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NIU Football Signing Day 2015
Join members of the NIU Athletics Communications staff from 9 a.m. - Noon CT on National Signing Day (Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015) for an insiders' perspective on one of the most important days of the year for the Huskie Football program, outside of game day.
Huskie coaches and other members of the football staff, and maybe even a surprise guest or two, will stop by to answer your questions as we try to give you a sense of what goes on in the nerve center of it all.
We'll take your questions (remember, we can only answer questions about players after we have announced that they have signed with us), direct you to our video highlights and more.
We'll also take questions from Twitter (@NIUAthletics) and Instagram (niuhuskies) so follow us and your questions could show up here.
The more people who interact, the better this chat will be, so hope to hear from you on Wednesday!
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| NIUAthComm: We're kicking off our live interactive blog right now and so far we've been rolling through our list of signees on Twitter! |
| NIUAthComm: Just as a reminder, you can get all of the latest updates of signees on NIUHuskies.com Signing Day Central and on Twitter throughout the day. |
| NIUAthComm: We got a lot of good questions right now and we're working on bringing in a coach to answer them. We'll let you know who that is shortly. |
| NIUAthComm: We've brought in Recruiting Coordinator Brett Diersen to answer some of the questions so if you have any more, ask away!!! |
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| Chicago: What was the main focus on the 2015 recuiting class in terms of positions ? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: We were looking for prospects that wanted to be at NIU and that would fit our team. |
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| Roscoe: Can we expect to see any of these incoming freshmen to start right away? If so, who? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: Fall camp is an open competition. If a freshman is showing us something, we will find a place for him on the field. |
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| chicago: are there any early enrollees? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: We do not have any early enrollees this spring. |
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| Joe (Bartlett): While the coaches have been on the road recruiting, what have the current players been doing? Are they just off during this time. |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: There's been no off time! Our guys have been competing in the weight room and have been competing in the classroom. This is how we prepare for spring ball. |
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| Sam (Marengo, IL): What has been the key factor in being able to grab top recruits from not just in-state, but also throughout the Midwest and in the South? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: It's about building a relationship with the prospect and their family, as well as getting them on campus and showing them all that NIU has to offer. |
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| Norman (St.charles): How have you been so successful recruiting O-linemen in the state of Wisconsin? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: Coach Carey has a lot of ties in the state of Wisconsin and has maintained those relationships throughout the years as a coach. |
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| Dave Wannstedt (We'll be fine): When is Coach Carey going to grow a sweet 'Stache? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: I've known Rod for 15 years now and I've never seen him with a mustache. |
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| Huskie Five (DeKalb): What is today like for the coaching staff? What time are you at the office, is there any suspense? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: We were in at 5:30 in the morning, just staring at the fax machine and waiting for anything to come through. |
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| Roger(Geneva): Do you recruit for need by position, or for best players available regardless of position? |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: We recruit the best player at the position that fits NIU. |
| NIUAthComm: Diersen: Thanks for your questions everybody, I'm off to watch some more film. Go Huskies! |
| NIUAthComm: We got a special treat everybody: Offensive Coordinator Bob Cole has agreed to come on the blog this year. Submit your questions now and #bobcole will answer them for you in about 10-15 minutes. |
| Bob Cole: I'm here everybody, let's get this thing going! |
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| Nate (Jacksonville, FL): Do you have enough beef & cheese to feed all the big boys from WI? |
| Bob Cole: I really have no idea how they grow them that big up there. They will clean out our training table every morning. As long as they keep growing them, we keep taking them. |
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| Bill (Palos Park): NIU has run a pretty similar offense over the last several years. What types of players do you like in this current system? |
| Bob Cole: I think our guys need to be able to play multiple positions. We look for guys with a lot of versatility being able to run and catch. The big thing we look at though is speed. |
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| Randy Watson (Jackson Heights): Is it true you got busted at Arkansas for smoking in the coaches box? |
| Bob Cole: Nope, it was Ball State hahaha |
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| Hoser (Edmonton.....Ay): We're excited to have Jordan Lynch join the Esks and bring some of that #BobColeMagic tutelage to the Great White North...Ay. |
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| Champaign: What coaches recruit what areas? (like who is in FL/ AL/MO, etc |
| Bob Cole: I recruit the Catholic League in Chicago, Alabama and the Panhandle in Florida. |
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| Matthew McConaughey (A pimped out Buick): Great work on expanding those FL & AL pipelines.
How's the work coming along at opening up that Texas recruiting pipeline?
Perhaps Atlanta & the Carolinas in the future, but as long as TX, FL, & AL are there, NIU will be in a great position.
