The world of the Huskie football walk-on: along with the scholarship freshmen, he gets to spend four more days than the rest of the team in the August stickiness, getting to know the coaches.

Like all first-year players (39 this year) he will spend much of practice as a strategic bruise on the offensive or defensive scout teams, his contribution to the first string’s success. He will be pushed to his weight-training limits and learn the negative effects of fake grass on real skin.

If he can take being pushed and, most importantly, pushes himself, he may grow up to be a Huskie walk-on hero like a Brett Tucker, an NIU cornerback drafted in the eighth round of this year’s NFL draft, or a John Ivanic. Ivanic, a senior placekicker, owns eight NIU records and should add three more this year.

“That’s the success that a youngster that’s walking on can look to see, that, hey, people before me have walked on, they’ve earned a scholarship, they’ve become starting players and even All-Americas,” said Huskie head coach Jerry Pettibone.

The records and the pros are long-term goals; a scholarship is the measure of the walk-on’s improvement. Two former Huskie walk-ons, offensive guard Kurt Weinberg and tight end Jeff Wroblewski have measured up and were awarded grants after their spring practice efforts.

Weinberg, from Maine East High School in Morton Grove, red-shirted in 1988 and was in on four plays against Nebraska last year. Listed behind Scott Elliot this year, Weinberg had to master his mind before muscling his way to No.2.

“He’s a little bit of a sometimes guy,” said offensive line coach Todd Spencer, a walk-on himself at Pacific Lutheran University, who joined NIU last spring. “He’ll give a great effort sometimes and then maybe take a snap or a play off in practice or drills. But I think his work ethic has gotten better even in the short time I’ve known him. He still has a ways to go and he knows that, we talk about it all the time. You gotta go every day, every snap if you wanna be great one.”

“My first year, I wasn’t into it as much but now I’m really into Huskie football,” said the 6-2, 265-pound Weinberg, who, like Wroblewski, was wooed by several schools until signing day. “I was here to play ball, I just wasn’t as involved. It was my own choice and I just decided to get more into it, work a lot harder, get better.”

Wroblewski red-shirted last fall and moved into the No.2 position behind senior Claude Royster when Corey Blake broke his foot in spring ball and re-broke it this summer. Royster said “Wrobo” has “good feet”, or positions himself well for blocking, a Huskie tight end’s meal ticket.

“He’s come along way from his freshman year,” said Royster.

“One of my big pluses is having Claude,” said Wroblewski. “He’s helped me a lot. I try to follow him, and hope that I’ll be as good as him.”

Wroblewski won’t be able to revel in his free education too long. Next spring, Blake should be healthy and Ray Roberts, a converted linebacker, will be more familiar with the offense. Royster predicts a “dog” fight for the starting job.

Paul Kropke, a true freshman walk-on (no redshirt) this year from Schaumburg, cannot be found in the Huskie media guide but will be found on the field this fall. Though it is unusual for a first-year player to see game action, Kropke does one thing better than any other Huskie—long snapping.

“He really surprised us,” said the man who works with Kropke, outside linebacker coach Mike Sabock. “We time our snappers. We want to snap it back there (to the punter or placekick holder) in .8 seconds. A 15-yard snap. last year we never did that, we were always around .9, .93.” Kropke covered the gap in .74., beating out two others.

“I feel very lucky, actually,” said Kropke.”I thought I got a good chance and I just gotta stick with it.”

Sabock said Kropke, a center in high school, is valuable enough that he will play no other position and is kept out of harm’s way by snapping to the quarterbacks in practice, helping them with their timing.

“A long snapper is just as important as a quarterback, a kicker, a punter, because if that guy goes down and all of sudden you don’t have a long snapper, you’re talking big changes to your kicking game,” said Sabock. “He’s (Kropke) gonna be a snapper for the next four years.”