Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Picking Up Where They Left Off
8/6/2018 12:04:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Some samples from the smorgasbord that was Football Media Day, the 2018 Edition. . .
THE FIRST STOP, naturally enough, had to be Clayton Thorson, the senior quarterback who tore up his right ACL during the Wildcats' Music City Bowl win over Kentucky. "I'm doing well. I'm doing really well," he said. "It's fun to get out there at practice with my teammates again. It's something I've been looking forward to for a really long time. It's been a lot of fun. … They slowly progress me a little more and assess me day-to-day. So. Feeling good."
Asked if he has been healthy enough to get in the work necessary to establish a relationship with his wide receivers, he said, "Thankfully I've been able to throw since the first day of spring practice, which was awesome. So we've been able to work on timing, especially this summer when we had a lot more time to work. So it's been really good. I feel I've got really good chemistry, if not the best, with all the guys since I've been here."
Finally, and most notably, he asserted he is preparing to play in the Wildcats' Aug. 30 season opener at Purdue. "If it doesn't happen," he then said, "we'll adjust from there. But that's my goal and that's what I'm working toward."
THE FIELD is not the only place Thorson is preparing for that date with the Boilers. He is also doing that in sessions with Dr. Julie Sutcliffe, a psychologist on the school's counseling service staff. "The mental aspect is probably the most challenging, the most difficult and the last hurdle to get over," explained Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald. "I lived through that (after breaking his leg near the end of his junior season as a 'Cat linebacker), so that's something he and I talked about. It was getting out to practice for the first time, getting rolled up, getting cut blocked for me. A little different situation for him. He's in a purple jersey anyway, which is non-contact. But I think he was a little bit surprised, maybe, I'd say early-to-mid July, on just how things were continuing to progress and just how good he felt. So. Work to be done. But we're going to bring him along slow. We've got him on a pitch count right now. He's looked good. We'll see how things progress."
WHIPLASH is not a condition bedeviling senior guard Tommy Doles. But the experiences of the 'Cats offensive line since he joined it have been so extreme that it well could be. Consider: over the past three seasons many have declaimed that the team has won not because of that group, but in spite of it. Yet, over those same seasons, it opened the way for Justin Jackson, who merely finished his career as the school's all-time leading rusher. "I look back at the Maryland game last year. This is after (the 'Cats netted just 67 rushing yards while losing to) Penn State," Doles will say when asked about the pejorative view folks have had of his unit.
"We were just thinking, 'We're better than this. We have more to offer than what we've been giving out. We want to change the narrative, flip the script. We can be the group that can be the reason that we win.' I think the Maryland game (when the 'Cats netted 238 rushing yards in a win) and the rest of the season, we were on an upward trajectory. We wanted to continue that with our off-season workouts and spring practice, and now with training camp (which opened last week). That's not something that just happens, of course. It's something that comes with doing the work everyday, watching extra film, bringing energy every workout. It's easy in training camp to get bogged down. Can we be the group that's consistently coming in with a great attitude? So far it's exciting to know, it's exciting to see that we can do that, and that we have done that."
And the line's mentality?
"It's a belief that we have everything it takes to lead the team this year, an understanding that we have the tools and the experience necessary to lead from up front. But, also, that experience tells us that nothing is guaranteed, that we're going to have to earn everything. I think we're confident that we are a solid unit. We're confident that we have what it takes to be on the attack, to help our team win football games. It's exciting. But it's also humbling, especially for us old guys. We've seen a lot. There've been times when we've been confident and let our guard down, then you get punched in the mouth. But I'm also confident that that's not going to happen this year because we're being diligent about coming in every day and doing our work."
FITZGERALD, when discussing this unit a half-hour later, said it is at its best when it is suffused with competitive depth. Does this current group have that depth? "Can we get pads on?" he said with a chuckle. "I mean, everybody looks really good in shorts. I think so. I liked where they were at in spring."
He spoke similarly when asked about Jackson's successor, and then echoed himself yet again when asked who would be replacing safeties Godwin Igwebuike and Kyle Queiro. "That's what happens when you stay at the same school for awhile," he finally said. "You're kind of used to this. You enact your plan. We roll the ball out, we let 'em compete. The same thing with the O-line. I don't know where that competitive depth is because no one's had to make a tackle yet. They've just gone and tagged the guy off. I don't think we're going to get a chance to tag guys at Purdue and have it count."
