Northwestern University Athletics
Spring Practice: Day 11
4/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 16, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After throwing out the first pitch at Northwestern's baseball game vs. Notre Dame Wednesday night at U.S. Cellular Field, head coach Pat Fitzgerald was back on the gridiron Thursday morning to lead the Wildcats through their 11th spring practice. NU enjoyed the picture-perfect weather conditions on their outdoor practice field.
Sandwiched between position workouts and seven-on-seven team action was another intense session of the board drill, which pits one defensive player against one offensive player in a battle to see who can gain ground at the line of scrimmage. On this day, the offense and defense both claimed six victories, with wide receiver Kevin Frymire (Burr Ridge, Ill./Nazareth Academy) notching the tying win for the offense to conclude the drill.
With the loss of quarterback C.J. Bachér, the school's No. 2 all-time leading passer, there has been plenty of offseason attention on the Wildcats' vacant QB spot. While senior Mike Kafka (Chicago, Ill./St. Rita) has the inside track on the starting job this fall, sophomore Dan Persa (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) is making plenty of noise at the position and making sure he is ready to play this fall, either in a starting or key backup role.
In high school, Persa earned Pennsylvania all-state honors and was named MVP of the 2007 Big 33 (Pennsylvania vs. Ohio) All-Star game. In 2008, the true dual-threat quarterback found himself on the football field helping out with NU's special teams.
Earlier this week, NUsports.com caught up with Persa to get his thoughts on his role for the upcoming season, playing special teams last year and NU's wide receiving corps.
"My focus has been playing quarterback all spring, which is great because that's the position I came here to play," Persa said. "The spring has been a good learning experience for our offense. We knew coming in that guys would have to step up on offense, and for the most part, everyone is doing that.”
Second-year offensive coordinator Mick McCall has been impressed with the ability of Persa and other young members of the offense to contribute throughout spring ball.
“I think that's the most important point is that those guys are earning our trust and earning their fellow players' trust,” McCall said. “I think we have more guys making plays now than we did a year ago at this time—and Dan is certainly included in that—so that's a good thing.”
"I'm continuing to focus on some of the smaller things with the position, going through my reads a little quicker, those types of things,” Persa said. “It definitely helps that we're in the second year with this offensive system."
The complete interview with Persa is available by clicking on the All-Access page on NUsports.com.
