Replacing a football player of Ron Delisi’s capacity may be impossible, but Huskie linebacker coach Tim McGuire has some talent waiting in the wings.

“Nick Jones is back and I think he is maturing,” McGuire said. “He shows some of the same maturity as Ron did at the same point in his career.”

Jones recorded 62 tackles last fall in seven starts, which was enough for fourth place behind Delisi, who led with 133 stops.

“He was a four-year player so the guys behind him didn’t have much field experience,” Jones said.

Delisi, a two-time honorable mention All-America, ranks fourth on the NIU all-time tackle list with 437 and recorded the fourth-best single-season mark with 171 stops in 1988.

McGuire is impressed with the remaining linebacker corps.

“(Steve) Kurtz and (Bryan) Hanson have had some real fine plays,” he said. “What they lack is physical maturity and experience. With more reps in practice, we’ll continue to get better.”

Steve Henriksen, who is recovering from a head injury, will hopefully return by the end of the spring drills, according to McGuire.

Walk-on Raymond Roberts has also shown McGuire some good signs.

Kurtz, “The Hammer” to Delisi’s “Hit Man”, is working with the blackshirt unit (first team), and feels that the lack of experience will be overcome.

“I feel like I can make up the lack of experience through hustle and consistency,” he said. “Replacing Ron is difficult to do, but with more reps with the blackshirts, the more confidence I’ll gain for the fall.”

“I don’t think people should underestimate us,” said unit leader Jones. “Once we have one game under our belt, there won’t be any more rookie stuff.”