DeKALB | Eddie Adamski is a man’s man.

He loves cars, and when it’s time for him to kick back and relax, you’ll most likely find him fishing or hunting. But whether it’s a coincidence he’s from Kildeer is still up in the air.

“Fishing is all I do,” Adamski said. “I try to get out three or four times a week. It’s so relaxing.”

However, his craving to chill on the lake and cast the day away has taken a back seat to the NCAA football thing.

The redshirt freshman’s laid-back personality has been put to the test this fall as fishing time has been replaced by practice and lakes have been left behind for Brigham Field at Huskie Stadium.

The 6-foot-2 Carmel High School product is asked to recognize defenses, relay the blocking scheme to the offense, notice defensive adjustments at the line of scrimmage and successfully snap the ball to quarterback Phil Horvath every offensive down.

And that doesn’t even include Adamski being asked to help bring down the No. 1 team in the nation, play in front of 102,000 fans and block an All-American defensive tackle in his first-career start for the Huskies.

Kiss relaxation goodbye.

“I was a little bit overwhelmed,” Adamski said. “I stayed after practice a lot. It was hard to recognize and read defensive fronts at first. It was something I never had to do in high school.”

Adamski also was pinned as The Sporting News MAC Newcomer to Watch on a team that was picked to win the MAC.

Fellow offensive lineman Doug Free said Adamski is one of the more intelligent linemen he’s played with. The fact that the 265-pounder is a pre-engineering major speaks for itself.

But despite being recruited by Illinois, Wisconsin and Northwestern, and becoming a consensus All-Stater, Adamski’s playing days were put on hold.

With former NIU center Brian Van Acker returning to start a second season in 2005, Adamski was reeled off the field and redshirted last fall.

But now it’s his time to shine, and Adamski’s teammates have put their trust in the first-year player.

“He’s filled the spot we needed to,” said fellow lineman Jon Brost. “I told him to play tough, not take too much from the other guys, play his game and don’t get overwhelmed.”

And even Adamski will tell you that hunting season would never take priority over going to a bowl game.