NIU quarterback Josh Haldi won’t be passing to wide receiver Sam Hurd this spring, as the two will face off on a field of a different kind.

The intramural basketball’s spring semester league began Monday at the Student Recreation Center.

The league will play for three hours every night on Monday through Thursday for the next four weeks.

Four different types of leagues will be played this semester: highly competitive, competitive, women’s and law.

Each team begins with three games in pool play. Every team with at least one win will then advance to the single-elimination playoffs.

Wednesday nights have been pegged as the “big night,” as most of the major teams will square off after 8 p.m., said Ed Bjes, site supervisor for intramurals.

Many players from the NIU football team are participating this semester, such as Haldi on the defending-champion team D-Lock. Hurd, Shatone Powers, Keith Perry and Travis Moore, among other NIU football players, are on team MOB.

Graduating senior Randee Drew, who has an agent and is training for a chance to make the NFL, highlights the roster of team Killa Instinct. Also on Killa Instinct is former NIU basketball player Matt Nelson, who used up his last year of eligibility in 2002.

There are teams without football players who also are looking to knock off team D-Lock.

The Shire Saxsons and the Flames are both contenders, as well as the fall-league runner-up Chuch, Bjes said.

“It’s pretty exciting because every team is evenly matched and there is no one team,” said Julian McElroy, a former NIU basketball player who coaches Chuch.

McElroy played for the NIU basketball team his freshman and sophomore years, but was dismissed after a disagreement with the coach. A junior, McElroy is not allowed to play in the intramural league this semester, Bjes said.

“Last semester was intense, so this year should be more of the same,” Bjes said. “The difference is that there are more football players.”

As for Hurd, who said he can’t wait to play Haldi, intramurals will be a chance to not compete against only teammates, but also to form bonds.

“We [football players] play to come together as a football team,” Hurd said. “It’s good for conditioning and is something outside of football that is fun. That’s what intramurals are all about, to have fun.”

Bjes has seen many changes in the intramural system at NIU since he started working there, and hopes to see more improvements.

“You have a lot more quality players than before,” Bjes said. “Before, intramurals were more leisure. Now there are better supervisors and officials which makes the games feel as if it’s more than intramurals. I hope to see more teams once the [Chick Evans] Field House opens. Our program could be and should be bigger.”