Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Happy Football Season
8/28/2017 5:24:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Kickin' it off. Or, as Pat Fitzgerald said Monday at his first weekly presser, "Happy football season to everybody. It's a great time of the year.". . .
LAST SEASON, of course, did not start off auspiciously for the 'Cats, who dropped their first two games and three of their first four. They rallied to finish with a winning record after an impressive victory over Pitt in the Pinstripe Bowl. But that beginning, quarterback Clayton Thorson admitted Monday, was "Something we used this whole offseason as motivation to start faster. We used it throughout workouts, throughout practice, pretty much everything. That really put us in a hole. We did a great job responding to it. But we started out 1-and-3 and that didn't set us up for the season we wanted to have. We were 7-6, which is not a very good record. So definitely we used it as motivation. We didn't want to repeat it."
"We made it a statement to start fast, especially in practice," echoed defensive tackle Tyler Lancaster. "All offseason we changed up how we worked out. There was a lot of adversity that came at us, especially with practice lately. Making us run at random times (during practice). We weren't ready for that last year. It was a slow start. We thought we were just going to walk in and take it away. Now we've got to play (every game) like it's our Super Bowl. We understand that from the way we've been working."
THORSON'S OFFSEASON included a stint at a quarterback camp featuring Archie Manning and his boys Peyton and Eli.
"I think the Manning camp really helped him this summer. From a leadership standpoint, I think he learned a ton," Fitzgerald said of that experience.
How does he see that?
"I think there's a lot of similarities (between Thorson and Peyton). Both men are devout Christians and men of faith. It's not a some-of-the-time thing, it's an all-of-the-time thing for both men. I think Clayton was able to learn from wisdom, from experience, from a guy who not only had amazing success. You could also argue he's the greatest quarterback of all time. But (there was) also the success he had in college. So to be able to paint a picture of what he did and how he did things. It wasn't that big of a change for Clayton. But I think maybe and more importantly (it) solidified how he's gone about his leadership. From my perspective, it's given him great confidence."
"I think Peyton and Eli, and Archie a little bit, but Peyton and Eli talked a lot about handling teammates and, specifically, handling teammates when things are going wrong," Thorson himself said when asked about lessons learned. "They gave some very practical ways, told different stories of how they handled teammates. When things are going right, it's very easy to handle teammates. You can brush past a lot of different things. But when adversity strikes, a lot of times they look to the quarterback and the leaders of the team. They talked a lot about that. It was really, really applicable. It was awesome to learn from those guys."
THE DIFFERENCE between Thorson in August of 2015, when he was anointed the starting quarterback as a redshirt freshman, and the Thorson who will lead the 'Cats against Nevada Saturday in their season opener at Ryan Field?
"It's night and day. It's totally different," said Fitzgerald. "You're a freshman starting quarterback, your eyes are as wide as they can be and you're just making sure you get the snap. Now there's no doubt that this is his offense and this is his team. It's the maturation of a quarterback. He's completely different. It's been fun to watch."
THORSON, running back Justin Jackson, Lancaster and safety Godwin Igwebuike were introduced Monday as the captains. Also, notably, Lancaster will wear No. 1 this season, an honor afforded him by his teammate.
"He's a young man," said Fitzgerald, "that embodies everything our program is about— from an attitude standpoint, from a work ethic standpoint, embodying our values on a daily basis, and not only doing that for himself. But more importantly also being that type of person with his teammates and representing our program at that type of level. He's just a joy and a treat to be around. He's kind of a throwback. He loves football, loves everything about it. He's in a world where he gets double-teamed about 75 percent of his life. To see the way that he takes that on and embraces it is pretty special."
ALSO UNVEILED MONDAY was the season's first depth chart, and among those 44 names were four true freshmen(offensive tackle Rashawn Slater, defensive tackle Samdup Miller, linebacker Blake Gallagher and kicker Charlie Kuhbander) and a half-dozen redshirt freshmen (most notably Gunnar Vogel as the starting right tackle and Paddy Fisher as starting middle linebacker.) But more interesting was the echo that resounded as Fitzgerald answered questions about that chart.
"That's a starting point for the week," he said when asked about the eight offensive linemen on it. "Tomorrow's practice is really important. So is Wednesday's and Thursday's. This isn't something where you set a depth chart and say, 'OK. We're done. Here we go.' That competition is going to be on-going so we get the right five guys out there every snap."
"Similar to the O line answer," he said when asked about the wideouts. "When guys are close, you're going to see a lot of them play. I feel pretty solid about that group out there. Some guys have not played a lot. So we'll see how they progress. But, again, I think we've got pretty solid competitive depth out there."
"I think the (defensive) front four has a lot of depth, a lot of experience," he said when asked about that group. "I'm just really impressed with the way they competed throughout camp. Again, you're hearing a theme, I think we've got solid, competitive depth up there."
"We'll see how things progress. It's a long year," he finally said. "But from a competitive depth standpoint, as we start the season, I like where we're at."
ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING true freshman on the chart is kicker Charlie Kuhbander.
"Go back to the answer I had with the quarterback. Anytime you're a freshman, you're pretty wide eyed," Fitzgerald said when asked about him. "But we've put Charlie in situations in camp (simulating) crowd noise and distractions, and he's been really consistent. I thought off his high school video he'd have an opportunity to come in here and compete. Obviously, he's won the job as we start the season. I was really impressed the way he handled things through training camp."
AND FINALLY, Fitzgerald, on these 'Cats…
"This group has shown a lot of focus. I've liked their discipline in practice. I can't think of one day this camp that I've had to be the leader. They've handled that. I think that's a product of their experience. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things unfold."
••••••
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, check us out on Instagram, visit our Social Media page and download our mobile app from the Apple Store and Google Play! To get involved with the #B1GCats, become a season-ticket holder or join the Wildcat Fund!
