NIU tailback T.C. Dantzler isn’t familiar with his new role.

He is used to gathering attention at center stage as one of NIU’s premier wrestlers. Last year, he qualified for the NCAA Championships as a 158 pounder.

Now, the junior finds himself clearly out of the spotlight as a third-string bit player. But he does not fret.

“I have to be patient,” Dantzler said. “I have to wait my turn.”

Dantzler, 5-10, 175 pounds, is playing football again for the first time since graduating from Thornwood High School in 1988. After his senior year at the South Holland school—in which he rushed for over 1,000 yards and finished second in the 138-pound class of the IHSA Class AA Finals—he had schools everywhere requesting his football services.

“I could have played at Nebraska, Missouri,” Dantzler said. “But I decided I wanted to wrestle.”

And he chose NIU. But Dantzler soon realized that he missed butting heads in the “nutcracker drill” and being on the gridiron. Executing a “fireman’s carry” to perfection and being on the wrestling mat is rewarding, he thought, but football is too.

“I wanted to play (football) my freshman and sophomore year, but (former NIU football head coach Jerry) Pettibone wouldn’t let me walk on,” Dantzler said. “He said one sport is enough. (New head coach Charlie) Sadler gave me a shot.”

Dantzler’s chances of making an impact on offense this year are slim, but he is kept busy. Sadler has him covering punts and kickoffs. He has one tackle in NIU’s two games.

“Right now, he’s working on the third team as a tailback,” Sadler said. “It’s hard moving up once you get into the season. Usually, very few positions change.

“We had already gotten into fall camp when he said football was still in his blood. He wanted an opportunity to play, and we gave him one.

“He’s behind in the knowledge of what we’re doing, but we’re putting him on special teams to get his talent on the field.”

NIU wrestling head coach Ed Vatch has no qualms with his star pupil moonlighting as a football player.

“Football’s a love of his,” Vatch said. “He had some pretty good schools after him when he was in high school. My attitude is that everybody has to live out their goals and skills.

“We expect him back right after football. We may give him a week off. That’s up to him. I can see him being the kind of individual that would jump right into practice.”

That’s precisely what Dantzler plans to do.

“A rest might even hurt me,” he said.

Dantzler said his goal as a football player is “to help the team out as much as I can. I’m going to use football to make me tougher for wrestling.”

As for grappling, Dantzler’s goal is to finish at the top of his weight division; he predicts he will.

“I’m going to win,” he said. “Watch. You heard it hear first. I’m going to win Nationals.”