NIU wide receiver P.J. Fleck remembers a time when being a football player wasn’t such a bragging right.

“When I first came here, people didn’t care that we were on the football team because we were so bad,” the Sugar Grove native said. “Now that we’re winning, the team is getting more exposure around campus.”

They also are getting national exposure. With all this publicity, few NIU football fans know what life is like for a football player outside of the sport.

Fleck explained the weekend of the game against Ball State from a player’s perspective.

Friday: Pre-game

A pre-game day, Friday usually is used to mentally prepare the players for the following day’s game.

The players attend all of their classes. Fleck, however, doesn’t have any classes scheduled Friday.

“I usually wake up and go get a haircut, or those types of things,” Fleck said. “I just kind of relax, watch a little bit of TV.”

2:30-4:30 p.m. Fleck heads to Huskie Stadium for meetings and walk-throughs. Players run through different plays that could be used, and become mentally confident for the game, he said. After the meetings, Fleck goes home and changes into casual wear.

5:45 p.m. Fleck drives to the Convocation Center, where he and his teammates park their cars and board a bus to Rochelle, where they spend the night at the Quality Inn.

NIU coach Joe Novak brought the traveling team to the hotel for the game against Maryland earlier this season, and has continued since, he said.

“We have kids living in the dorms and apartments, and there’s no control over the noise around them,” Novak said. “We’re trying to get them away and get a good night’s sleep so they’re not being bothered.”

Fleck said football has brought more pride to NIU this year, which means more parties take place around campus on a Friday night.

“We all live in apartments,” he said, “so people have parties above or beside us, so it’s nice to get away and get some sleep.”

The players also are asked to turn off their cell phones for the night to eliminate other distractions, Fleck said.

7 p.m. After eating dinner, the players and coaches relax and enjoy a movie together.

9:15 p.m. After the movie, Novak talks to the team for about 15 minutes to prepare them for the next day’s game. After the night’s final pep-talk, the players go back to their rooms.

10-10:30 p.m. Coaches do a bed check to make sure all players have their lights out.

Saturday: Game Day

7:45 a.m.: Fleck and the rest of the team wakes up.

8:15 a.m.: The bus leaves the hotel, heading for DeKalb.

8:45 a.m.: The bus arrives at the Convocation Center and the players get in their cars and go to the Pheasant Room at the Holmes Student Center.

9:15 a.m.: At the student center, the players eat breakfast.

Breakfast is buffet-style, which includes french toast, cereal, grits, cream of wheat, eggs, potatoes, chicken and pasta.

About this time, the team usually has an optional chapel service, but this weekend’s service took place Friday because of time constraints.

“For anyone who wants, it’s a 30 minute church service,” Fleck said. “I’d say about 35 to 40 percent of the team goes to it. If you don’t go, then you just have an extra few minutes of sleep or so.”

9:45 a.m.: The team drives back to Huskie Stadium and gets dressed and taped up for the game. After this, players go to offensive and defensive meetings with their coaches.

“Then, we always watch a highlight film of all of our plays that we’ve done up to this point that were real good,” Fleck said.

Noon: After the meetings, players take the final minutes to prepare for the game.

“You have like a half hour before pre-game starts,” Fleck said, “where the quarterbacks come out and start warming up, and we all start warming up officially.”

1:05 p.m.: Game time. Fleck finishes the game with three catches for 45 yards.

Post game

After the NIU win, excited players march into the locker room for their final meeting.

“We come off the field and we all meet in the locker room and there are a few celebration things we do as a team,” Fleck said. “The coach usually talks for a few minutes, and I start the fight song. After that, everybody just hugs and celebrates. Then, the media comes in. They take who they want to take into the media room.”

After talking to the media, Fleck showers, gets dressed and then meets his family in the hall.

“They haven’t missed a game since my freshman year,” Fleck said of his family. “They travel all over and make the weekends a little mini-vacation.”

On Mondays, Novak gives his players a day off and Fleck doesn’t have any classes scheduled — his own little mini-vacation after a long weekend.