DEKALB, Ill. – With a trio of returnees that combined to make 26 starts a season ago, the NIU Huskies have both experience and talent leading the way at cornerback. 

"I like where we are at the cornerback position," said NIU head coach Thomas Hammock. "We feel like we have three guys that are really like three starters with (Jordan) Gandy, (Javaughn) Byrd and Eric Rogers. Then we have some quality depth behind them. We feel like we are a lot deeper at the cornerback position, we have a lot more competition. We have the ability to rotate guys and keep guys fresh which will help us over the course of a long season."

Leading the group in the cornerback room is a new face this season as Nick Benedetto joins the Huskie staff as Co-Defensive Coordinator and Cornerbacks Coach. A native of Crystal Lake, Ill., Benedetto comes to DeKalb following two years as the Defensive Coordinator at Samford, where last season his defense led the Southern Conference in turnovers. 

Like Hammock, Benedetto noted the returning experience of the cornerback group, as well as the depth in the room. 

"I think it is a very hard-working group, they come to work every single day," said Benedetto. "We have players that compete, they go after the football, and we go against a great receiving corps and great offense every day that makes us better. We have returners like Jordan Gandy, Javaughn Byrd played a lot of snaps, Eric Rogers, coming back from his injury has looked good so far. We also have a good group of young guys from Cyrus (McGarrell) to (Jashon) Prophete that are looking to compete. We have a good, solid corps of guys and I am looking forward to what they are going to do this season."

Junior Jordan Gandy (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb) is the most experienced of the returning trio at corner, having started 20 consecutive games for the Huskies after returning to his hometown following one year at South Dakota State. A two-time All-MAC honoree, Gandy tallied a team-best 10 pass breakups in 2021 and also finished sixth on the team with 53 tackles. 

On the other side, sophomore Eric Rogers (Burlington, N.J./Burlington Township) started the first five games of the 2021 season before missing the rest of the year due to injury. Rogers had 26 tackles in those five contests, including seven against both Georgia Tech and Wyoming. Sophomore Javaughn Byrd (Milwaukee, Wis./Rufus King) started the final seven contests a season ago and made 40 tackles

Sophomore Jashon Prophete (Pompano Beach, Fla./Blanche Ely) saw action in all 14 games last year, including two starts at safety while also playing extensively on NIU's special teams units, and Cyrus McGarrell (Windsor, Ontario, Canada/Clearwater Academy International [Fla.]) played in four games before taking a redshirt.

As a group, Benedetto noted how experience has helped the veterans, which in turn has allowed them to help their younger teammates. 

"They also do a great job of teaching the younger players," said Benedetto. "When you have guys like Byrd, Gandy, Rogers who all took snaps, and Prophete took snaps at safety, he's versatile and can play anywhere in those type of positions, it helps them slow the game of football down for the young guys.

"For the older guys, if you have played college football and taken reps, the game starts to slow down. That helps those guys succeed on the field. If you try to see everything, you won't see anything, but if you see a little, you see a lot, and those guys have done a good job of whatever they need to see, they see it and then they do what they are supposed to do at the highest level."

After an off day on Tuesday, the Huskies returned to the practice field on Wednesday morning under cloudless skies at Huskie Stadium. Hammock was pleased to see the intensity on the field following the day off. 

"I thought our defense really came out and responded," said Hammock of Wednesday's practice. "Our offense had a couple good days in a row, and I thought the defense came back and responded today, it was very, very physical. We are getting to that point where they are tired of hitting each other; they are at the point where they want to play someone else. We definitely want to be smart with how we do things over the next couple of weeks because this is a physical football team. 

"They love to compete, and they hate to lose and that is where you want to keep them. They have a good edge about them, it has been a spirited camp and it has been good for me to see as a head coach that these guys have an edge, they have a chip on their shoulder, and they are out to prove what type of team we can be."

NIU will be back on the practice field on Thursday at 10 a.m. Read the current position previews online and see the complete camp schedule on the 2022 Camp Central page.
 
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