Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Stepping Up Their Game
8/21/2015 12:23:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They comprise an eclectic mélange, a diverse crew. The most-recognizable of them is the 6-foot-2, 235-pound sophomore Anthony Walker, who gained acclaim last fall when he stepped in for injured middle linebacker Collin Ellis and effectively sealed the 'Cats win at Penn State with a 49-yard pick-six early in the fourth quarter. The most-experienced of them is the six-foot-one, 230-pound senior Drew Smith, who has appeared in 37 games during his 'Cat career and accrued renown as a lethal, heat-seeking missle. "He thoroughly enjoys contact and I like guys who like contact at the linebacker level," Pat Fitzgerald once said of him. "He goes to bed dreaming about knocking somebody's lips off. He likes running around and doing that."
"That's pretty accurate," Smith himself said at the same time. "That's what I live for. I play defense for a reason. I like to hit people. That's my job. So when I get a chance to hit somebody, force my will on them, that's what I do."
But the rest of them have been little viewed, and so enter the imminent season as their team's proverbial mystery guests. One of these is the 6-foot-1, 237-pound junior Jaylen Prater, whose Ohio hometown of Hamden has just 365 households and 943 residents and covers an area of just .57 square miles. He played quarterback, wingback and tailback in high school as well as linebacker. Not to mention he was also a champion sprinter.
Another of these is the 6-foot-1, 225-pound junior Joseph Jones, whose Illinois hometown of Plano is a bit bigger (pop: 10,856) and who himself was a state champion hurdler while in high school. Then there is that pair of redshirt freshmen. The first of them is the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Nate Hall, whose older brother Jimmy was himself a 'Cat linebacker last season. The other is the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Cameron Queiro, whose older brother Kyle is currently a Wildcats safety.
That is the diverse crew expected to see time this fall at linebacker, and its scarcity of experience stands in stark contrast to the battle scars already earned by the 'Cats on the line in front of them and in the backfield behind them. Together, then, they are publicly viewed as the question mark, as the X factor, as the great unknown on a defense that is otherwise stacked with tested veterans. "I don't think they read too much right now," Randy Bates, their position coach, will say when asked if that label drives them.
"They're young, and they don't know what they don't know, and that's probably a good thing," said Bates. "They don't have a whole lot of interest in caring what other people think right now. I just think they realize it's their time."
Anthony Walker's time arrived last Sept. 27 in Happy Valley, where his histrionics included a team-high eight tackles as well as the game-turning interception. But what followed was more muted, even after he ascended to the starting role full-time when Ellis was permanently sidelined, and by season's end he himself was beaten down and his performances comprised a mixed bag. "Your first year, there will come a point where you run out of gas," Fitzgerald said last spring while discussing that first reality. "It gets hard. It's different going in and being a pinch hitter and having a great game, and having to be an everyday player, an every-down player. That grind is something that you have to learn to deal with."
"I think that comes with knowing what's coming," Walker said this week when asked how he would prevent that reality from again occurring. "Last year, just being thrown into it, having to prepare for every game, I wasn't expecting to do that. I expected to be a role guy and play special teams. Just being thrown in last year woke me up a little bit. But now I know the grind. I know what it takes to be a great linebacker and how to have a great defense. I think that's prepared me for the upcoming season."
"We knew there was some great talent there," Bates himself said this week while discussing the second of those realities, inconsistency. "But until they get out there and get some experience, one play they're doing great and the next play you don't know what they're doing. That's typical of a young guy. But this year, he's 230-some pounds, he's running well, he's just matured a little bit as a player. He's a little bit more confident. He's someone who's played in a game, not someone excited to get his first opportunity."
"That comes with the game, and that goes back to maturity," Walker himself soon said when asked about that comment. "Coach Fitz talks about that all the time. It's not doing the right thing sometimes, it's doing it all the time. Now I'm more mature, playing the mental game better than I did. My freshman year, I just went out there and played. I just wanted to go out there and play fast and just do my job. Now I know what's coming next, how to beat blocks better. It's more of the mental game I'm better at this year."
