After sitting out NIU’s 23-22 win over Southern Illinois, NIU wide receivers Sam Hurd and Shatone Powers will play in Saturday’s game at Iowa State, NIU football coach Joe Novak said.

Hurd and Powers were suspended from the game for missing makeup study sessions.

“I’m excited to be back,” Powers said. “I made a mistake and deserved to be punished.”

Powers sat out last year against Central Michigan for academic reasons.

Hurd led the team with 51 receiving yards on four catches in the Huskies’ first game against Maryland.

Powers caught five touchdowns for 317 yards last season, making him the top returning points producer for NIU.

“It was something that was very hard to do,” said Powers, about sitting out last Saturday. “I practiced well [Tuesday], and we’ll see how I do this Saturday.”

Freshman wide receiver Marcus Perez received his first start Saturday in Hurd and Powers’ absence.

Perez had three catches for 61 yards and also threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Dan Sheldon in the third quarter.

Sheldon, sophomore Jarret Carter and senior David McDermott are listed as starters on this week’s two-deeps released Tuesday.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t care who starts the first play, and I don’t think they care either,” Novak said. “Marcus will continue to get a lot of rotation. If you’re going to run the three-four wide-receiver sets, you’re going to need a lot of receivers.”