field to provide commentary and conduct on-field interviews with special guests during the practice, and there will be a player skills competition. Following practice, Hammock will address the crowd. More details on the 2021 NIU Spring Showcase will be available in April.  
 
Capacity at Huskie Stadium has been raised to 25 percent under the latest guidelines from the state of Illinois and local health officials. During the open practices, fans will be able to watch from the West Stands of Huskie Stadium (no field access) with masks and social distancing required.     
 
For more on 2021 NIU Football spring practices, visit Spring Central 2021 on NIUHuskies.com which will be updated with links to stories, videos and more. 
 
-- NIU --