Northwestern University Athletics
Photo by: Stephen J. Carrera
The Skip Report: One Last Go Around
11/1/2017 2:30:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The practice is over and their coaches have departed and their teammates have long ago dispersed, but still a group of Wildcats labor. Most are defensive backs and, for a good half-hour, they work on covering patterns they expect to see on their Saturday visit to Nebraska.
"We're just trying to get some extra work in, exposing ourselves to all their routes and stuff. Minding our Ps and Qs for this weekend," one of them, the senior safety Godwin Igwebuike, will later explain.
Is this something they do after every practice?
"It's something we figured we needed to start doing," he says. "We haven't been playing up to our expectations on the backside. So every day we're going to get some different work in. Seeing routes. Going one-on-one. Getting in our zones. Eye discipline. You only have so much time at practice, you know what I mean. We feel we're underperforming right now compared to our abilities, so we're going to do everything we can to get it fixed."
That scene and that attitude give vivid testament to recent statements of Pat Fitzgerald, who over the last month has talked often of just how hard this current crop of 'Cats labor.
"It's a culture we started in the off-season," Igwebuike says when told of his coach's comments. "One of the mottos our strength staff and our coaches put in place is, 'Everything matters.' That motto speaks for itself. Everything matters. Whether it's getting extra rest. Sleeping. Taking care of your body in rehab.
"The hard work started in the off-season. Obviously it's early morning. It's no joke. You know how it goes. We wanted to make sure we carried that into the season and the upperclassmen, the leaders on our team, have done a great job. They particularly inspire me. The culture is work. If you don't work, you're an outsider. You're really not part of the family. The family culture is to work. Now we're going to put some extra work in, work even harder than we have been. That's the mindset around here. It's paying off."
It has paid off in a winning streak that now stands at three after their triple-overtime win last Saturday over No. 16 Michigan State. Still, in that game, Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke threw for 445 yards, many of them coming on passes of the Hail Mary variety that somehow found his teammates' hands. Igwebuike is asked how a DB feels when beaten by a prayer.
"You're right," he says. "He's throwing it up, seeing if it sticks. They won some, we won some.
"The DB mentality is we feel we should win all of those, you know. Of course they're going to catch some balls. They have some great receivers, that's a great quarterback. But we feel we're great DBs, so it's a battle. Obviously some of the things didn't go our way. We didn't make plays on the ball that we felt we should have. We were out of place when we felt we should have been in place. But we continued to battle throughout the game. We're holding 'em, we're losing here, but we're winning here, and we're keeping our mindset in it. That's why I'm proud of this team as a whole. Just how we battle through adversity. How we're always bouncing back. Even our room. We're going through a lot of adversity right now, but we're continuing to keep grinding and believing in ourselves. It's football. We're gonna come to play."
And what about that last play of the Spartan game? After seeing so much of Lewerke's stuff stick, what was he thinking when he threw up that final rainbow toward the south end zone?
"I saw it. I was trying to make a play on it," he says. "So I get to running over there— I see the ball go up, I go up, I see the tight end go up, I see somebody else go up, I'm, 'Who's that?' By the time I come down I see Nate (Hall, the linebacker) with the ball and I'm, 'OKAAAAAAAAAAA! OH YEAH!' I was really proud of him for that. But like you said, the ball had been going up all day. Sometimes they were coming down with it, sometimes we were coming down. But I feel the team that battles, the team that has the will to win, is going to come out on top, and I felt like we had that."
Last fall, in conversation, Igwebuike said, "When I wake up in the morning, OK, the first thing I'm going to do is thank God I'm alive, that I woke up this morning. Then just get my mind right to attack the day. No matter how I'm feeling, attack the day with everything I have. That's one thing I want to respect my teammates with while I have the chance to, while I'm still here. Just have that positive attitude and to realize how blessed we are playing this game of football."
Now, as a senior captain on the last lap of his Northwestern career, he is asked if there is an even greater appreciation, an even greater effort being given.
"I'd like to say no. I'd like to say I've been working," he says. "But of course, like with anything, you begin to realize more and more how delicate all of this is and how fortunate you are. So definitely just continuing to try and embrace everything, embrace this position I've been put in as a captain on this team. It's the biggest honor I've ever received. These guys out here, it's easy to be out here and to want to lead and be one of the guys they look up to. They're such great guys, such great competitors, and also such great young men. It really makes my job easy, it makes my job really enjoyable. I'm just trying to enjoy everyday. It's a blessing. For real."
