Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Nevada Upon Further Review
9/4/2017 3:15:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
UPON FURTHER REVIEW. . . .
BUTTERFINGERS: Clayton Thorson went 28-of-38 Saturday in Northwestern's season-opening win over Nevada. That's a gaudy completion rate of 73.6 percent. But on Monday, at his weekly presser, Pat Fitzgerald noted that his receivers had four or five drops, which means his quarterback could have ended 33-of-38. That's an ethereal completion rate of 86.8 percent.
"That's a pretty good day by anybody's stretch," Fitzgerald then said. "So we've got to play better on the perimeter for him."
AND THE WINNER IS: Thorson, not surprisingly, was named the Wildcats' Offensive Player of the Game after that performance. The award for the Offensive Big Playmaker went to wide out Macan Wilson, whose three receptions went for 33 yards and a touchdown; three yards down to the Wolf Pack one, which set up the first of Thorson's two rushing touchdowns; and 41 yards again down to the Wolf Pack one, which set up the second of them.
"I think he's got great trust with Clayton," Fitzgerald said of his success.
"Those guys have played a lot of football together. It's not just practice. It's over the summer when they're doing things. Clayton showed, with both those (vertical) throws he made, that he really trusts what Macan is going to do. Impressed to watch that, and hopefully that will continue to progress."
"We took some big strides with Clayton this offseason," Wilson himself said when asked about that. "Him going into his third year now, he just continues to grow as a leader of the team and of the offense. Continuing to build that trust is a result of the extra time and the extra meetings that we've been having with him in the offseason."
And the long balls?
"Deep balls like that are something the receivers and the quarterbacks talked a lot about this summer, making sure we were on the same page," he said. "Me personally, I spent a lot of time talking to Clayton about what he was looking for in situations like that, what kind of leverage he wanted us to hold, where he was looking to place the ball. If anything, that was one of the best throws I've ever seen. He put it right in the right spot for me. He gave me a chance and I tried to make the most of it. It was one of those plays, as I mentioned earlier, of all the extra time we put in with Clayton over the summer making sure we were on the same page."
STEPPING OUT: Another who emerged Saturday as a favorite Thorson target was superback Garrett Dickerson, who caught four for 29 yards and had another for 13 negated by a dubious pushing-off penalty.
"Macan pretty much said it all," he said when asked about the trust he himself had with his quarterback. "We did a lot this off-season, especially with Clayton from a receiver's standpoint, running routes, watching more film, building that rapport we need to be a successful passing offense and a successful offense in general. We did a lot this off-season. Hopefully it will pay off."
Did they do anything off the field to build that trust?
"I feel that relationship had already been built," said Dickerson. "We spend a lot of time with each other on the premises and off the premises. A lot of guys live very close to each other, things like that. So I don't think it was something we needed to work on off the field because we're always around each other. But from a football standpoint, it was sharpen the edge."
NEEDING TO SHARPEN UP: The offensive line, of course, is the foundation of the 'Cat offense.
"We're a work-in-progress," Fitzgerald said Monday when asked about its work against the Pack. "We had some guys who played well, and some guys who played inconsistent. Our offensive line play was very similar to the play of our whole football team. There was some really, really good, and some areas where we've really got to improve."
Will he continue to rotate players in-and-out, as happened on Saturday?
"Again, when guys are close, regardless of position, we're going to rotate them," he said, echoing comments he had made a week earlier. "When there's clear separation of a starter, then he starts and plays a majority of the reps. No one has separated himself, per se, at a lot of the different positions. I think Brad (North, the center) had a solid game. I think Tommy (Doles, the right guard) was a little bit below his standard. We started two rookie tackles (true freshman Rashawn Slater and sophomore Jared Thomas), include (redshirt freshman) Gunnar (Vogel) in there (at tackle as well), and we had Blake (Hance, usually a tackle) first time at guard— all in all, it wasn't great. But for their first time being out there, we had over 500 yards, didn't we? Not bad."
IN PENCIL, NOT INK: Fitzgerald reiterated the fluidity of so many positions when he was later asked about the 260-pound Samdup Miller starting at D end instead of the 290-pound Fred Wyatt, who was expected to get that nod. "I'm not going to give away trade secrets on things that we do and why we do them," he said here. "But we're going to play all those guys up there. They all have different roles for different situations in the game. And then every rep of every practice is a competition.
"I put out a (depth) chart today (Monday), but that could change after tomorrow's practice. I said that last week. It's where we're at with so many young guys that we're playing. Every rep of every practice counts. It doesn't just matter what happened in the previous game. So if you're going to write articles about starting groups, you're wasting your time. It is a very fluid, fluid situation until guys separate themselves. Clayton Thorson will be our quarterback. Justin (Jackson's) our tailback. Godwin (Igwebuike) will play (at safety). Tyler (Lancaster) will play (at D tackle). Then away we go."
SPEAKING OF FLUID: Corner Keith Watkins II suffered another season-ending injury days before the 'Cats opener and then Marcus McShephard, who had replaced him in the starting lineup, exited it with an injury of his own. Redshirt-freshman Brian Bullock, who had replaced McShephard, was then sidelined by injury, which bequeathed the job to special team maven Moe Almasri. (McShephard and Bullock are day-to-day, Fitzgerald said Monday.) That left the other corner, Montre Hartage, dancing with some unfamiliar partners.
"For me it was communication," he said when asked about the adjustments he had been forced to make. "We get the play call from Coach Hank (Mike Hankwitz, the D co-ordinator). Making sure that, if we need to make adjustments on the move, we communicate well and come together. As soon as the next guy got out there, I just told him, 'Hey. Just go out there and make plays and have fun.'"
NEW TOO: Just in front of Hartage, who got his chance last year when Watkins suffered his first season-ending injury, the redshirt freshman Paddy Fisher started at middle linebacker and the true freshman Blake Gallagher got some time at Will. Playing aside them was the junior Nate Hall, and Monday he and Hartage talked about performing with rookies.
"There was a time," said Hall, "when me and Montre were in the same position, so we know how that works. So like Montre said, when we were out there, it was us setting the front, us reminding them of what coverages we're in. Obviously we need to do a better job of that as older guys. There were times when there was miscommunication, and that's on us as older guys, to get the younger guys lined up. It's our responsibility to help them out."
"I feel the guys, they responded well," said Hartage. "Initially, I think everyone needs to take a couple plays just to get the jitters out for sure. But after Brian got out after the first play, after Mo got out there after the first play, they did well."
"They did well for the first time," Hall then said of his newcomers. "I've been in that position before. It's a nerve wracking thing. I was put into the fire as a redshirt freshman in the Penn State game after Jaylen Prater went down, and it's a nerve wracking thing. But they kept their composure and played really well."
AND FINALLY, Hall, on the 'Cats slow start against the Pack:
"We knew when we went out there that they were going to do things that we didn't know that they were going to do. That's always what happens in the first game of every college football team. But I think it (their victory) shows the maturity of our football team. This is a mature football team and that showed in glimpses in the second half, both offensively and defensively."
