DeKALB – Spring practice for NIU football is still over a month away, but several positions remain unaddressed after an offseason of player movements.
Here are three position battles to watch play out during the 15 practices on NIU’s spring schedule.
WIDE RECEIVERS
Huskie fans may have breathed a sigh of relief when redshirt senior Trayvon Rudolph – one of NIU’s top offensive weapons – withdrew his name from the transfer portal in December. But those fans shouldn’t count their chickens just yet. Several question marks still linger around the rest of the receiving corps.
Davis Patterson and Kacper Rutkiewicz are no longer in the mix, and the Huskies – probably – can’t feed every pass to Rudolph. So the question remains: Who fills out the rest of the supporting cast for the next QB1?
For the purposes of this column, I’m excluding senior Grayson Barnes from the wide receiver discussion. Though he’s listed as a receiver on NIU’s roster, Barnes has mostly played at tight end and been listed as such on the team’s depth chart.
Redshirt sophomores Jalen Johnson and Dane Pardridge are the obvious contenders – being the only returnees with more than a game’s worth of starting experience. But two mid-year transfers could also offer solutions to NIU’s receiving predicament.
Junior Kenji Lewis (University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and senior Andrew McElroy (University of St. Thomas) are both in their first semester at NIU after being the leading receivers at their previous schools in 2023.
Spring practice will also be an opportunity for young up-and-comers like redshirt freshman Kyle Thomas and redshirt sophomore Keyshaun Pipkin to prove their worth on the field.
LINEBACKERS
Two of NIU’s three starting linebackers from last season are gone, with senior DaRon Gilbert and redshirt senior Tyler Jackson both declared for the 2024 NFL Draft. Senior Jaden Dolphin begins the spring as the only returner in the group with a start under his belt.
NIU attempted to replace its lost starting experience by bringing in senior Christian Fuhrman (Southeast Missouri State University) and junior Marc Pretto (Fordham University) from the transfer portal. Both players started every game at linebacker for their respective schools in 2023.
The coaching staff could also look to the other six rostered linebackers, four of whom – redshirt sophomore Jake Gassaway, seniors Jordan Monroe, Joey Rattin and redshirt senior Quinn Urwiler – have already seen playing time at NIU.
QUARTERBACKS
With Rocky Lombardi’s eligibility exhausted, an opening presents itself at the most important position in team sports.
Redshirt junior Ethan Hampton heads into spring ball as the de facto starter after backing up Lombardi for the past three seasons.
Hampton has played in 110 games and started four in his NIU career, going 0-4 record as the Huskies’ starting QB. He has completed 95-of-165 passes for 968 yards, 9 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in his college career.
NIU added a pair of QB transfers during the winter recess that could push Hampton for the starting job in redshirt junior Jalen Macon (University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff) and junior Kenny Lueth (American River College).
Macon appeared in 10 games during his two seasons at UAPB, completing 85-of-136 passes for 937 yards, 5 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.
During that same span, Leueth starred as the signal-caller at American River. He was 260-of-447 passing for 3,530 yards, 41 touchdowns and 6 interceptions in 23 career junior college games.
The three will also have competition from redshirt sophomore Nevan Cremascoli, redshirt freshman Josh Holst and redshirt junior C.J. Jordan, all of whom were on the roster last season.
As a walk-on freshman in 2022, Cremascoli played in the final four games and started the last three after multiple injuries at quarterback. Holst, a preferred walk-on in 2023, has yet to see action at the college level. Jordan played in 11 games at the University of Idaho before transferring to NIU last offseason.
