Basketball came too easy for Juwan Brescacin; he wanted to push himself to excel in football.

Brescacin, redshirt junior wide receiver, began playing football starting in fourth grade, before he joined the basketball ranks. On the hardwood, he played with the likes of NBA first-round draft picks Anthony Bennett (Minnesota Timberwolves), Tyler Ennis (Phoenix Suns) and Nik Stauskas (Sacramento Kings) in school or on Amateur Athletic Union teams.

It wouldn’t be until Brescacin’s junior year of high school that he would take to the gridiron as a wide receiver, his dream position. It was then that he decided to dedicate himself to being a collegiate wideout.

“Basketball always came more natural to me. But I grew up loving the wide receiver position and catching the football,” Brescacin said. “I get that question a lot of why I picked football over basketball. I just wanted to challenge myself to play another sport, especially at a high level. I felt that I could compete, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far, but I have a lot of room to improve.”

Brescacin grew up in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and attended high school in Canada through his sophomore season, focusing on basketball. On the football field, he played quarterback his freshman season and had seen time at running back and offensive line dating back to fourth grade.

Brescacin got the chance to play wide receiver when he attended Culver Academy in Indiana his final two years of high school. Putting his basketball aspirations aside and deciding he wanted to pursue collegiate football, the basketball recruiting came to a halt.

“I didn’t receive any basketball scholarships, but I think I was being looked at,” Brescacin said. “I think schools stopped after they heard that I wanted to play football. So, instead of wasting their time trying to recruit me they went after other kids.”

But the football scholarship offers weren’t coming either, as schools only wanted Brescacin as a preferred walk-on — until his visit to NIU.

“I think it was the day after spring ball [when] I took my visit here,” Brescacin said. “Coach [Dave] Doeren sat me down, and he said, ‘What can you bring to the table?’ And I said, ‘Coach, I’m just going to work hard for you and do anything I can to help this team win.’ And he’s like, ‘All right, we want to offer you.’ And I didn’t hesitate; I said yes right away because I didn’t know if I would get another scholarship offer or not.”

With a little more than five years of learning the wide receiver position under his belt, Brescacin has continued to climb the ladder. Wide receivers coach Thad Ward said Brescacin has progressed “tremendously.”

“When I got here he was a guy that was kind of growing at the position,” Ward said. “He was young, and now he’s kind of blossomed into a guy who’s … a complete receiver now. He works hard, and the No. 1 thing you got to be if you want to be great [is] you got to want to be great. He has a great attitude, brings the effort every day. I love coaching him every day. I really do.”

Brescacin had his coming-out game Nov. 20 against the Toledo Rockets, hauling in eight catches for 121 yards.

This season, he’s got off to a solid start in conference play. He eclipsed the 100-yard mark Oct. 4 against the Kent State Golden Flashes, racking up 116 yards on three receptions. Saturday, against the Central Michigan Chippewas, he caught six passes for 76 and two touchdowns.

“A lot of people may think he’s slow, but he’s not,” Ward said. “He actually can get up and go and run, and we like him really going over the top and going up and getting the ball and being aggressive. He has a huge wingspan, a huge catching radius. The quarterback can put the ball wherever, and he can pretty much pluck it out of the sky.”

For Brescacin, he places importance on catching the ball and not losing possession.

“I take pride in … having strong hands,” Brescacin said. “When the ball’s in the air I always feel that I’m going to come down with the ball. I’m not the fastest route receiver, but I can run. I feel like me being a bigger wide receiver, I’m stronger than a lot of the defensive backs, so I also use that to my strength. But, definitely, I take pride in my hands the most.”

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Hare said he’s grateful to have a versatile, big-bodied receiver like Brescacin in his arsenal of weapons.

“He’s a big guy. The guy will go up and get it for you,” Hare said. “He’s got great hands. He catches just about anything that touches him. He runs great routes. He’s a great blocker. He really can do it all.”