He is told that, similarly, the junior guard Tommy Doles had talked a day earlier of wanting to be sure he made the most of the time he has left playing aside senior center Brad North.
"That sounds like him," Igwebuike says. "That's cool, man. Even the younger guys have that perspective toward the older guys. I think that's pretty unique to this team. I love it."
His name was Mike Reid, and he was an All American at Penn State and an All Pro with the Bengals as a defensive tackle. But he was also a pianist who once played with the Cincinnati Symphony, and at the young age of 28 he decided to quit football to pursue a music career. That is why, as time ticked away in the final game of the 1974 season, he took time to take a hard look at the panorama that surrounded him there at Pittsburgh's old Three Rivers Stadium. "I wanted to remember a scene I had never really looked at before, a scene I had always taken for granted," he would explain seven months later.
It is that memory that prompts the question to Igwebuike, who is asked if he might take time to look around Nebraska's hallowed Memorial Stadium when he visits it for the final time on Saturday.
"I think I will take a couple glimpses around," he says. "You're right. That will be the last time I'll be in there. That's something that puts it in perspective. All of us, all of us seniors, are putting these things in perspective, and trying to enjoy each other, enjoy the different places we're going to, enjoy our teammates."
In the long ago, back when he was a raw recruit about to join the 'Cats, Godwin Igwebuike had to decide whether he wanted to play running back or safety. That is how talented he was, the coaches gave him the choice, and he did not settle on safety until just days separated him from his first practice.
"Every now and then I'm reminded," he says when asked if he ever thinks of that, and then he smiles. "People back home, running back was the big thing. I personally don't think too much on it unless someone brings it up. I've got enough that I'm thinking about and trying to enjoy. I think I made a wonderful decision. I never have regretted that decision. I'll say that much. Plus we've got a pretty good running back. So not much to think about when it comes to that."
Does he still get kidded by running backs coach Matt MacPherson, who used to jibe, "Guess you weren't tough enough to carry the ball."
"Naah. That was freshman year," Godwin Igwebuike says, and then he smiles one last time. "He's consumed with his new running backs now. He's pretty happy. He doesn't think about me anymore."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The practice is over and their coaches have departed and their teammates have long ago dispersed, but still a group of Wildcats labor. Most are defensive backs and, for a good half-hour, they work on covering patterns they expect to see on their Saturday visit to Nebraska.
"We're just trying to get some extra work in, exposing ourselves to all their routes and stuff. Minding our Ps and Qs for this weekend," one of them, the senior safety Godwin Igwebuike, will later explain.
Is this something they do after every practice?
"It's something we figured we needed to start doing," he says. "We haven't been playing up to our expectations on the backside. So every day we're going to get some different work in. Seeing routes. Going one-on-one. Getting in our zones. Eye discipline. You only have so much time at practice, you know what I mean. We feel we're underperforming right now compared to our abilities, so we're going to do everything we can to get it fixed."
That scene and that attitude give vivid testament to recent statements of Pat Fitzgerald, who over the last month has talked often of just how hard this current crop of 'Cats labor.
"It's a culture we started in the off-season," Igwebuike says when told of his coach's comments. "One of the mottos our strength staff and our coaches put in place is, 'Everything matters.' That motto speaks for itself. Everything matters. Whether it's getting extra rest. Sleeping. Taking care of your body in rehab.
"The hard work started in the off-season. Obviously it's early morning. It's no joke. You know how it goes. We wanted to make sure we carried that into the season and the upperclassmen, the leaders on our team, have done a great job. They particularly inspire me. The culture is work. If you don't work, you're an outsider. You're really not part of the family. The family culture is to work. Now we're going to put some extra work in, work even harder than we have been. That's the mindset around here. It's paying off."
It has paid off in a winning streak that now stands at three after their triple-overtime win last Saturday over No. 16 Michigan State. Still, in that game, Spartan quarterback Brian Lewerke threw for 445 yards, many of them coming on passes of the Hail Mary variety that somehow found his teammates' hands. Igwebuike is asked how a DB feels when beaten by a prayer.
"You're right," he says. "He's throwing it up, seeing if it sticks. They won some, we won some.
