How many football players dream about playing at an NFL stadium and gaining 170 yards with two touchdown catches in their first college game?

That’s exactly what happened for Nathan Palmer, a redshirt freshman wide receiver, in NIU’s opening game against Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Palmer’s 91-yard touchdown reception was the fifth-longest play in school history, and his 52-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter gave NIU a 27-24 lead. Minnesota took a 31-27 lead with 22 seconds left in the game to claim the victory.

“It was a great experience,” Palmer said of his game at the Metrodome. “Out there on the field you here all the fans cheering, it gives you goosebumps.”

So far in the season, Palmer leads NIU with 248 receiving yards. He moved into the starting lineup before the Huskie’s home opener against Indiana State.

“He’s so fast, he’s so athletic. He knows what to do and he puts himself in the right position,” said NIU wide receivers coach P.J. Fleck, who has worked with Palmer since he arrived on campus. “He showed that at Minnesota. He did a lot of great things.”

Palmer has also made an impression on first year NIU head coach Jerry Kill.

“So far he’s made some big plays for us,” Kill said. “[Fleck] was here a year ago and said Nate had all kinds of talent and speed.”

After being an All-State wide receiver at Elkhart Central high school his senior year in 2006, Palmer redshirted and didn’t play a down in 2007.

“My coaches knew I wasn’t ready, and after a few months I saw I wasn’t ready,” Palmer said. “Overall it was a great experience. I really encourage anybody that if they can redshirt, they need to redshirt. That year of just growing and getting used to not only everything on the field but off the field, too, it’s a great experience.”

After spending his first season in DeKalb, Palmer faced the grind of summer two-a-days and training camp.

“When you have a young player that’s young and inexperienced, you’re going to have a rollercoaster ride,” Fleck said. “You got to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad.”

He said it was an easy decision to head to NIU; he was high school teammates with current Huskie wide receiver Marcus Perez and safety Spencer Williamson, which helped.

It’s ironic that Palmer is playing football at all. He ran track and played basketball in high school, and said still playing football is just a coincidence.

“To be honest, my freshman year, I didn’t even want to go out for football. One of the football coaches begged me to come work, he begged me,” Palmer said. “I thought I was a guy that’s too small to go out there and play football.”