Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: NU's "One-Game Season"
11/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
As the 'Cats began the only remaining guaranteed week in their season, Pat Fitzgerald joined three seniors preparing for their final game at Ryan Field at NU's weekly Monday press conference. Skip Myslenski has the report on what was discussed.
Monday Press Conference Video: |
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QUARTERBACK Trevor Siemian suffered an ACL injury Saturday at Purdue and is done for the season. That sad news was confirmed Sunday night and, not much later, center Brandon Vitabile spoke to him. "It's definitely, it's hard to handle," he recalled Monday afternoon. "He's a great friend, a fellow senior, someone who's been through a lot with all of us, a leader on offense, someone everybody looks to, his personality is irreplaceable. But, next guy up.
"Zack (Oliver) played really well Saturday. Matt (Alviti) came in and played really well. We're excited about those two guys, what they've shown in practice and how they've progressed through the year. We all love Trevor. I love Trevor a ton. He's going to be there to help those guys. He said he's going to be in the film room like he was still playing to help them as much as possible.
"But, yeah. It definitely does hurt."
Pat Fitzgerald said Monday that Oliver, a junior, will start in place of Siemian when the `Cats face Illinois Saturday at Ryan Field. He also said that redshirt freshman Matt Alviti, a more-nimble option threat, will play as well.
THIS WEEK will not be the first time Oliver works with the starters. Siemian injured his right ankle in this season's second game and, in the weeks that followed, was often limited in practice and replaced by Oliver. "So this won't all of a sudden be a big spike for him," noted Fitzgerald, and that can be viewed as a bit of silver lining on the cloud.
Alviti, in the last month, has also worked some with the ones preparing for his role as the trigger of the option. That too is a bit of silver and so is this. "If Trevor's injury happens in the fourth quarter, we're probably having a different discussion," said Fitzgerald. "But it happened, unfortunately, early enough that Zack and Matt got a lot of experience in meaningful time in that game on Saturday."
SIEMIAN WAS INJURED on a quarterback sneak early in the second quarter with the `Cats leading 21-0. On their first possession without him, they reached the Purdue 33, but then Alviti fumbled the ball away after picking up a first down on a fourth-and-one. Their next possession ended with a missed field goal attempt by Jack Mitchell and, the one after that, with a Mitchell make of 32 yards.
They would add a pair of touchdowns in the second half before Fitzgerald sat his starters, and Oliver would end his day five-of-11 for 85 yards while netting 23 more (and a touchdown) on a half-dozen rushes. "He's been preparing since he's gotten here for an opportunity," Fitzgerald said of him. "I think he'd be the first to sit here and say he'd love to have it without Trevor having something happen to him. So. It's pick up the flag and charge on. It's just a really bad deal. My heart's broken for Trevor. We've lost two captains now for the year. It's just amazing to see what's happened to these guys from an injury standpoint."
MIDDLE LINEBACKER Collin Ellis was the other captain, his year shut down after he suffered a pair of concussions. But he has done just what Siemian promised Vitabile he would do. He has tutored redshirt freshman Anthony Walker, his replacement, in the film room and on the practice field and on the boundary during games. "In practice, he's going nuts," Fitzgerald said. "I think he walks out of every practice with a migraine just from yelling, yelling and yelling and yelling and yelling to encourage his teammates. I'm just really thankful for Collin."
"His energy hasn't fallen down at all," added senior linebacker Chi Chi Ariguzo. "He's always been around. He's still cracking jokes with everybody. He's still part of the team."
"He's a high-energy guy," concluded senior safety Ibraheim Campbell. "Whenever someone's feeling tired or sore or feeling sorry for themselves even a little bit, he's right there to remind them that he can't play anymore, so be grateful for every opportunity that we have. That's what guys have been trying to do every opportunity we have."
This exhortation of Ellis, and the loss he experienced, are most relevant this week as the `Cats prepare for Senior Day; as they prepare for their in-state rival; as they prepare for the final game of their regular season; as they prepare needing a win to gain post-season eligibility and so extend that season. "You think how lucky you are," explained Vitabile, another senior. "Everybody knows, when you step on the field, what could happen. It makes you, how Collin says, `Don't feel bad for yourself. You know I'd love to be out there with you.'
"That type of stuff makes you think, `This is a great opportunity.' Maybe it's not great to wake up at 5:30 everyday. But when you realize you get to go out there and play a game that you love, that you've played since you were a little kid, with some of your best friends ever, where coaches really care about you, that's really special. To have that opportunity makes you be grateful. It's kind of cliche, but this week being Thanksgiving week, we are thankful for everything we have."
QUICKLY NOTED:
• Walker is not the only redshirt freshman who has been thrust into a starting role. Another is safety Godwin Igwebuike, who replaced Campbell when he was down and the injured Traveon Henry against the Boilermakers. A third is corner Marcus McShepard, who replaced the injured Nick VanHoose on Saturday until he himself was injured and replaced by another redshirt freshman, Kyle Queiro. "There's a lot of guys stepping up. I'm proud of them for doing that and I'm proud of their coaches for bringing them along," said Fitzgerald. "It's taken a long time. But it's a process, and I see growth, I see guys maturing. But we're far, far, far from where we need to be. So we'll embrace this week and hopefully have our best week of prep to play our best game of the year."
• Another young pup who has stepped up is true freshman running back Justin Jackson, who passed the 1,000-yard mark Saturday against Purdue. (He now has 1,057). "Justin's awesome. He's an awesome dude," Vitabile said of him. "On the field, off the field, it's great to have an electric personality like that in the backfield. He makes it fun. He's an awesome guy. Everybody can attest to that. It's cool to see him step up as such a young guy, to see the maturity he has. It's wild, honestly. It's still hard to believe he's a freshman. He seems that mature.
"I talk to him about class and he's taking all these intro classes and I go, `Oh, yeah. He's still a freshman.' But that's it. Otherwise, you wouldn't realize it."
Added Fitzgerald: "I'm just excited not only for Saturday for him and for us, but also for how he'll play in the future after he goes through a winter workout and spring practice and actually gets a little stronger. He only had six hard weeks in the weight room with us over the summer. It's scary how good he can be."
• Campbell was named the Big Ten's Co-Defensive Player of the Week after forcing a fumble, picking one pass and breaking up two others, and registering eight tackles against Purdue. "We had a lot of guys play great on the defensive side of the ball. I was just trying to keep up, really. Guys were playing great, flying around, and that just made my job a lot easier," he demurred on Monday.
• VanHoose and Henry are listed as day-to-day for the Illini game.
AND FINALLY, FITZGERALD: "This team has gone through a lot and come together. We're probably playing our best football of the year right now and hopefully we'll put one more solid performance together. It kinda comes down to a one-game season."
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