The National Football Post released its post spring Non-AQ power rankings today and the Huskies slotted in at No. 5 just ahead of Houston, but below Arkansas State. While the 2012 NIU football team won't be the same team as last year's version, the Huskies proved they were a better team than Arkansas State with a 38-20 victory over the Red Wolves in the 2012 GoDaddy.com Bowl in January.

The Northern Illinois football program's propensity to develop 1,000-yard rushers was noticed by Yahoo! Sports today.  Since 2000 in the FBS, only Nevada has produced more 1,000-yard rushers (12) than NIU (11).  Wisconsin also has 11.  Only seven total FBS schools have churned out 10 or more 1,000-yard rushers since the turn of the century.  The impressive list of Huskies to reach 1,000 yards in a season is as follows:

2011 -- Chandler Harnish (1,379 yards, 98.5 yards/game, 7.1 yards/rush, 11 TD)

2010 -- Chad Spann (1,388 yards, 99.1 yards/game, 5.4 yards/rush, 22 TD)

2009 -- Chad Spann (1,038 yards, 79.8 yards/game, 5.8 yards/rush, 19 TD)

2007 -- Justin Anderson (1,245 yards, 103.8 yards/game, 4.5 yards/rush, 8 TD)

2006 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,928 yards, 148.3 yards/game, 6.2 yards/rush, 18 TD)

2005 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,580 yards, 175.6 yards/game, 6.5 yards/rush, 16 TD)

2004 -- Garrett Wolfe (1,656 yards, 150.5 yards/game, 6.5 yards/rush, 18 TD)

2003 -- Michael Turner (1,648 yards, 137.3 yards/game, 5.3 yards/rush, 14 TD)

2002 -- Michael Turner (1,915 yards, 159.5 yards/game, 5.7 yards/rush, 19 TD)

2001 -- Thomas Hammock (1,096 yards, 99.6 yards/game, 4.1 yards/rush, 7 TD)

2000 -- Thomas Hammock (1,083 yards, 120.3 yards/game, 5.8 yards/rush, 16 TD)

The new wallpaper for the upcoming 2012 football season is available now on NIUHuskies.com. Show your Huskie pride and download it today!

Sure it's only May and the Northern Illinois University football team doesn't open camp for about another three months, but it's never too early for a 2012 football preview. At least that's the way CollegeFootballNews.com looks at it. It posted this preview of the 2012 NIU Football season complete with a breakdown of the Huskie offense and NIU defense as well as a depth chart.