DeKALB, Illinois – In his fourth season leading the Northern Illinois University football team, head coach Thomas Hammock has often referred to the Huskies as a "developmental program" with a focus on bringing in young players – both scholarship and walk-ons – and helping them grow in the weight room, in the classroom and on the field. That philosophy helped Hammock lead one of the youngest team in the country to a nine-game turnaround and a Mid-American Conference Championship a year ago.
 
While focusing on freshmen during the recruiting process, Hammock and his staff have also had great success in selectively adding transfers during his tenure. Transfers Rocky Lombardi, Clint Ratkovich, Jordan Gandy and Miles Joiner played huge roles in NIU's turnaround in 2021.
 
As preseason practices continued at Huskie Stadium Tuesday morning, more experienced veteran newcomers are showing that they have the opportunity to make an impact for the Huskies in 2022.
 
After joining the team in January, defensive end Izayah Green-May (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS/Wisconsin), wide receiver Shemar Thornton (Miami, Fla./Hallandale HS/FIU) and safety Jordan White (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace HS/Youngstown State) are all making their case to contribute.
 
"If a guy comes in in January and is able to go through the offseason program, go through spring ball and get a chance to get around the guys, that puts him a lot further ahead and gives him an opportunity to compete," Hammock said.  "Zay [Green-May] has every opportunity to start. Shemar is putting himself in a position to be one of our top receivers this season and Jordan White is fighting to be a starting safety in our program. Those three guys, we feel, are potential starters that we brought in as transfers which makes a difference on the football team."
 
Hammock said the key in bringing in transfers is that word "selective" and that NIU's emphasis on development has not changed.
 
"We don't bring in many [transfers] because we feel we are a grass roots program," Hammock said. "We want to develop high school players, but we will be selective with what we bring into the program to fill some needs. These guys have come in and done a phenomenal job with their work ethic, with their mentality, with their approach, they have bought into the way we work and how we work, the way we do things. They give us a chance to be a much better football team."
 
The second day of Northern Illinois University preseason football practices saw the Huskies once again split into two groups for the non-padded morning workout, with an overlapping special teams session in the middle.  In the early session, the first and second team offense took center stage, while the first and second defenses had the best of the offense in the second half of practice, including an interception by linebacker Jaden Dolphin.
 
Hammock liked the way the Huskies worked heading into Wednesday's full team practice in shoulder pads, shorts and helmets.

"We have a unique football team in the sense that these guys just work, and it's been fun to see the maturation process," Hammock said. "We don't need the bells and whistles to try to get them over the hump. They just come out and they understand the task and they attack the task and I think that's the most exciting part for me. You have a group of guys that understand the standards, the expectations of our program, and they want to go out there and attack it. What you see is a group focused on just getting better and I think that's the most exciting thing for me."
 
Preseason practices continue Wednesday morning beginning at 7:15 a.m. at Huskie Stadium. Read position by position previews of the team beginning Wednesday on NIUHuskies.com and continuing throughout camp.  See the complete camp schedule and links to daily coverage on the 2022 Camp Central page on NIUHuskies.com.
 
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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