DeKALB, Ill. – On day 13 of Northern Illinois University football's preseason camp, head coach Thomas Hammock put his 2022 Huskies through its most extensive scrimmage of the preseason Saturday at Huskie Stadium. Following the workout, Hammock praised the team's "effort, energy and physicality."
 
"We really wanted to put stress on the players to get them game ready," the fourth-year head coach said. "I think they handled it well. The offense was really sharp, especially early, and that was good to see. Our defense has been extremely tough all camp so to see how [the offense] came out and responded, they were obviously ready to play."   
 
After a short warm-up, nearly the entire two-hour practice was spent in 11-on-11 periods, beginning with short yardage situations and progressively moving to goal-line, red zone and third downs, to full field, move the ball action. First and second team quarterbacks Rocky Lombardi and Ethan Hampton handled the majority of the snaps during the scrimmage, with redshirt freshman Jeffery Lomax the next to see action.
 
Hammock said the emphasis on situations was intentional and specifically mentioned Lombardi and the progress he has seen in the quarterback from a year ago to now.
 
"We put them in some tough situations with short yardage, goal line, third downs to try and play some situational football, which I think is important for us to get good at those situations so we can have the ability to stay on the field," Hammock said. "Obviously Rocky was extremely sharp today. When he was out there, I was thinking back to last year, our first type of scrimmage and he didn't have a great day. Just to see his progression as a quarterback and how he leads the team and gives us energy was good to see."
 
Lombardi connected with senior receiver Cole Tucker several times during the practice, with Messiah Travis, Shemar Thornton, Fabian McCray and Kacper Rutkiewicz also making plays with the first team offense, which looked extremely effective. Running backs Harrison Waylee, Antario Brown, Mason Blakemore and Billy Dozier also found the end zone in early goal line and red zone situations while the tight ends also got in on the action. Freshmen receivers Malik Armstrong and Keyshaun Pipkin stepped up to make catches throughout the practice. Getting the young playmakers in scrimmage situations with the first and second team offense is important, Hammock said.
 
"In the last five practices Malik Armstrong and Keyshaun Pipkin have really stepped up," Hammock said. "We wanted to keep force feeding them more reps in live situations and I think they handled it well. Obviously, we have another week where we can keep putting them in situations to get them ready to play. Maybe we don't need them the first couple games, but at some point, we feel they will be ready to play along with Jalen Johnson and Eli Reed. Those are four young receivers that we feel really, really good about and we want to keep developing them, and the best time to develop them is during camp."  
 
With eight days and seven practices remaining until the Huskies break camp and classes begin, Saturday's scrimmage also saw the coaches call plays from the press box while officials were on the field, although flags were not thrown.  
 
"We tried to make it as game like as possible for everybody - the coaching staff, the players, the sidelines and everything, including all the communication and all the substitutions," Hammock said.
 
With the end of preseason camp in sight, Hammock said the next week of camp will involve more fine-tuning as competition for roles on offense, defense and special teams are determined.
 
"It's been a long camp already," he said. "This next week is about sharpening our edges as a football team and defining roles in terms of who is going to be able to help us and how much they're going to be able to help us. Next Saturday, it will be more of a practice type setting because at that point, we are just fine tuning and getting these guys healthy and fresh and trying to get them to September 1."
 
Preseason practices continue Sunday morning at Huskie Stadium as the NIUHuskies.com position previews continue with the special teams. Read the breakdown of all the positions online and see the complete camp schedule on the 2022 Camp Central page.
 
Purchase NIU Football tickets now online at NIUHuskies.com or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225) during regular business hours. Ticket options include season tickets to see all six Huskie home games, Mini-Plans featuring either the All-Saturday ($90) or All-Weekday ($78) package, and single game tickets, priced from $18-$40 depending on the game. Season tickets provide the best value with prices as low as $14.67 per ticket with the Huskie Family 4 Pack (do not have to be related), $97 for East Side general admission seating or $144 for West Side reserved seats. Premium area tickets are also available on both a season and per game basis.  For more information and to see all the options and prices, click here
 
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