Spring is a beautiful time for sports. Fans share stories of broken brackets, baseball starts up its 162-game season and college football teams around the nation start to train for next year.

With that in mind, the Northern Star had a chance to sit down with NIU quarterback Phil Horvath.

Horvath was the starting quarterback last season, but missed the final three games with a broken left arm.

The Northern Star had a chance to catch up with the man who wears No. 3 and asked him how his arm was feeling, if there are any guarantees he will be the starter against Ohio State and how his bracket is looking.

Northern Star: How’s the offseason been for you, Phil?

Phil Horvath: It’s been good. We did our offseason program. We just got done with our conditioning. Lifting wise we’re just trying to get bigger, stronger and faster. It’s pretty much been the same as every other year, but being my senior year it’s been really important for me. This is kind of my last shot around.

NS: Toward the end of the season you injured your left arm. How’s it feeling? Is it back to 100 percent?

PH: Yeah. I got the cast off in three weeks [after the injury], which was real fast. It took about two months to get back to 100 percent, but it’s feeling good now.

NS: The spring game’s coming up, are you excited for it?

PH: Oh yeah, definitely. Spring’s a fun time, especially for quarterbacks. You have a little less pressure on you to go out there. You’re not playing a game, you’re not game planning, you’re just going out there and having fun and doing what we do. We just play hard and get after each other a little bit. Spring is a great time and I’m really looking forward to it.

NS: So it’s not a laid back time, but a little more just throw the ball and play your hardest without the pressure then?

PH: Exactly. There’s still pressure; everyone’s competing for position. For a lot of the young guys it’s their time to step up and shine. So the pressure’s not really off you because you have to perform for the coaches, but you’re not worried about a lot of other things like game planning or actually going into a game.

NS: Speaking of competing, has Coach Joe Novak said anything about the starting quarterback position for next season between you and Dan Nicholson?

PH: We’re definitely competing for the job. I think with Division-I sports you’re always competing. I don’t think anyone has a for-sure lock. I know in high school you’d be told before going into summer that “you’re our quarterback.” But definitely in Division-I you’re not guaranteed anything. So we’re definitely competing.

NS: Do you think competition is healthy or negative for the team?

PH: I definitely think it’s healthy. I think being competitive brings out the best in you. Me and Dan are great friends and we go at each other. I think we are going to both make each other better.

NS: The team lost receivers Sam Hurd and Shatone Powers. What does your receiver situation looks like for next year?

PH: We have a lot of really good young guys. We’ll have Marcus Perez back and Jarret Carter will be a senior. We have Orlando Moore who’s looking real good, Matt Simon, there’s a bunch of guys. I think as a group they are better than last year.