NIU senior Brett Tucker never thought that he would wind up playing football for the Huskies. Fortunately for Tucker, and NIU, he was wrong.

The Honorable Mention All_America defensive back from neighboring Sycamore, was not heavily recruited after his final season at Sycamore High School.

“I would have liked to have gone through the process, the nice recruiting trips,” said Tucker. “But I passed on the recruiting trips for football because I thought that wrestling might bring something better.

“Then I did the same thing with wrestling for baseball,” Tucker added. “I put all my chips into baseball and that really didn’t turn out the way that I wanted it to either. At the time I liked baseball the most and football the least.”

It was during a wrestling recruiting visit to NIU that Tucker was approached about walking_on the football team. “When NIU asked me to walk_on it was the best offer I had, so I took it,” said Tucker.

Not having been heavily recruited and having the label of a walk_on is something that Tucker feels might be an unfair stigma for athletes that are in positions similar to his.

“It (the label) shouldn’t take anything away when you work hard to achieve something,” said Tucker. “I think in a way it gives people a bad impression. I personally like to look ahead to the future rather then dwell on the past.”

Tucker credits his high school football coach, Rich Kearney, with providing the inspiration that made him continue his football career.

“He gave me the confidence that I could play college football,” said Tucker. “He kept me going and was the guy who gave me the motivation. I sort of relied on his optimism to keep at it.”

Tucker’s dedication payed off at the end of last year’s season when he was named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All_America.

“I wasn’t even thinking about it at the end of the season, it was a big surprise,” said Tucker. “It made me feel great and, more than anything, it gave me a lot of motivation coming into this year. I’d like to equal or better it, my goal at the begining of the year was to be a ‘legitimate’ All_America. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.”

On the field the fifth_year senior has assumed more of a leadership role for the Huskie defense.

“He provides experience and leadership back there,” said fellow Honorable Mention All_America, linebacker Ron Delisi. “He’s been in the position for a while and the other guys look up to him, he leads by example. He’s a quiet type off the field but once he puts the pads on it’s a whole different thing, he takes control.”

“Since I’ve been here the longest I have to lead by example,” said Tucker. “I don’t think I have to be to vocal. Coming into this season I just wanted to be more of an impact player. I wanted to be more of a consistent player and make the big plays. Sometimes I think I try to do too much.”

As for team goals, Tucker is happy with the way that NIU has performed in his final season as a Huskie.

“I’m really pleased. I think all the questions we had at the beginning of the year have been answered. Defensively, I think that teams have adjusted and have just played really well against us, but our record is 6_2 and that speaks for itself,” said Tucker.