NIU has always had a strong tradition of running backs.

Coming into the 2008 season, most people felt the running game would be strong once again.

There was Justin Anderson, a 1,000-yard rusher a year ago. There was Montell Clanton, who was the team’s starter last year before getting hurt in the second game of the year. There was also talented freshman Me’co Brown.

Nobody talked about Chad Spann. The former walk-on who only carried the ball 11 times in 2007 was an afterthought.

The first two games of the season, Spann didn’t carry the ball one time.

In the team’s third game, the home opener against Indiana State, Spann saw action in the fourth quarter of a 48-3 Huskie blowout.

With the help of a 55-yard touchdown run, Spann was NIU’s leading rusher with 73 yards on the day.

Spann carried the ball sparingly in NIU’s next three contests, but led the team in carries and rushing yards in the Huskies 38-7 victory over Toledo on Nov. 8.

Spann then received 15 carries against Bowling Green the following week, and led NIU running backs in the category in the team’s loss to Ball State last Wednesday.

“I’ve just been going out there every week trying to play hard, trying to improve my game,” Spann said. “Trying to run as hard as I can, show that I deserve some kind of look.”

A running back nobody thought of in NIU’s crowded backfield at the beginning of the season keeps impressing the NIU coaching staff. The last three games combined, Spann has carried the ball more than any Huskie running back.

“The biggest thing Chad has is he’s got athletic ability,” said NIU head coach Jerry Kill. “He’s built for power. He’s very strong with his height and weight, he’s got good power structure.”

Running backs coach Rob Reeves agrees with Kill’s assessment.

“He’s got tremendous burst, he runs strong,” Reeves said. “To be a great running team, you have to make one miss. You have to be the type of back that’s going to be gang-tackled. I think he’s got that extra power that makes him explosive and tough to tackle.”

Coming out of Indianapolis North Central high school, Spann wasn’t recruited by Division I schools. Schools like Football Championship Subdivision Indiana State and Division II Grand Valley State were after him, but schools in college football’s top level weren’t there.

Spann came up to NIU and gave the coaching staff a game tape, and ended up heading to DeKalb as a walk-on.

Spann had a choice to either walk-on at NIU, or go to a smaller school on scholarship, with more opportunity for playing time. In the end, the decision wasn’t necessarily about football.

“It really came down to my parents. My parents wanted me to go to an academically strong school,” Spann said. “When I decided that I was going to walk-on to a Division I school, they really didn’t care about how much it was going to cost, they wanted me to go to the best academic school. So really, my parents chose this school before I did.”

Spann says that he felt he could make it at the Division I level, and was drawn in by NIU’s tradition of good backs, such as current NFL players Michael Turner and Garrett Wolfe.

“I wanted to play for a great coach, [former NIU head coach] Novak was that guy,” Spann said. “This is a school that’s produced small running backs; I was 5-foot-8, 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds in high school.”

Spann’s tenure as a walk-on didn’t last long, as he was given a scholarship two weeks into the 2007 training camp.

In less than two years, he has risen from a guy who was barely considered by Division I programs, to one of NIU’s leading rushers.

“It’s been pretty cool,” Spann said. “It’s been real fun.”