Sophomore running back A.J. Harris came to NIU wanting to wear No. 32, his high school number, or No. 28.

The only problem standing in Harris’ way of wearing those numbers was starting tailback Thomas Hammock (No. 28) and then-backup Michael Turner (No. 32). Harris was given No. 24.

After this season, Turner will graduate, making Harris’ old number available.

“He made a legacy out of his number,” Harris said. “Now I want to make my own out of mine. So I haven’t wanted to change to No. 32. I was No. 24 back when I played pee-wee so I’m totally fine with it.”

Selecting a number isn’t entirely up to the players. Defensive ends coach Mike Sabock works with Joe Novak in coordinating what numbers will go to certain players.

Sabock said at the end of every year he looks at the roster and crosses off every senior who’s graduated. He then looks at the incoming class of freshman and assigns them numbers based on position. If the player’s high school number is available, Sabock assigns that number to the player.

Current players returning next year have first priority over open numbers.

NIU linebacker Nick Duffy came to NIU having been No. 45 in high school. He said he chose the number because at the time, he liked Ohio State linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer.

“I remember coming in the locker room and they had a plate on my locker that said Nick Duffy and it had ‘45’ already on there,” Duffy said. “I was shocked. I didn’t think I would get 45. I thought I’d have to change to like 54 or something.”

Every player except an offensive lineman can pick any number, Sabock said. An offensive lineman must have a number between 50-79. But Sabock said the most popular numbers are the single digits.

“I already have two requests for No. 1 next year,” Sabock said. “I don’t remember who the players were, but the first guy came to me about four months ago wanting No. 1.”

Equipment manager Dick Townsend is in charge of issuing numbers for walk-ons, but Sabock still gets number requests from nearly every player.

Cornerback Randee Drew began his career as No. 98, but earned the starting spot as a freshman. The team thought its starting cornerback should have a more common number for the position, so he changed to No. 18.

Senior kicker Steve Azar is the lucky recipient of unlucky No. 13, but he has been happy with the number.

“I’m not superstitious,” Azar said. “I don’t think of it as an unlucky number. Fortunately for me, it’s turned out to be a great number. Someone next year will take it over and hopefully they’ll have as much success with it as I have.”

Next season, Turner’s No. 32 should be a popular pick for NIU running backs, but some think it may be intimidating.

“People are either going to want to wear it to carry on the legacy, or nobody will want to wear it to live up to what he’s done,” Drew said. “His number is different because some people might want to come in and be the next Mike Turner, but some running backs want to come in and wear their own number and make it into a number that people in the future will want to wear.”