Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Lettin' It Loose
9/14/2016 1:18:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The practice is just over. Now the senior linebacker Jaylen Prater and the junior safety Kyle Queiro are sitting on a bench just outside their team's locker room discussing their defensive unit. A fall ago it was a threshing-and-thrashing machine, a dominant force that catalyzed the Wildcats to 10 wins. But this fall it has a half-dozen new starters and, on consecutive Saturdays, has surrendered late drives that transformed narrow 'Cat leads into defeats. So is this group, with its influx of new faces, going through a gestation period? "I think there's definitely chemistry that goes on, especially in the defensive backfield," says Queiro.
"Me and Godwin (Igwebuike, the other safety) came up together, so we have a better communication. Where as when I'm on the field with (sophomore) Jared (McGee), or Godwin's on the field with Jared at safety and me at nickel, there's a little bit of a different dynamic. Also between the safeties and the corners (where the 'Cats will be using a pair of first-time starters this Saturday against Duke). But overall there is the same goals, the same intensity. We have the same focuses. So I don't think there's as much of a difference as there is on offense, where personnel can dictate where you want to go with the ball or how you want to attack the defense."
Is it different for a player starting for the first time?
"There's definitely a difference and then, obviously, different people handle it differently," says Prater. "Being a starter there's automatically more pressure, if you allow it to be. It's fun. In practice— the main difference to me over the years that I've been here is the starters typically have better chemistry, like Kyle was talking about. When he's on the field with Godwin, with (corner) Matt (Harris, who will miss the Duke game due to injury), with some of these guys who have all played together, there's not as much that needs to happen (or to be said)."
"It becomes second nature," says Queiro.
"Yeah. It becomes second nature," says Prater. "You kind of just look at each other and you know what you're thinking."
"Yeah," says Queiro.
"A quick signal, and I look at him and nod, and, boom, it's over," says Prater. "Sometimes with younger guys, or guys who haven't started before, you have to make a more conscious effort to be on it."
And that slows you down?
"It does," says Prater.
"But that definitely is why we have practice," says Queiro. "And I think more on an individual level instead of the team level that Jaylen talked about— like you said, this is my first year starting and definitely the amount of reps I get is a lot different. Therefore my focus has to be on point at all times whereas last year I was more a second-and-third down guy in nickel packages and my focus was more on pass. Now I have to be more well-rounded attacking the run and the pass on an every-down basis."
It's early Monday afternoon and sitting behind a table are the senior defensive lineman C.J. Robbins and the junior safety Godwin Igwebuike. Earlier, from behind this same table, their coach Pat Fitzgerald said, "When you see us play on the field, you typically see a very passionate football team. I don't see that right now on our defense. I see a bunch of guys playing. I don't see a lot of guys playing as one. I don't see them flying around, playing with a lot of passion."
"The passion's there. I think we need people to be comfortable and just let it loose. That just comes with experience," Robbins demurs when asked about that statement. "We've got some young guys on the field. We've got some people that are in new roles. Comfort level is the thing. The passion is there. We all love to play the game, so I don't question our passion."
"I agree with that," says Igwebuike. "Like he said, we have some young guys in the DB group. For them there's a little bit more, I guess, nerves coming into games. As leaders, as veterans, we have to remind them, 'We're playing football. You've been doing this your whole life. This is what you came here to do. Sit back. Relax. Have fun. Go out there and give it everything you have.' As leaders, as veterans, it's kind of putting everything in perspective for everybody, making sure they understand that this is a game we all know how to play. Now just go out there and give it everything you have."
The practice is just over and Robbins' comment on comfort level is shared with Prater and Queiro. "I agree with that 100 percent," says Prater. "There isn't a lack of want-to, or a lack of people being inspired to play and really having that drive. When we're on the field that stuff's really contagious. When someone makes a big play, and you celebrate, and you talk to each other, and you get in the groove— it's a mental state. You get in the flow. When it's off with a younger guy who might be in there thinking, 'All right, I've got to do my job, I've got to concentrate on that'— it's like Kyle was saying. When it becomes second nature, that's when you're letting it loose, that's when you're letting it all hang out. I would definitely agree with C.J. it's about being comfortable. It's about letting it loose."
Has this unit made progress toward being comfortable?
"This practice probably was one of the best practices we've had," says Queiro. "I'm not sure if you noticed, but the coaches cut off the music (that regularly plays) today and really put the onus on us to create our own passion, our own intensity, and to holding guys accountable and being on each other. That's exactly what we did, and we responded to that. We know we're not the team we put out there the last two Saturdays and we're going to make a point to prove that.
"I think today was a great testament to our team responding. Now we need to do it on the stage on Saturday."
