For NIU football coach Charlie Sadler, the past year has felt like all 43 years of his life wrapped into one.

“When you get into your 40s, like I am, the years seem like they go faster and faster,” the second-year coach said. “I told the team that this (past) year might be the longest year of my life. Since we ended our season against Toledo last year, it has seemed like it has been an eternity.

“The reason is because I think this football team has looked so much forward to this upcoming season. It’s unbelievable.”

After finishing 2-9 a year ago, there’s no wonder why the Huskies are looking forward to a fresh start in 1992. The coaches and players are so excited about this year that they immediately adopted a theme right after the Toledo game.

“We started our offseason work with a theme that we wanted to become a bigger, stronger and tougher (B.S.T.) football team,” Sadler said. “That was the first meeting we had at the end of the season last year. It’s amazing the strides these guys have made.”

NIU has become bigger and stronger through commitment and recruiting.

Sadler pointed out that players like linemen Rob Wagner, Brad Capes and Dagan Lutjen have taken to the team’s new desire. Wagner is up from 250 pounds a year ago to 270, Capes is at 280 and Lutjen close to 275.

As far as the toughness aspect, Sadler said that showed in his team during spring training.

“It really proved that our guys wanted to go out and play the game the way it needed to be played,” he said. “Football is a tough game. You have to be tough to play the game.”