THOSE ANSWERS, then, will just start taking shape next week as the 'Cats labor through Camp Kenosha. Yet they have already made an important statement, a statement that responded to an observation made by Fitzgerald after their final practice last spring. "This is when it gets really hard," he said then. "Coaches are out recruiting. Weather gets really nice. Wrigley Field gets really appealing. And you've got to sacrifice your personal wants for the greater good of the team. I expect they will."
"Everybody," the wide receiver Flynn Nagel said that same day, "has just got to put his head down and work, and know that you're working as hard as you can for the guy next to you, and the guy next to you will do it back."
And did that happen?
"We put in the work we needed to put in. Our offense collectively came together as a group," Nagel said this week. "As a unit, we worked out together more, met more, just hung out more outside of football. Got closer as a group. I know more guys on a personal basis than I did before. Hanging out has been a big difference for me. Tommy Doles. I hung out with him a lot more than I had in the past. (Guard) J.B. Butler. Guys I don't get to spend much time with because I'm mostly with the running backs, the quarterbacks. That was the whole goal for the summer. Getting our offense to be one, complete unit. As far as that goal goes, I think we did achieved it. Now I'm really excited for camp. We're only going to get closer."
THE DEFENSE, of course, aimed to build that same kind of mutual trust, and then there was that time the whole team went out for an evening of bowling and bocce. ("It's fun seeing that many hyper-competitive, athletic young men coming together at a sport that's usually played in a low-key setting," is how Doles, smiling, remembers that night.) Now all this on the surface may appear irrelevant, and even the defensive end Joe Gaziano will say, "It may sound trivial. It might sound overplayed."
But then, in the next breath, he continues, "But trust is huge in knowing that your teammate's going to get the job done so you don't have to do too much. You can just do your job and everything will fall in place. Having that trust in huge, especially on defense. Knowing that everybody on the field will click, have one heartbeat."
"I agree," adds cornerback Montre Hartage. "And you can't have trust without a brotherhood. Having the brotherhood that we do have, both on and off the field, allows us, if we need a stop, or if we're in overtime, it allows us to rely on each other.
"The biggest thing, when you're going out onto the field, you're not just playing for yourself. You're playing for every single person next to you," Nagel concludes when asked the practical import of these bromances. "When those relationships are stronger, and you feel more connected to that person, you want to do more for them. You want to win not just for yourself, but for everyone around you. The people you put the work in with, the people that you worked out with, the people that you hang out with, the people you have strong relationships with— they're the people you're going to want to have your back when things get tough. If you're in a game with Notre Dame and it's 24-24 with a minute left, you want to be with those guys you spent a lot of time with, those guys you have a strong relationship with. Those are the guys who're going to be with you when the game's on the line.
"You want to compete with them and win with them. That means just that much more when it does happen. When it happens, it's fun as hell and everybody's having a good time with the guys you care a lot about."
AND FINALLY: These 'Cats are coming off a 10-win season, which was also the case with their 2016 edition. That group opened with home losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State, and that left an impression. "Definitely," Hartage will say when asked about that. "You've got to go out there and earn it. Nothing's given to you. Me and Joe, we've had the opportunity to experience both sides. We know now we've got to come out fast and hit people in the mouth first. That's the approach we know we have to take this coming season. We're looking forward to doing that."
"Coming off a good season, you know you're going to have a target on your back, so you've got to come out with your A-game," Gaziano adds. "You're the one they're gunning for. They're going to give you their best game, so you need to be ready for that. You have to be able to weather the storm, roll with the punches, then come back with your own."
"Two parts," Doles will conclude. "It's hard to win any football game, so you can't let your guard down and expect to win. At the same time, I think the other piece is, if you've got reasons to be confident, bring that confidence out to the field and don't wait for something to happen. I think that's something we did a little bit — waiting for someone to make a big play instead of, 'Hey, we're going to make this happen.'
"It's not an exact science. We cant tell you what happened with that team versus this team. But i think we've seen enough lessons that we're not going to let our guard down, and we're also going to bring our confidence.
