Suburban slant on NIU's football media day

Unless it's still raining in DeKalb, the Huskies are just about to get down to business with their second practice.

Here are a few quick notes before I give the skinny on the 19 Herald City players on this year's roster:

1) NIU announced 24 signees on National Letter of Intent Day on Feb. 4 -- and all 24 are on campus with the team. That doesn't happen often in Division I-A ball.

2) NIU's defensive staff visited Florida, TCU and Virginia Tech to "steal" some concepts and thoughts, while the offensive staff visited UNLV and a few NFL teams to pick some brains. Considering Lovie Smith's younger son, Miles, is working as a volunteer assistant in the football office (he's an undergraduate student), you'd think the Huskies had an in to visit the Bears.

3) Junior nose tackle Mike Krause, who started all 13 games last year, won't play this year as he addresses a heart problem. He'll take a medical redshirt this year (he took a conventional redshirt in 2006) and coach Jerry Kill hopes he'll be able to return next season.

4) Kill thinks his offense has a chance to be better this year, which is a good thing because the Huskies finished No. 76 nationally and No. 9 in the MAC with 24.2 points per game.

"We're just looking for a playmaker or two (at running back)," Kill said. "Shoot, we've got 400 in camp. You'd think we could find two."

5) Kill fears his team lacks depth on both sides of the ball. Remember, last year's squad had a ton of seniors. This year, the Huskies have just 16 seniors -- and only seven are listed as starters heading into camp: LG Jason Onyebuagu, C Eddie Adamski, RT Kevin Skatrud, K Mike Salerno, DE Brandon Bice, WLB Cory Hanson and S David Bryant.

OK, as promised, here's a quick look at THE HERALD 19:

1) C Eddie Adamski (Carmel): The fifth-year senior, who's predicted to be a second-team all-MAC center according to Phil Steele's magazine,, enters his fourth season as the Huskies' starting center. He has started all 37 games over the last three years. It turns out he weighed in today and checked in at 300 pounds for the first time in his life. Considering he arrived in DeKalb at 265 pounds and is listed on the preseason roster at 284, Adamski has done some heavy lifting.

2) DE Alan Baxter (Bufffalo Grove): The true freshman will begin on the defensive side of the ball after excelling at fullback and D-Line for the Bison. Since he's listed at just 241 pounds, it seems likely he'll redshirt.

3) WR Willie Clark (Lake Park): The walk-on played in all 13 games last year and started in the Independence Bowl. He's one of four veterans challenging for starting spots this year and should get as many reps as he can stand, regardless if he starts. He caught 6 passes for 79 yards last season.

4) K Ryan Fillingim (Conant/Harper): An invited walk-on who's listed as a freshman on the roster, even though he spent two seasons at Harper JC. He'll battle incoming freshman Ryan Salerno for the right to be the backup to senior stud Mike Salerno.

5) DE Kyle Jenkins (Driscoll/Harper): Jenkins enrolled at the semester so he could take part in spring ball. Considering the fact he piled up 19.5 sacks at Harper last year, the junior could make an immediate impact as a second-stringer because the Huskies like to rotate their linemen to keep them fresh.

6) DE Mike Kritikos (Addison Trail): The former walk-on posted 10 tackles last year and forced a fumble that led to a touchdown against Western Michigan. Kritikos would be in line for a bunch of playing time, but he injured his left leg during spring ball and won't report to the team until school starts. Kill has seen Kritikos running recently, so he's hopeful the senior will play at some point this year.

7) SLB Alex Kube (Cary-Grove): After starting at safety in 2007, Kube had an adjustment period to outside linebacker but got it together as the season moved along. The junior is listed as the starting "SAM" and should be one of the team's top three or four tacklers.

8) WR Marcus Lewis (Warren): The senior managed just 11 catches for 117 yards during his first three seasons, but everyone's counting on him to be a big producer in his final go-round. Lewis said he worked extra-hard in the offseason and he could be the big target (6-3, 210) that Chandler Harnish needs.

9) FB Pat McAvoy (St. Viator): This DeKalb-born Huskie legacy (dad played football and mom played volleyball at NIU) heads into fall as the No. 3 fullback. He has yet to appear in a game.

10) QB Ryan Morris (West Chicago): The fifth-year senior enters camp as the No. 3 QB, but the coaches consider him to be a crucial resource for the other four scholarship QBs in camp. As such, they finally rewarded Morris with a schollie. "You ask Chandler Harnish who one of the most important players (on the team) is, he'll say Ryan Morris," Kill said.

11) WR Matt Ng (Glenbard North): The redshirt freshman walk-on has a chance to contribute seeing as how the Huskies graduated four of their top six wideouts.

12) WR Riley O'Toole (Naperville Central): Kill convinced O'Toole to ditch his plans to be a walk-on at Arizona in order to walk on at NIU. So don't be fooled by the number (55) the equipment staff gave him: O'Toole's size (6-3, 193) and skill should get him on the field eventually.

13) G Joe Pawlak (Grayslake): The redshirt sophomore served as a second-string OL last year, but now he's battling junior Panan Tense for the starting right guard job.

14) LB Jeff Sayre (Barrington): The redshirt sophomore walk-on will report when school starts on Aug. 24.

15) MLB Pat Schiller (Geneva): This redshirt sophomore is doing his best to replace three-year starter Tim McCarthy as the Huskies' starting "Mike." Not only did Schiller's spring-ball performance earn him the first-string spot, he changed his number from 29 to 53 (McCarthy's old number) to honor his mentor. One teammate suggested on Media Day that Schiller will be someone who'll make a name for himself this year.

16) FB Kyle Skarb (Lake Zurich): Made the shift from linebacker to fullback last season and now looks solid as the Huskies' No. 1 fullback. He scored NIU's lone touchdown in the Independence Bowl with an 8-yard catch and finished the year with 8 catches for 72 yards and 2 scores.

17) TB Alan Smith (Neuqua Valley): This redshirt sophomore injured his knee during his senior year of HS (after accepting a scholarship offer from NIU) and has never seemed to catch up. He played one game on the kick coverage team last year, but hopes to have a bigger role this year.

18) S Boone Thorgesen (Kaneland): The redshirt sophomore has yet to appear in a game for NIU and isn't listed on the team's two-deep heading into fall drills.

19) LB John Tranchitella (Driscoll): The true senior has produced 11 starts, 78 tackles and 2 INTs to this point in his career. "Tranch" will back up Cory Hanson at the "Will" this fall