NU Fan's Guide To Watching: NFL Training Camps.

From time to time, there are non-Northwestern sporting events. But some of the truer NU heads - you know, the ones who wouldn't shut up about how we beat MSU while watching the championship game with friends... until halftime, at which point they started talking about how we beat FSU, who beat UNC, making us transitive property national champions once removed, the ones who made Youtube highlight reels of Super Bowl 42, except the only play featured is Barry Cofield's one unassisted tackle* - might have trouble sitting through non-Wildcat sports related events.

Well, that's what I'm here for. I'll be guiding you through seminal sporting events and providing them with a purple tint. Today, NFL training camps. 

* - these fans do not actually exist

So, NFL training camps are underway. Some view it as a more awesome version of spring training, with people getting into fights while wearing helmets. I view it a lot like, well, any other NFL event that isn't actually a game. (sorry) 

However, as a Northwestern fan, you've gotta take notice. We've got 14 guys on NFL rosters, which, compared to every school in the country, isn't half-bad. Compared to other Big Ten schools, it makes us... wait for it... tenth in the conference, ahead of Indiana. (Who didn't see that coming?) Of those 14, I'd say about nine or ten are locks to make their respective rosters, which is a pretty good ratio. John Gill and Tyrell Sutton seem to have pretty good chances of sticking, and, well, if I was Marquice Cole, Eric Peterman, or Noah Herron, I'd try not to get too attached to any of my new teammates. (As a Jets fan, I'm pullin for ya, Marquice.)

So, just like I did with the NBA draft, I'm here to provide a guide to watching your favorite team's NFL training camp, but with a purple tint. And no, I've never actually been to one (unless you consider the Wildcats open-to-media spring practices an NFL training camp) but as an NU blogger, this is how I would approach attending one of these things. 

• First off, you're going to want to go to the training camp facility of the team of your choosing. Sadly, only 12 teams have NU grads on their training camp rosters. If you're not a fan of one of these 12 teams, either a) pick a new favorite or b) sit outside your local GM's office both night and day with a sign making it clear that you won't eat or drink until he signs CJ Bachér. 
• Good. Now you're a fan of a team with an NU alum on the training camp field. For the NBA draft, I advised you buy a jersey of all 30 teams with Craig Moore's name and number on the back, just to be safe, but for this, it's easier: you only need one jersey, and you already know the name and number, unless you're a Bears fan, in which case you need to go buy three jerseys and bring two friends with you to training camp. Unfortunately, friends are not sold at the Bears team store, so you'll have to bring your own.
• As previously noted, some of our ex-Wildcats don't have great chances of making their rosters. If you're unlucky enough to go to practice on the day your Wildcat gets cut, make sure to console them. Then, go to the office of the highest ranking team official you can find, rip your jersey off - preferably Hulk-style, but any violent removing of the jersey should do - and throw it at the ground, stare the guy in the face, and say "I THOUGHT I KNEW YOU". Pause for dramatic effect, and as you're leaving, spit at his feet before turning your back on him.
• Make sure the recently cut player hasn't spent all his per diem already, because you'll need him for bail money.
• In all his years playing football, nobody has ever started an Ike Ndukwe-specific chant. And although he doesn't let on, especially with his hulking physical demeanor, sometimes, it hurts, to see all the legions of fans showing up, but never even bothering once to cheer his name. "Always the bridesmaid," he sometimes mutters under his breath as he leaves the huddle, and sullenly decides that deep inside, he really doesn't want to block for Chad Pennington if nobody's ever going to even remember who he is. What I'm saying is, be the first.
• If you're at Bears training camp, and Brett Basanez completes a pass to Eric Peterman, who then gets tackled by Nick Roach, you're morally obligated to make out with the closest person to you, regardless of gender or any other mitigating factor. They'll understand. 
• If you see John Gill or Tyrell Sutton, ask them how they did in Geography last quarter. As someone who was in that class, I genuinely want to know what grades someone can get if they're under contract with a professional football team.
• Also, try to recreate this photo I found google image searching "noah herron" with Tyrell Sutton, since Tyrell is also #23 for the Packers: 
  I imagine the difficult parts will be: a) finding a bike small enough to make the smaller Tyrell look that comically big and b) getting a Wisconsonian child to don a Brett Favre jersey.
  
  
• But most importantly, remember that you're not trying to out yourself as an NU-only fan. Engage some random guy in conversation about last season. Heckle a starting quarterback. Know everybody's uniform number. (No, #96 is not Amado Villarreal.) 
  

1LDTFS, Post 6: Defensive Tackle

Yeah, onto the D. Much less interesting to write/read about, so, sorry about that, but, hey, if you want me to write something about NU sports every day in the middle of the friggin summer, which you clearly do, well, this is what you get. 

Since there's no clear order of where to start on defense, like there is on offense with the QB, I'm going from the inside out, or something like that. 

Days Left Til Football: 51.

Who did it last year?: Most notably, the guy in the photo above, John Gill, who, judging from his excitement and the relative depression on the faces of Hawkeyes fans, is pictured immediately after recording a game-saving pass deflection on fourth down against Iowa this year. Anyway, Gill was a pretty dominant DT who started over 40 games at NU. Unfortunately for us, he's now trying to wiggle his way onto the Detroit Lions roster, and you can go ahead and insert your joke about how that's unfortunate for him too, but I'm too classy for that. 

