Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report - In Search of the Best Eleven
4/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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As the final stages of spring practice 2015 wind down the Wildcats have a few moving parts on both sides of the ball. With two practices left, including Saturday's finale, Skip Myslenski looks at some of the recent movement for Northwestern.
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By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Little is settled about the 'Cats as their spring practices rush toward their Saturday conclusion. There is still a competition at quarterback among the senior Zack Oliver, and the redshirt sophomore Matt Alviti and the redshirt freshman Clayton Thorson. "I would anticipate us working through the early part of (fall) camp before we make some decisions on where things are going to go if things continue to progress the way they have," Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald recently said of this battle. "I think all three guys have done some good things. I think all three guys have made enough mistakes to not separate themselves."
There are still reps shared at running back by junior Warren Long, sophomore Solomon Vault and redshirt freshman Auston Anderson, who have this opportunity to impress as Justin Jackson recovers from a minor operation. There is still uncertainty at wide receiver, a position hit hard by injuries, and on the defensive line, which has some important ingredients rehabbing after offseason procedures. It may well be safe to say that Matthew Harris and Nick VanHoose will start at corner come the fall. But, beyond that, it would be fatuous to pen any other name in ink when filling out a starting lineup for their 2015 season opener against Stanford on September 5 at Ryan Field.
They are still looking for their best 11, that is why this is so. That, of course, is a phrase Wildcat coaches have intoned often over the years, and this spring it has most-certainly been heard again. But here those words have also been animated, have been brought to full life by their collective approach on the field. Consider, first of all, the offensive line where Geoff Mogus, a two-year starter at left guard, has been laboring at left tackle and Shane Mertz, a tackle all his life, has been doing the same at right guard. "Right now, more than ever, Coach Cush (offensive line coach Adam Cushing) is trying to get the best five guys on the field...and it doesn't really matter at what position," Mertz himself avowed last month.
Then consider this observation of Fitzgerald after he was asked about Vault and Anderson, the fastest of the `Cats. "As we're always stressing," he said then, "it's players, formations, plays. So those guys are not only competing against the other running backs. They're also competing against the other skilled guys (receivers and superbacks) for playing time...I reserve the right to play the best 11 players every play."
Now, finally, consider seniors Deonte Gibson and Dean Lowry, who have long been fixtures at defensive end. This spring, even they have worked some inside. "It's true to a little lesser degree on our side (of the ball)," defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz said Tuesday when asked if this movement on the D-line matches that on the O-line. "But competition brings the best out in everybody. You hope you don't have guys starting by default. You want guys earning it and when you can do that, it makes everybody better. So, yeah. We're doing that to a degree. Maybe not quite as much as over there. But still we're doing it."
So could we see Gibson and Lowry playing inside come fall?
"They might. Plus that (practicing inside) makes them better even if they play outside because they're playing against bigger guys inside. Guard/tackle as opposed to tight end/tackle. So we just think there're benefits to it. Same thing with linebackers. We rotate linebackers around from Sam (strong side) to Will (weak side), Will to Mike (middle). A, they have to learn all three positions, the concepts of them, and B, we're trying to find who are the best players on our team."
Does all his mixing make him feel a bit like a mad scientist trying to find the right potion?
He chuckled. "I wouldn't call it a mad scientist," Hankwitz then said. "Really, you're aim is just to get your best 11 players on the field and then figure out what they do best and put them in the best position to make plays."
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Last February, before the practices of spring began, Pat Fitzgerald said, "I thought two years ago we had opportunities to win a bunch of games and we just didn't make some plays down the stretch. But last year, in particular, I think some guys had the ah-ah moment (when they realized) they weren't as prepared as they thought they were (for what happens) mentally, emotionally and physically when you go from a play away to being the guy...The big thing we talked about, and what we talked about at length through all off-season with our guys, is through competition we've got to become more consistent."
That explains well enough the rationale behind this across-the-field approach, which even a fifth-year senior like Gibson heartily welcomes. "It's the best way to win," he said Tuesday when asked about this search for the best 11. "Two five-and-seven seasons, you've got to try to do your best to succeed, and I know it's a cliche, but you do need your best 11 out there to win games. You saw games last year, we lost by three points, five points in the last minute or so. I'm not going to say we didn't have our best guys out there. But it's imperative that we always do that. . .
"When you have a five-and-seven season, you have to look at everybody, everybody comes under scrutiny. You might have made some great plays last year. But at the same time, what you did wrong is something you have to work at. Guys have really embraced that, especially on the defensive line. It's a dirty position and you have to deal with all that comes with that."
Moving inside, he soon admitted, has been a big adjustment. But immediately he added that he prepared for the switch in the weight room, where he added nine or ten pounds of muscle to bulk up. That, he then said, would allow him "To sustain that kind of switch if we have to make it."
He was now asked about his unit's mentality. "If they don't score, they can't win. And if they don't get a yard, they don't get a first down," he finally said. "We want you to earn every single thing you get from us. We're not giving you anything this year. That's our mentality. We've got to win as a team. But we're going to take the boat load of the work.
"I think we're prepared for that. As a defensive line, we're probably the most experienced group on the team and we're definitely going to shoulder all of the weight that comes with playing defense."
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