"The DB mentality is we feel we should win all of those, you know. Of course they're going to catch some balls. They have some great receivers, that's a great quarterback. But we feel we're great DBs, so it's a battle. Obviously some of the things didn't go our way. We didn't make plays on the ball that we felt we should have. We were out of place when we felt we should have been in place. But we continued to battle throughout the game. We're holding 'em, we're losing here, but we're winning here, and we're keeping our mindset in it. That's why I'm proud of this team as a whole. Just how we battle through adversity. How we're always bouncing back. Even our room. We're going through a lot of adversity right now, but we're continuing to keep grinding and believing in ourselves. It's football. We're gonna come to play."
And what about that last play of the Spartan game? After seeing so much of Lewerke's stuff stick, what was he thinking when he threw up that final rainbow toward the south end zone?
"I saw it. I was trying to make a play on it," he says. "So I get to running over there— I see the ball go up, I go up, I see the tight end go up, I see somebody else go up, I'm, 'Who's that?' By the time I come down I see Nate (Hall, the linebacker) with the ball and I'm, 'OKAAAAAAAAAAA! OH YEAH!' I was really proud of him for that. But like you said, the ball had been going up all day. Sometimes they were coming down with it, sometimes we were coming down. But I feel the team that battles, the team that has the will to win, is going to come out on top, and I felt like we had that."
Last fall, in conversation, Igwebuike said, "When I wake up in the morning, OK, the first thing I'm going to do is thank God I'm alive, that I woke up this morning. Then just get my mind right to attack the day. No matter how I'm feeling, attack the day with everything I have. That's one thing I want to respect my teammates with while I have the chance to, while I'm still here. Just have that positive attitude and to realize how blessed we are playing this game of football."
Now, as a senior captain on the last lap of his Northwestern career, he is asked if there is an even greater appreciation, an even greater effort being given.
"I'd like to say no. I'd like to say I've been working," he says. "But of course, like with anything, you begin to realize more and more how delicate all of this is and how fortunate you are. So definitely just continuing to try and embrace everything, embrace this position I've been put in as a captain on this team. It's the biggest honor I've ever received. These guys out here, it's easy to be out here and to want to lead and be one of the guys they look up to. They're such great guys, such great competitors, and also such great young men. It really makes my job easy, it makes my job really enjoyable. I'm just trying to enjoy everyday. It's a blessing. For real."
He is told that, similarly, the junior guard Tommy Doles had talked a day earlier of wanting to be sure he made the most of the time he has left playing aside senior center Brad North.
"That sounds like him," Igwebuike says. "That's cool, man. Even the younger guys have that perspective toward the older guys. I think that's pretty unique to this team. I love it."
His name was Mike Reid, and he was an All American at Penn State and an All Pro with the Bengals as a defensive tackle. But he was also a pianist who once played with the Cincinnati Symphony, and at the young age of 28 he decided to quit football to pursue a music career. That is why, as time ticked away in the final game of the 1974 season, he took time to take a hard look at the panorama that surrounded him there at Pittsburgh's old Three Rivers Stadium. "I wanted to remember a scene I had never really looked at before, a scene I had always taken for granted," he would explain seven months later.
It is that memory that prompts the question to Igwebuike, who is asked if he might take time to look around Nebraska's hallowed Memorial Stadium when he visits it for the final time on Saturday.
"I think I will take a couple glimpses around," he says. "You're right. That will be the last time I'll be in there. That's something that puts it in perspective. All of us, all of us seniors, are putting these things in perspective, and trying to enjoy each other, enjoy the different places we're going to, enjoy our teammates."
In the long ago, back when he was a raw recruit about to join the 'Cats, Godwin Igwebuike had to decide whether he wanted to play running back or safety. That is how talented he was, the coaches gave him the choice, and he did not settle on safety until just days separated him from his first practice.
"Every now and then I'm reminded," he says when asked if he ever thinks of that, and then he smiles. "People back home, running back was the big thing. I personally don't think too much on it unless someone brings it up. I've got enough that I'm thinking about and trying to enjoy. I think I made a wonderful decision. I never have regretted that decision. I'll say that much. Plus we've got a pretty good running back. So not much to think about when it comes to that."
Does he still get kidded by running backs coach Matt MacPherson, who used to jibe, "Guess you weren't tough enough to carry the ball."
"Naah. That was freshman year," Godwin Igwebuike says, and then he smiles one last time. "He's consumed with his new running backs now. He's pretty happy. He doesn't think about me anymore."
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