"Also, this being my last season, empty the tank and enjoy the ride."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
Some samples from the smorgasbord that was Football Media Day, the 2018 Edition. . .
THE FIRST STOP, naturally enough, had to be Clayton Thorson, the senior quarterback who tore up his right ACL during the Wildcats' Music City Bowl win over Kentucky. "I'm doing well. I'm doing really well," he said. "It's fun to get out there at practice with my teammates again. It's something I've been looking forward to for a really long time. It's been a lot of fun. … They slowly progress me a little more and assess me day-to-day. So. Feeling good."
Asked if he has been healthy enough to get in the work necessary to establish a relationship with his wide receivers, he said, "Thankfully I've been able to throw since the first day of spring practice, which was awesome. So we've been able to work on timing, especially this summer when we had a lot more time to work. So it's been really good. I feel I've got really good chemistry, if not the best, with all the guys since I've been here."
Finally, and most notably, he asserted he is preparing to play in the Wildcats' Aug. 30 season opener at Purdue. "If it doesn't happen," he then said, "we'll adjust from there. But that's my goal and that's what I'm working toward."
THE FIELD is not the only place Thorson is preparing for that date with the Boilers. He is also doing that in sessions with Dr. Julie Sutcliffe, a psychologist on the school's counseling service staff. "The mental aspect is probably the most challenging, the most difficult and the last hurdle to get over," explained Dan and Susan Jones Family Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald. "I lived through that (after breaking his leg near the end of his junior season as a 'Cat linebacker), so that's something he and I talked about. It was getting out to practice for the first time, getting rolled up, getting cut blocked for me. A little different situation for him. He's in a purple jersey anyway, which is non-contact. But I think he was a little bit surprised, maybe, I'd say early-to-mid July, on just how things were continuing to progress and just how good he felt. So. Work to be done. But we're going to bring him along slow. We've got him on a pitch count right now. He's looked good. We'll see how things progress."
WHIPLASH is not a condition bedeviling senior guard Tommy Doles. But the experiences of the 'Cats offensive line since he joined it have been so extreme that it well could be. Consider: over the past three seasons many have declaimed that the team has won not because of that group, but in spite of it. Yet, over those same seasons, it opened the way for Justin Jackson, who merely finished his career as the school's all-time leading rusher. "I look back at the Maryland game last year. This is after (the 'Cats netted just 67 rushing yards while losing to) Penn State," Doles will say when asked about the pejorative view folks have had of his unit.
"We were just thinking, 'We're better than this. We have more to offer than what we've been giving out. We want to change the narrative, flip the script. We can be the group that can be the reason that we win.' I think the Maryland game (when the 'Cats netted 238 rushing yards in a win) and the rest of the season, we were on an upward trajectory. We wanted to continue that with our off-season workouts and spring practice, and now with training camp (which opened last week). That's not something that just happens, of course. It's something that comes with doing the work everyday, watching extra film, bringing energy every workout. It's easy in training camp to get bogged down. Can we be the group that's consistently coming in with a great attitude? So far it's exciting to know, it's exciting to see that we can do that, and that we have done that."
And the line's mentality?
"It's a belief that we have everything it takes to lead the team this year, an understanding that we have the tools and the experience necessary to lead from up front. But, also, that experience tells us that nothing is guaranteed, that we're going to have to earn everything. I think we're confident that we are a solid unit. We're confident that we have what it takes to be on the attack, to help our team win football games. It's exciting. But it's also humbling, especially for us old guys. We've seen a lot. There've been times when we've been confident and let our guard down, then you get punched in the mouth. But I'm also confident that that's not going to happen this year because we're being diligent about coming in every day and doing our work."
FITZGERALD, when discussing this unit a half-hour later, said it is at its best when it is suffused with competitive depth. Does this current group have that depth? "Can we get pads on?" he said with a chuckle. "I mean, everybody looks really good in shorts. I think so. I liked where they were at in spring."
He spoke similarly when asked about Jackson's successor, and then echoed himself yet again when asked who would be replacing safeties Godwin Igwebuike and Kyle Queiro. "That's what happens when you stay at the same school for awhile," he finally said. "You're kind of used to this. You enact your plan. We roll the ball out, we let 'em compete. The same thing with the O-line. I don't know where that competitive depth is because no one's had to make a tackle yet. They've just gone and tagged the guy off. I don't think we're going to get a chance to tag guys at Purdue and have it count."