The mental game has been different for Jaylen Prater, who throughout camp has worked as the starting weak-side (Will) linebacker with Walker in the middle and Smith on the strong side (Sam). Back home, at tiny Wellston high, he had been a star, a four-year starter who had known only success, but at Northwestern he redshirted as a freshman and suffered nagging injuries in the two seasons that followed. "It's been hard, not only coming from a starting role in high school. But you've also got to realize it's a step up," he will say of those experiences.
"The first year I was here, I definitely wasn't ready physically," said Prater. "Then the playbook, it's exponentially harder. To be able to learn that and to get that, and to be able to ingrain that in your mind and go out there and play fast and not be out there thinking, that was the biggest thing. That took a few years."
"Jaylen's been waiting in the wings a long time," said Bates. "He's just literally been behind Chi Chi (Ariguzo, who graduated) pretty much his whole career. So he's been the understudy to one of our better players ever. But he's smart. He's athletic. He's a hitter. He's got all the tools. Now he's just got to go out and do it in the arena like Chi Chi did for four years."
"I'm ecstatic. I'm excited," said Prater about having that opportunity to finally get into the arena. "I'm glad to be able to finally get out there and play Big Ten football with these guys."
Is it a daunting prospect? Is he feeling any pressure?
"I don't think so," he said. "If you prepare for the opportunity to get out there, then just relax, and have fun, and play football with your brothers. Just do what you've done your whole life."
Jaylen Prater was having none of it, none of it at all. Asked about the linebackers being the question mark, the X factor, the great unknown of the 'Cat defense, he simply said, "I've never heard that. I've never heard that."
But Anthony Walker had heard that and he said, "We know that. We know that. But we don't care about it. The main thing is we're going to go out-- I feel anybody in our room who comes out, they know what they have to do. They're ready to play. And I think Coach Bates and Coach Fitz are comfortable putting any three linebackers out there and knowing we're going to get our job done.
"That outside talk has just made us want to step up our game more," said Walker. "We know the defensive line is set. We know the DBs are set. So we know we really have to step our game up. Our room is working really hard on that."
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter,become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and check us out on Instagram. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
NUsports.com Special Contributor
They comprise an eclectic mélange, a diverse crew. The most-recognizable of them is the 6-foot-2, 235-pound sophomore Anthony Walker, who gained acclaim last fall when he stepped in for injured middle linebacker Collin Ellis and effectively sealed the 'Cats win at Penn State with a 49-yard pick-six early in the fourth quarter. The most-experienced of them is the six-foot-one, 230-pound senior Drew Smith, who has appeared in 37 games during his 'Cat career and accrued renown as a lethal, heat-seeking missle. "He thoroughly enjoys contact and I like guys who like contact at the linebacker level," Pat Fitzgerald once said of him. "He goes to bed dreaming about knocking somebody's lips off. He likes running around and doing that."
"That's pretty accurate," Smith himself said at the same time. "That's what I live for. I play defense for a reason. I like to hit people. That's my job. So when I get a chance to hit somebody, force my will on them, that's what I do."
But the rest of them have been little viewed, and so enter the imminent season as their team's proverbial mystery guests. One of these is the 6-foot-1, 237-pound junior Jaylen Prater, whose Ohio hometown of Hamden has just 365 households and 943 residents and covers an area of just .57 square miles. He played quarterback, wingback and tailback in high school as well as linebacker. Not to mention he was also a champion sprinter.
Another of these is the 6-foot-1, 225-pound junior Joseph Jones, whose Illinois hometown of Plano is a bit bigger (pop: 10,856) and who himself was a state champion hurdler while in high school. Then there is that pair of redshirt freshmen. The first of them is the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Nate Hall, whose older brother Jimmy was himself a 'Cat linebacker last season. The other is the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Cameron Queiro, whose older brother Kyle is currently a Wildcats safety.
That is the diverse crew expected to see time this fall at linebacker, and its scarcity of experience stands in stark contrast to the battle scars already earned by the 'Cats on the line in front of them and in the backfield behind them. Together, then, they are publicly viewed as the question mark, as the X factor, as the great unknown on a defense that is otherwise stacked with tested veterans. "I don't think they read too much right now," Randy Bates, their position coach, will say when asked if that label drives them.