Gill was joined by now-junior Corbin Bryant, who started most of the year as the second DT in our 4-3 defense before an injury at Michigan, and now-senior Adam Hahn, who had started the two years before, started the rest of the year.

Marshall Thomas also played in every game at DT, although quite frankly, I don't remember him, and Jack DiNardo appeared in eight games, but, again, no recollection of this. 

Who will do it this year?: Bryant and Hahn, the two guys with starting experience, will start.

The aforementioned Marshall Thomas is a true senior, and should also get some serious snaps. 

That was easy.

Is that an improvement?: Well, no. John Gill was a serious talent, the type who was clearly good enough to start four years ago and just got better as he went along. Bryant and Hahn are two guys who are pretty good, but, not football-on-Sundays good, and it might show a little in our ability to stop the run. Luckily for us, we have two grade-A beasts roaming the D-end positions, so our line won't be too bad. And, when it all comes down to it, these guys have played before, so it's not like newbies are going in for Gill. But it's a drop-off. 

The Metamorphosis

Yeah, yeah, yeah, enjoy the first and last Mike Kafka pun in the history of this blog. I needed to have at least one, and I needed to do it fast. Unless dude gets arrested, and I have to bust out "The Trial", there ain't gonna be no more, so, let's get this out of our system. Hey, everybody! I  got jokes! We're smart and go to Northwestern, and we like high-brow philosophy humor! 

Anyway, moving on, I needed to bust out my Kafkaesque humor in a relevant fashion, and I don't think there's anything more metamorphos-y than a generic preview of a football team losing a quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, and like, our long snapper. (Pour some drank out for Phil Brunner, folks.)

I mean, change happens constantly in college football, we all know that but NU loses a ridiculous amount of experience, and it just so happens to be at the three positions where your average casual football fan can judge talent: we lose our third-year starting quarterback, and his entire corps of starting wideouts, and our senior running back who had been busting out 100-yard days since he got to Evanston as a true freshman. (And his backup, but, nobody really cares.)

And now? Well, some people are worried. NU optimists are getting to the point where they're starting "NU should expect a bowl game every year" talk, and, to be honest, in a world where the top 7 teams in the Big 11 go south (or to Detroit) every Christmas, and all you need is six wins, and folks like Towson be showing up on the schedule, we probably should be talking like that. And these same people see a huge blip on the NU bowl radar in a team missing veteran experience at the most noticeable positions on the field.

I, for one, am not worried. This post is going to be really vague, because, damn, I just founded a college sports blog in June, and have three months of detailed content to come up with and can't use up all my good analysis in one post, but, I'm optimistic about this season. I think this team is bowl bound, fingers crossed, pencil us in for 7-8 wins. As the summer goes on, I'll break down the schedule, and go position by position, but for now, let's just keep it basic. 

We return 8 of 11 from one of the better defenses in Northwestern history, and the fact that one of them - Kevin Mims - is leaving just means that Vince Browne, who, for the record, is a freakin monster, will be unleashed full-time upon opposing front lines. This leaves us with returning talent at the corners, the safeties, a speedy, young linebacker corps, and although our defensive line loses two of its four, including likely Detroit Lion John Gill, we still have, like, Corey Wooton and Vince Brown at the ends. What I'm saying is, get your weight up, Miami of Ohio.

As for offense, if nothing else, Mike Kafka will be way more entertaining to watch than anybody in recent Wildcat history. I mean, come on. He's got a stronger arm than CJ Bacher, runs like a mofo, and plays with approximately 8 times the reckless abandon that anybody should. If we use him as a true, dual-threat quarterback like we did against Minnesota, and not like a "HEY HEY EVERYBODY HE'S THE QUARTERBACK AND HE'S TOTALLY NOT GOING TO RUN A QB DRAW THIS TIME LIKE HE DID THE LAST SIX PLAYS" like we did against OSU and in bits against Michigan and Illinois, I'm tentatively excited about our chances. Sure, Steph Simmons/Jeravin Matthews/Alex Daniel is a big dropoff from Tyrell, but, that's not going to be the most integral part of our offense anyway. And, for the haters, you have to remember that a team without Bacher and Sutton beat a ranked Minnesota squad last year, and a team without Sutton womped on Illinois. And although, yeah, Steph Simmons didn't bust out 140 yards in any of those games, nobody complained, because, you know, we won. 

This year, we have a ridiculous defense, Mike Kafka and whatever happens on offense, and our out of conference schedule consists of Syracuse, Miami (OH), and rumblings from inside the athletic department tell me that we've replaced Eastern Michigan and Towson on the schedule with home dates against the surviving members of the XFL's Los Angeles Xtreme and a lucky co-rec intramural flag football team to be named later. Not to get cocky, because as NU fans, we really should never go into a game expecting a win, but, we really shouldn't drop any of those games. If we hold our own against our Big Ten opponents, or even do a little bit less than holding our own, this team should end up with 7-8 wins.