GO HUSKIES! Alright, Alright, Alright... |
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| Chicago: Do you think the recent announcement of stadium renovations has or will affect NIU football recruiting? |
| Bob Cole: I think it already has. The kids who've come on campus have seen what's coming with the pictures we've shown them. Sean's done a great job of getting us out there nationally and when the stadium gets overhauled, it's gonna be awesome! |
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| Huskie for Life (NIU): I'm excited about the Huskie offense next year and all the weapons we will have. Who are you looking to make strides over the spring and be an impact player next year? |
| Bob Cole: It will be good Tommylee back next year and I'm anxious for Kenny Galladay to get into our offense. I think our three running backs will be very productive this year and we're anxious for Shane Wimann at tight end too. Of course, Juwan Brescacin will keep making crazy catches so I think we'll be in good shape next year on offense. |
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| Neil (Elmhurst): Will Trayshon Foster or Corey Kennedy be looked at on offense or are they strictly defensive players? |
| Bob Cole: I think they'll be looked at more as defensive players in our program. |
| Bob Cole: Thanks for all of your questions everyone! I had an awesome time! Looking forward to another big year of Huskie Football. #bobcole |
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| NIYouKnow: When the time comes, how will you prepare for those Big 12 defenses week in and week out? |
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| Champaign: How will you fill the holes in the O-Line since basically you lost two tackles and a guard. |
| NIUAthComm: If you haven't seen it already, we'll be releasing videos throughout the day of some of our current Huskies reliving their signing day and sharing some of their memories of the day. http://youtu.be/JoDJ8JRdB8k |
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| MissionFan73 (California): Are you doing any recruiting in California? There are a lot of great players in the Southern Section. |
| NIUAthComm: Just found this on Twitter from former Huskie football player Duane Hawthorne (@DuaneHawthorne)
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| Mike Hynek: Are there any more LOIs that you're waiting on? |
| NIUAthComm: Sorry for the delay, been frantically getting all the bios and videos posted on Signing Day Central. I hope you've been staying with us! At this point, with a complete list of 30 recruits, we believe we are done for the day. |
| NIUAthComm: We hope to get another coach on here in a little while. They are actually in a meeting looking at NEXT YEAR's recruiting targets. |
| NIUAthComm: A few notes on the total list - which you can see on the roster at Signing Day Central. We have 11 Illinois-ans, 6 players from Wisconsin and two each from Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama, Florida and Missouri. NIU added one player each from Arkansas, Texas and Iowa. |
| NIUAthComm: Also if you look at the list by position, it includes six defensive backs and six offensive lineman. There were four running backs, four defensive linemen and four linebackers, three wide receivers, two tight ends and a quarterback. |
| NIUAthComm: For the record, the first fax in today came from Ryan Roberts, TE from Pinckney, Michigan at 7:05 am and the last one was from D.J. Brown, RB from North Little Rock, Arkansas at about 10:10. RBs Coach Kelton Copeland, the Huskie coach in both of those areas, won the coaches' competition for "first NLI in" but also had to wait the longest to get his last one. |
| NIUAthComm: More #NIU Signing Day Memories are out on YouTube as well as on our Facebook page (NIU Huskies). Check out what offensive lineman Josh Ruka remembers.
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| Steve (Lindenhurst): With Santacaterina being the only QB in this year's recruits it looks like the QB position will be the focal point for next season. Since the coaches are meeting about it now, can we get a breakdown of what they think the needs will be on the recruiting front for next season? |
| NIUAthComm: Hey Steve, while it's an interesting question, I think we'll celebrate today's class a little bit before jumping into that one. A lot can happen in a year! Who knew that we'd have Tommylee Lewis back for 2015! |
| NIUAthComm: Do you guys have any more questions for our coaches? If so, please send them in now and we'll try and get another coach in here before we wrap this up at about Noon. At that time, we'll head over to get ready for our live press conference on ESPN3 today at 2 pm. |
| NIUAthComm: Remember, coverage of Signing Day continues throughout the day here on NIUHuskies.com and on Twitter (@NIUAthletics), Instagram (niuhuskies) and Facebook (NIU Huskies). In addition to the 2 pm (CT) press conference on ESPN3, which will include men's soccer coach Eric Luzzi and women's soccer coach John Ross, we'll have social media coverage tonight from the Signing Day Party at AcquaViva Winery in Maple Park. The coaching staff and AD Sean Frazier will be in attendance and the event sold out in 36 hours. Tomorrow, we'll be posting video highlights of that so keep an eye out. |
| NIUAthComm: More Signing Day Memories. Can yhou tell we caught him right out of his workout?
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| NIUAthComm: You Huskies are pretty quiet today! Must all be working hard and resting easy after the early completion of our list today. |
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| Chicago: How did the announcement of the future home/away games impact the recruiting process? |
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| Grant (Fort Worth): How much emphasis is put on national perception of class rankings? does it even enter a coaches mind? |
| NIUAthComm: Hi Grant, we'll make this the final question and while we don't have a coach here, I can tell you from being around this staff that they don't pay attention to the recruiting rankings at all. I would encourage you to watch our signing day show on ESPN3 today at 2 pm and Coach Carey may address a similar question. We don't even list recruiting rankings in our bios because they are so arbitrary. |
| NIUAthComm: Thanks everyone for being a part of this year's chat. Sorry we couldn't get to all of the questions as the coaches were in and out of our ops center. Hopefully you have checked out the videos and bios on Signing Day Central on NIUHuskies.com. |
| NIUAthComm: Also, be sure to tune in at 2 pm today for our ESPN3 Signing Day show. We'll start out with brief remarks from our soccer programs, who also had important days today, before moving on to football with Coach Carey's press conference and a one-on-one interview. Tune in here http://es.pn/1y5Nwp3 |
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