Football | August 8

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University football team wrapped up its opening week of fall practice on Saturday afternoon. The Huskies are four Saturdays away from the season opener against Iowa in their inaugural season in the Mountain West.

As the Huskies suit up for the first time since the spring, the team's focus in the first week has been competing on the field and team building. Head coach Rob Harley has preached the "Us" and embracing positivity since taking over in February.

"If you don't have the mindset of wanting to be in the building and be together, I don't know how on third-and-one, third-and-two, in overtime or on that key play we come together and get a stop, get a big first down or touchdown if we don't know and like each other," said Harley. "It's critical for our staff to love to come to work and it's critical for our players to want to be here."

An additional wrinkle has been adding a practice field on the west lawn outside of Huskie Stadium, giving the team a non-turf practice surface. For Harley, the benefits can be found both mentally and physically.

"First of all, we want to make the stadium special. When we come in this building, it's show time … we're getting into that routine for a season," said Harley. "The impact on (the players) bodies, cooler out on the (grass) field as well. The thing is the mindset of being special when you step on this stage and put on a show for our fans."

Redshirt senior wide receiver Cam Thompson (Youngstown, Ohio / Boardman) returns to NIU after spending the 2025 season with Mississippi State. Thompson made an impact for the Huskies in 2024, totaling 391 receiving yards and three touchdowns.

The veteran wide out spoke to Harley's leadership style following the opening day of practice.  

"He tries to bring everybody together … he's bringing back the alumni," said Thompson. "Basically every day we have different alumni coming in and talking to us. It's really a togetherness with him."

Senior linebacker Broderick Windham (Corona, Calif. / Saddleback CC) returns after appearing in all 12 games last season on a unit that ranked in the top 15 in the FBS in passing yards allowed. The Huskies will look to bring the same "Heat" mentality to 2026.

"Our identity for the defense is to take the ball back and bring the heat every day," said Windham. "We've been doing great right now on communication and physicality … we want to be a defense that's always on somebody and puts the fear in teams."

One of the new staff additions this offseason is offensive line coach Matt White, who comes to DeKalb following a successful tenure at Southern Utah. White's offensive line helped Southern Utah rush for just over 200 yards per game in each of the last two seasons and produced multiple all-conference players.

White's philosophy isn't to over coach his unit, allowing for collaboration to find the best way to win upfront. One week in, the first-year offensive line coach has enjoyed the buy in from the group.  

"We know we have plenty of time to have fun, we have some big personalities, but when we put the hat on and grab our lunch pails, we're going out for our day's work," said White. "What I am proud of is, we talk a lot about our standard and what that is and they're starting to buy in to what's important for us – being different, not special, how we go about our business and what our expectations of the room are."

NIU will continue to fall practices next week and count down the days until its season opener at Iowa on Sept. 5.

Single game tickets are now on sale, starting at just $35 for east side general admission tickets while west side general admission seats are $40. Season tickets for all five home games of NIU's first season in the Mountain West start at just $102. Tickets are available online at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling 815-753-PACK (7225). 

Huskie fans can sign up for MW+ to catch live games, replays, extra content and more. Subscriptions to MW+ by Huskie fans will also directly support NIU Athletics as a majority of each subscription purchased through a member school's dedicated page will support that institution. Fans who purchase an annual subscription in July, August, and September will receive a $67.99 rate, a 15% discount off the standard annual price.