DeKALB – When it comes to building a program, NIU head football coach Thomas Hammock approaches his team as one would the caretaking of a Chinese bamboo tree.
The subject of an often-cited parable about patience and development, the Chinese bamboo tree spends several of its earliest years developing underground and out of sight before suddenly sprouting to great heights.
Entering their sixth year under his leadership, Hammock believes the Huskies are due for their grand emergence.
“I think that’s where we’re at in our program,” Hammock said Aug. 6 at NIU’s DeKalb Media Day. “This is our best football team that we’ve had in every aspect of the word.”
But before the bamboo can break the surface, it requires a regimen of liberal watering and nourishment, just as any program requires careful recruiting and development to succeed. Hammock has done just this with his current group of 32 seniors.
Three years ago, many of those seniors were newcomers on what was then the second-youngest roster in the Football Bowl Subdivision that engineered a worst-to-first MAC title run and came four yards short of winning the Tailgreeter Cure Bowl.
Now, they’re helping lead the charge for MAC Championship hopes as they seek one last trip to Detroit before graduation.
RANKED TEAMS AND A TITLE DREAM
Coming off of a 7-6 campaign that culminated in their first bowl win in over a decade, the Huskies enter the 2024 season as a dark-horse contender for the Mid-American Conference title.
NIU was ranked third in the 2024 MAC Football Coaches Preseason Poll released by the conference July 19. NIU and Bowling Green State University each compiled 92 points to finish behind defending champion Miami University (119 points) and the University of Toledo (109).
The Huskies’ non-conference slate features marquee matchups with No. 7 University of Notre Dame and No. 24 North Carolina State University. Once MAC play hits, NIU will face Bowling Green and Miami on the road with a home defense against Toledo in between.
That starts with a defensive unit that finished top-25 in the country last season.
DEFENSE
For the first time since 2018, the defense will be without three-time All-MAC honoree and four-year captain James Ester, who signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in April. With Ester gone, NIU will look to experienced players like senior Devonte O’Malley and redshirt junior Skyler Gill-Howard.
Senior defensive end Raishein Thomas remains in the fold in the front seven after finishing 2023 as NIU’s top tackler with 75 total. Junior defensive end Roy Williams is expected to line up opposite Thomas after recording 24 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2023. Williams started NIU’s first five games last season before losing the starting spot to then-redshirt sophomore defensive end George Gumbs, who hopped into the transfer portal over the offseason.
The middle of the defense will feature senior linebackers Jaden Dolphin and Christian Fuhrman in NIU’s 4-2-5 defensive scheme. Dolphin, a former walk-on, moved to weakside linebacker after starting nine games and logging 61 tackles last season. Fuhrman steps into the mike linebacker role as a transfer from Southeast Missouri State University, where he made 125 stops over two seasons.
NIU’s defensive secondary remains mostly intact with seven of the eight players with a start least season back in the mix. Senior cornerback JaVaughn Byrd, who snagged three interceptions in 2023 en route to an All-MAC Second Team selection, leads the charge from the defensive backfield.
Senior safeties Nate Valcarcel and Jordan Hansen are also back for their final go-round in a Huskie uniform. Valcarcel recorded the most tackles among NIU defensive backs in 2023 with 46 total while finishing with 3 interceptions – tied with Byrd for the lead. Hansen finished last season with 43 tackles, a sack and a pass breakup.
NEW FACE UNDER CENTER
The Rocky Lombardi era at NIU is over. The Michigan State University transfer drained his eligibility last season to close out a seven-year college career.
Needing an answer at quarterback, NIU held an open competition during spring ball before whittling the list of top candidates down to redshirt junior Ethan Hampton, redshirt junior transfer Jalen Macon and redshirt freshman Josh Holst.
After the conclusion of fall camp, Hammock revealed in an NIU Athletics news release Friday that the Huskies’ opening day starter will be either Hampton or Macon. Hammock added that while the team knows who QB1 is, he won’t make his decision public before the season opener on Aug. 31.
Hampton, Lombardi’s longtime backup, brings the most experience to NIU’s QB room. The Aurora native has played in 11 games and started four over the past three seasons, going 0-4 in those starts. For his career, Hampton is 95-of-165 passing for 968 yards, 9 touchdowns and 8 interceptions.
Macon arrived on campus in January after three seasons at the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, bringing with him a 6-foot-5, 230-pound build and a handful of starting experience. In 10 career appearances for the Lions, Macon went 85-of-136 passing for 937 yards and 5 touchdowns.
“I’m extremely confident with all three of those guys,” Hammock said at NIU’s Chicago Media Day on July 23. “I think our quarterback play will be improved this season … They have a lot of playmakers around them that can make plays. They’ve just got to be a great facilitator.”
STAR-POWERED GROUND GAME
Whoever lines up under center this fall will have an arsenal of weapons at their disposal, starting with a running back committee that helped produce the second-best rushing offense in the conference in 2023.
Senior running back Antario Brown returns as the feature back for the Huskies, coming off the best statistical season of his career. Brown carried the ball 212 times for 1,296 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023 to earn a spot on the All-MAC First Team.
Earlier this summer, Brown was named to the preseason watch lists for three of college football’s most prestigious awards – the Maxwell Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award and the Doak Walker Award.
“He (Brown) is a much better player right now than he’s ever been in our program,” Hammock said Aug. 6 at NIU’s DeKalb Media Day. “If he stays healthy, and he does the things consistently on a day-to-day basis, I have great confidence there won’t be many backs in the country better than him.”
Brown is joined in the backfield by redshirt senior running back Gavin Williams and redshirt junior running back Justin Lynch – a converted QB. The two former transfers combined for 576 yards and 4 TDs in 2023.
“I think we will cause a lot of havoc,” Brown said of NIU’s running backs group. “I think it’ll be hard for teams to adjust to what we can bring. It’s going to be fun.”
RECEIVERS
Out wide, NIU retained one of the MAC’s most versatile players in redshirt senior wide receiver Trayvon Rudolph. A two-time All-MAC selection as a wide receiver and kick returner, Rudolph was NIU’s leading receiver in 2023 with 51 catches for 531 yards and two touchdowns. He also logged 22 carries for 182 yards and a score to finish as the Huskies’ No. 3 rusher.
Along with Rudolph, other returning targets include redshirt sophomore wide receivers Jalen Johnson and Dane Pardridge. Johnson recorded 17 catches for 151 yards and a touchdown. Pardridge, a DeKalb native, raked in 11 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown last year.
NIU also brought in a pair of junior transfers from Football Conference Subdivision schools, who led their respective teams in receiving last season. Junior wide receiver Kenji Lewis hauled in 33 receptions for 429 yards and three touchdowns at Arkansas Pine-Bluff, while senior wide receiver Andrew McElroy racked up 39 catches for 525 yards and two touchdowns for the University of St. Thomas.
Senior tight end Grayson Barnes offers another dimension to the passing game after averaging 18.4 yards per catch in 2023.
EXPERIENCE GAINED AND RETAINED UP FRONT
NIU brought back three of its five starting offensive linemen to man the trenches in 2024 but lost center Pete Nygra to the transfer portal and right tackle Nolan Potter to graduation.
With Nygra’s departure, the Huskies bumped senior Logan Zschernitz from guard to center to handle snaps. Zschernitz will be flanked by redshirt senior J.J. Lippe at left guard and senior John Champe at right guard.
The two tackle spots will be manned by a pair of Evans, with sophomore Evan Malcore lining up at left tackle and senior Evan Buss mirroring him at right tackle.
NIU will open the season at home Saturday against in-state rival Western Illinois University at 2:30 p.m. at Huskie Stadium.