THOSE ANSWERS, then, will just start taking shape next week as the 'Cats labor through Camp Kenosha. Yet they have already made an important statement, a statement that responded to an observation made by Fitzgerald after their final practice last spring. "This is when it gets really hard," he said then. "Coaches are out recruiting. Weather gets really nice. Wrigley Field gets really appealing. And you've got to sacrifice your personal wants for the greater good of the team. I expect they will."
"Everybody," the wide receiver Flynn Nagel said that same day, "has just got to put his head down and work, and know that you're working as hard as you can for the guy next to you, and the guy next to you will do it back."
And did that happen?
"We put in the work we needed to put in. Our offense collectively came together as a group," Nagel said this week. "As a unit, we worked out together more, met more, just hung out more outside of football. Got closer as a group. I know more guys on a personal basis than I did before. Hanging out has been a big difference for me. Tommy Doles. I hung out with him a lot more than I had in the past. (Guard) J.B. Butler. Guys I don't get to spend much time with because I'm mostly with the running backs, the quarterbacks. That was the whole goal for the summer. Getting our offense to be one, complete unit. As far as that goal goes, I think we did achieved it. Now I'm really excited for camp. We're only going to get closer."
THE DEFENSE, of course, aimed to build that same kind of mutual trust, and then there was that time the whole team went out for an evening of bowling and bocce. ("It's fun seeing that many hyper-competitive, athletic young men coming together at a sport that's usually played in a low-key setting," is how Doles, smiling, remembers that night.) Now all this on the surface may appear irrelevant, and even the defensive end Joe Gaziano will say, "It may sound trivial. It might sound overplayed."
But then, in the next breath, he continues, "But trust is huge in knowing that your teammate's going to get the job done so you don't have to do too much. You can just do your job and everything will fall in place. Having that trust in huge, especially on defense. Knowing that everybody on the field will click, have one heartbeat."
"I agree," adds cornerback Montre Hartage. "And you can't have trust without a brotherhood. Having the brotherhood that we do have, both on and off the field, allows us, if we need a stop, or if we're in overtime, it allows us to rely on each other.
"The biggest thing, when you're going out onto the field, you're not just playing for yourself. You're playing for every single person next to you," Nagel concludes when asked the practical import of these bromances. "When those relationships are stronger, and you feel more connected to that person, you want to do more for them. You want to win not just for yourself, but for everyone around you. The people you put the work in with, the people that you worked out with, the people that you hang out with, the people you have strong relationships with— they're the people you're going to want to have your back when things get tough. If you're in a game with Notre Dame and it's 24-24 with a minute left, you want to be with those guys you spent a lot of time with, those guys you have a strong relationship with. Those are the guys who're going to be with you when the game's on the line.
"You want to compete with them and win with them. That means just that much more when it does happen. When it happens, it's fun as hell and everybody's having a good time with the guys you care a lot about."
AND FINALLY: These 'Cats are coming off a 10-win season, which was also the case with their 2016 edition. That group opened with home losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State, and that left an impression. "Definitely," Hartage will say when asked about that. "You've got to go out there and earn it. Nothing's given to you. Me and Joe, we've had the opportunity to experience both sides. We know now we've got to come out fast and hit people in the mouth first. That's the approach we know we have to take this coming season. We're looking forward to doing that."
"Coming off a good season, you know you're going to have a target on your back, so you've got to come out with your A-game," Gaziano adds. "You're the one they're gunning for. They're going to give you their best game, so you need to be ready for that. You have to be able to weather the storm, roll with the punches, then come back with your own."
"Two parts," Doles will conclude. "It's hard to win any football game, so you can't let your guard down and expect to win. At the same time, I think the other piece is, if you've got reasons to be confident, bring that confidence out to the field and don't wait for something to happen. I think that's something we did a little bit — waiting for someone to make a big play instead of, 'Hey, we're going to make this happen.'
"It's not an exact science. We cant tell you what happened with that team versus this team. But i think we've seen enough lessons that we're not going to let our guard down, and we're also going to bring our confidence.
"Also, this being my last season, empty the tank and enjoy the ride."
••••••
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