"They're young, and they don't know what they don't know, and that's probably a good thing," said Bates. "They don't have a whole lot of interest in caring what other people think right now. I just think they realize it's their time."
Anthony Walker's time arrived last Sept. 27 in Happy Valley, where his histrionics included a team-high eight tackles as well as the game-turning interception. But what followed was more muted, even after he ascended to the starting role full-time when Ellis was permanently sidelined, and by season's end he himself was beaten down and his performances comprised a mixed bag. "Your first year, there will come a point where you run out of gas," Fitzgerald said last spring while discussing that first reality. "It gets hard. It's different going in and being a pinch hitter and having a great game, and having to be an everyday player, an every-down player. That grind is something that you have to learn to deal with."
"I think that comes with knowing what's coming," Walker said this week when asked how he would prevent that reality from again occurring. "Last year, just being thrown into it, having to prepare for every game, I wasn't expecting to do that. I expected to be a role guy and play special teams. Just being thrown in last year woke me up a little bit. But now I know the grind. I know what it takes to be a great linebacker and how to have a great defense. I think that's prepared me for the upcoming season."
"We knew there was some great talent there," Bates himself said this week while discussing the second of those realities, inconsistency. "But until they get out there and get some experience, one play they're doing great and the next play you don't know what they're doing. That's typical of a young guy. But this year, he's 230-some pounds, he's running well, he's just matured a little bit as a player. He's a little bit more confident. He's someone who's played in a game, not someone excited to get his first opportunity."
"That comes with the game, and that goes back to maturity," Walker himself soon said when asked about that comment. "Coach Fitz talks about that all the time. It's not doing the right thing sometimes, it's doing it all the time. Now I'm more mature, playing the mental game better than I did. My freshman year, I just went out there and played. I just wanted to go out there and play fast and just do my job. Now I know what's coming next, how to beat blocks better. It's more of the mental game I'm better at this year."
The mental game has been different for Jaylen Prater, who throughout camp has worked as the starting weak-side (Will) linebacker with Walker in the middle and Smith on the strong side (Sam). Back home, at tiny Wellston high, he had been a star, a four-year starter who had known only success, but at Northwestern he redshirted as a freshman and suffered nagging injuries in the two seasons that followed. "It's been hard, not only coming from a starting role in high school. But you've also got to realize it's a step up," he will say of those experiences.
"The first year I was here, I definitely wasn't ready physically," said Prater. "Then the playbook, it's exponentially harder. To be able to learn that and to get that, and to be able to ingrain that in your mind and go out there and play fast and not be out there thinking, that was the biggest thing. That took a few years."
"Jaylen's been waiting in the wings a long time," said Bates. "He's just literally been behind Chi Chi (Ariguzo, who graduated) pretty much his whole career. So he's been the understudy to one of our better players ever. But he's smart. He's athletic. He's a hitter. He's got all the tools. Now he's just got to go out and do it in the arena like Chi Chi did for four years."
"I'm ecstatic. I'm excited," said Prater about having that opportunity to finally get into the arena. "I'm glad to be able to finally get out there and play Big Ten football with these guys."
Is it a daunting prospect? Is he feeling any pressure?
"I don't think so," he said. "If you prepare for the opportunity to get out there, then just relax, and have fun, and play football with your brothers. Just do what you've done your whole life."
Jaylen Prater was having none of it, none of it at all. Asked about the linebackers being the question mark, the X factor, the great unknown of the 'Cat defense, he simply said, "I've never heard that. I've never heard that."
But Anthony Walker had heard that and he said, "We know that. We know that. But we don't care about it. The main thing is we're going to go out-- I feel anybody in our room who comes out, they know what they have to do. They're ready to play. And I think Coach Bates and Coach Fitz are comfortable putting any three linebackers out there and knowing we're going to get our job done.
"That outside talk has just made us want to step up our game more," said Walker. "We know the defensive line is set. We know the DBs are set. So we know we really have to step our game up. Our room is working really hard on that."
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter,become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook and check us out on Instagram. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
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