Alvah and Adriel Hansbro are almost impossible to tell apart.

The NIU football team’s identical twins and starting cornerbacks both stand in at 5-foot-10, while Alvah has the slight edge weighing in at 183 pounds — two more than Adriel.

Natives of Madison, Wisc., the juniors will enter their senior year with an extra chip on their shoulders having not forgotten the last play that beat the Huskies’ secondary for the MAC Championship.

On Tuesday the Hansbros took time to discuss who hits the weights harder, their size disadvantage and getting back to the MAC title game.

Northern Star: Who’s the stronger Hansbro?

Adriel: We’re about equal. [Alvah’s] bench is a little higher but my squat is higher, and our cleans are pretty close.

Alvah: That’s pretty accurate. We’re real close in everything. The margin is very miniscule.

NS: What’s your strategy to take on bigger receivers; especially those in the Big 10?

Adriel: History shows that DBs are shorter. The beauty of it is that it’s a tough position to play. It’s your job to make up for what the wide receivers have.

Alvah: It’s like that with any school we play, and in the pros it’s that way. There’s no real strategy. You’ve got to become a receiver once the ball is in the air. The most important thing is to beat the receiver in those first two or three yards.

NS: The last touchdown of the MAC Championship game … what’s being done to make sure that doesn’t happen again?

Adriel: It’s hard. Things like that happen in the secondary. It wasn’t the only play made in the game. All you can do is learn from things like that and move on.

NS: So, what’s going to be the strength of the defense this year?

Adriel: Last year we had a young D, and we still are. We’re a little more grown up and from beginning to end of last season we got better and better.

Alvah: The fact is we’re not young anymore. Last year everyone was a weakness. This year we can’t use that excuse. We have a lot of talent.

NS: Who’s going to replace Ray Smith at safety?

Adriel: All of them have been doing a good job. As far as replacing Ray’s athleticism, we can fill that well. There’s gonna be an absence there, but it’s like that every year at different positions.

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Alvah: Mark Reiter is a real good safety and Spencer Williams has been doing good, too. Replacing Ray is difficult. His intelligence on the field was amazing.

NS: Senior year next fall. How are you going to make it work?

Adriel: I don’t want to leave not a champ. We’ve got so close and that’s not good enough for me.

Alvah: Last year it was the opposite for us because everyone was saying the offense was going to do this and that, and the defense was sluggish coming into the year. We’ve got to compensate for each other this year.