This week’s NIU quarterback slot machine came up with three Drew Hares.

Technically, Hare being named the Huskies’ starting quarterback against the Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels Saturday had less to do with chance and more to do with choice — the coaching staff’s choice. Head coach Rod Carey officially named Hare the starter for NIU during a Tuesday news conference.

“We’re going to start Drew Hare,” Carey said. “We’ll go with him, and he’ll be the guy. The intentions are to let him in there and let him play and see what he can do with a full game and complete control.”

Hare got reps in the wins over Presbyterian Aug. 28 and Northwestern Saturday. This week he’ll start for NIU, but he said that won’t change his preparation because he prepares the “same way every week.”

“I’ve always tried to prepare like a starter, like if I was going to be ready to play at any moment,” Hare said.

That preparation allowed Hare to enter a 0-0 game against Northwestern in the second half and lead four scoring drives, helping propel NIU to its third-straight victory over a Big Ten team.

“Obviously, he stood in there and threw the ball well and made some timely throws when he had to,” Carey said. “His reads were good from the pass game to the run game and how he operated the offense. Overall, it was just a pretty good performance. I wouldn’t call it good or great; I would call it pretty good. I think he would echo the same thing after seeing it on film.

“Fundamentally, there are a lot of things that he needs to get cleaned up in his play just with his own fundamentals, and I know he’ll go to work on that this week.”

Redshirt senior left tackle Tyler Loos said it was Hare’s “play and his leadership” that got the Huskies rolling in the second half against the Wildcats.

“Drew’s a good guy to be around,” Loos said. “When he’s in there he takes control of the offense and leads us just like he should. All three quarterbacks do this. They’re all the same; they all work hard, they all watch enough film, they all do their job and they all are good leaders. …

“I would say he’s a little quieter like during the week, but on game day he kind of steps up his game and he’ll be a little bit louder.”

Carey named redshirt junior Matt McIntosh as the Huskies’ starting quarterback last week for the game against Northwestern, but after the 23-15 victory in Evanston he said the team’s plan was to play all three quarterbacks.

This week, Carey said the plan is to let Hare play the entire game.

“I just think that quarterback you name a guy and then your intentions are to play him the whole game, and that’s what ours’ are,” Carey said. “Obviously, you always see how the game’s going, and you see where it leads, but our intentions are that Drew will be the guy.”

Hare said he felt “happy” to be named the starting quarterback against University of Nevada-Las Vegas, but winning the job is only half the battle.

“Obviously, I’ve been working really hard to get to this position,” Hare said. “The work isn’t over. [We] got to win some games now.”