There’s no favoritism from NIU football defensive line coach Ryan Nielsen.

Regardless of who makes a play on the defense, regardless of the position of the player, he can’t seem to hold back his emotion and rejoice for their success.

“We’ll get picks or we’ll get a good play, and he’ll come run at us and tackle us,” said Huskie defensive end Joe Windsor. “I guess it’s his way of bringing the whole defense together as a group, and making them know without everyone as a whole, we’re nothing.”

Through NIU’s 11 spring practices, there have been many instances of Nielsen either letting out a celebratory shout or an occasional bear hug.

“Football is a fun game,” Nielsen said. “If you don’t make it fun, then it’s not going to be fun. So when a guy makes a good play, that’s fun.”

Yet there’s also seriousness for Nielsen and the Huskies’ front four. Nielsen’s objective is to find players on this year’s roster to fill holes left behind by former starters Jake Coffman, D.J. Pirkle and Mike Krause.

Windsor admitted there’s some uncertainty for who’ll be setting up in a three-point stance each day in spring practice,

“When Jake [Coffman] and [D.J.] Pirkle were here, you knew who the guys were going to be,” Windsor said. “Nobody knows who the guys are going to be [for this year].”

Through all the inconclusiveness, there have been many signs of good things to come for Nielsen and his position players. The Simi Valley, Calif. native stated that there have been five different lineups for NIU’s defensive line in its 11 spring practices.

“That changes daily,” Nielsen said. “If they’re not on their A-game, they get moved down.”

There is certainly a sense of hunger and strife among Windsor, Frank Boenzi, Nabal Jefferson and other Huskie lineman looking to take over for their defensive predecessors.

“It’s constantly changing and evolving,” Nielsen said. “Competition is fantastic and it only makes you better.”

Nielsen has a special sense of understanding of how NIU is adapting to their new head coach in Doeren. That familiarity falls on the fact that Doeren coached Nielsen at USC from 1998-99.

“I know what our guys are going through right now.” Nielsen said. “Coach [Dave] Doeren treats everybody with respect. He treats everybody the same, whether you’re a great player or a walk-on.”