Northern Illinois Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up

Spring Takeaway

The biggest takeaway was how good the secondary looks. NIU’s pass defense last year was probably the most-hidden part of the Huskies’ rise to the Orange Bowl. Almost all of their close misses in the past came up short because NIU could not be relied on to stop the pass at the end of games.

Last year was the best pass defense I’ve seen the Huskies play in 20 years and it looked even better in the spring game (Huskie Bowl) with five interceptions plus an almost-pick six against Jordan Lynch on the first play; the deflected pass went through the hands of a defensive end and turned into a catch, but for minus-16 yards.

Name a few players who could have breakout seasons

Juwan Brescacin could come out of nowhere and be a 1,000-yard receiver.

Akeem Daniels might not be that much of a surprise, since he had two 100-yard rushing games late last season, but I expect him to rush for at least 1,000-yards. As the year went on last season, Jordan Lynch carried more and more of the rushing load. I expect Daniels to make NIU’s run game much more balanced next year.

Everybody in the secondary should be strong.

Grade each position group & special teams 

Quarterback: A-    As good as Jordan Lynch was last year, the second-team All-American all-purpose player also didn’t play well in NIU’s two losses and started slow in their MAC title game win. At his best, he can do it all. Even if he remains the same, NIU should be the easy MAC favorite, but he’ll have to become a more consistent passer for NIU to return to a BCS bowl.

Running backs: B   Akeem Daniels is an explosive running back, but I am not sure about NIU’s depth at that position.

Receivers: B   The receivers look talented, but are a bit of an unknown and have big shoes to fill replacing the graduated Martel Moore.

Offensive line: B+   The offensive line returns everybody and could be REALLY good. It depends how much they improve. They were simply good last year, when they were all first-time starters, and struggled in NIU’s two losses.

Defensive line: B+

Linebackers: B-

Secondary: A   As good as the secondary was last year, and it was NIU’s best in 20 years, it could be even better this year.

Kickers: A-

Kick returners: A-   NIU is always solid in the kicking game, and has a veteran kicker in Matt Sims and explosive return man in Tommylee Lewis.

What “surprises” can expect from this team?

I think NIU can be even better than people think because I think there is room for Jordan Lynch, the offensive line and Akeem Daniels to grow.

The Huskies have become a very aggressive team, converting 18 of 23 fourth-down chances during the regular season when new head coach Rod Carey was their offensive coordinator. Now they need to become less predictable. If NIU spreads the carries around more (and the explosive Daniels stays healthy), the Huskies can run even better than they did last year.

And any improvement by Lynch will help the entire team: running backs, receivers, offensive line, even the defense by keeping them off the field.

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Matt Trowbridge of the Rockford Register Star provided the information for our Northern Illinois Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up.  For more NIU football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Matt on Twitter @MattTrowbridge.

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