Northern Illinois Huskies:
Thomas Hammock’s five seasons at Northern Illinois have certainly provided a good amount of variance. The Huskies went 3-9 in 2019, 0-6 during the COVID 2020 season, then a 9-5 MAC title campaign in 2021, back to 3-9 in 2022, then 7-6 last season. One thing that does not change though is that Northern Illinois is one of, if not the most physical teams in the conference and plays the game in a phone booth. The Huskies need to find a QB to have consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2017-2018.
Offense
In Rocky Lombardi’s three years in DeKalb, he threw for 5,516 yards and 31 touchdowns while completing 58.9 percent of his throws and also added 602 yards and 17 TDs on the ground as well. Ethan Hampton has six starts over the last three seasons and has the slight edge for the job, but is being challenged by juco transfer Kenny Leuth and Arkansas-Pine Bluff transfer Jalen Macon.
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1st Team All-MAC running back Antario Brown (1296 yards, 10 TD) is back for his senior season. Gavin Williams also returns, and he had 488 rushing yards and 24 catches out of the backfield. Northern Illinois was second in the MAC in rushing and was a run-heavy team even with a three-year starter at QB and should continue as such with lack of experience under center.
Four OL starters and the top two pass catchers — Trayvon Rudolph (51 catches, 531 yards) and Grayson Barnes (23 catches, 422 yards) — are also back. Wesley Beschomer, former head coach at D-III Wisconsin-Eau Claire, took over as offensive coordinator for the final five games of last season and now takes over the full-time gig.
Defense
Northern Illinois lost 18 players to the transfer portal, half on offense and half on defense, but the defense took the larger hit depth wise and has a new defensive coordinator with Nick Benedetto coming in from FCS Samford to take on the same role.
The secondary is the strength of the unit that led the MAC in passing defense last season. Javaughn Byrd and Amariyun Knighten are the best corner combination in the MAC. Nickelback Jashon Prophete and free safety Nate Valcarel also return as starters.
Up front, the Huskies should be solid at linebacker with Jaden Dolphin (61 tackles) back to man one of the spots along with FCS Southeast Missouri State grad transfer Christian Fuhrman. On the line, Raishien Thomas is the leading returning tackler with 74 and Devonte O’Malley is a two-year starter at tackle, but this group has to do a better job controlling the line of scrimmage.
Outlook
Northern Illinois has two tough non-conference road games at Notre Dame and at NC State. The Huskies opened at 1-4 last year but won five of their last seven. Hammock has 30 seniors on this roster, and this should be the best team he has had despite the inexperience at QB. Three of their final four opponents will come off bye weeks, but this team is a dark horse for a MAC Championship and is able to win games at times by just being a bit more physical than its opponents.
Pick: Over 6.5 Wins
