NIUHuskies.com, the official online home for Northern Illinois Athletics, is pleased to announce the launch of a new blog, "Huskie Happenings." The section includes links to a daily newsstand, online chats, feature stories and interviews, game-day and multimedia information, promotions, calendars and much more. We hope this will become your first and last stop everyday for all the information you crave about Huskie Athletics!

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS, GOLDEN YEAR OLD RULE DAYS!

FOOTBALL PREVIEWS POUR IN

College Football News posted this uber-preview of the 2009 Huskies over the weekend. It's filled to the brim with position-by-position previews, as well as an overall look at this year's team. Here are some highlights:

"The question is whether or not NIU is ready to take another step forward or if more building needs to be done."

"And then there's quarterback Chandler Harnish, the team's leading rusher last year and a good all-around playmaker who was asked to do too much as a freshman. While he won't get the publicity of the other top MAC quarterbacks, he could turn out to be one of the most effective players for what NIU wants to do. What NIU wants to do is win."

Also, the New York Times' has a football blog ("The Quad" it's called), and is counting down all the FBS programs in the country, from 120 to 1. NIU checked in at No. 80 on the list, and you can read The Quad's complete preview here.

GAJDZIK'S CLASS TOPS AMONG MID-MAJORS

As the DeKalb Daily Chronicle's Jon Styf writes, sooner or later, someone had to notice.  First-year head men's tennis coach Pawel Gajdzik, who has signed five players to National Letters of Intent in less than six months, was recognized for his efforts Friday, as Northern Illinois' 2009 recruiting class was tabbed the No. 1 mid-major class in the country, according to TennisRecruiting.net. Read the NIUHuskies.com release HERE. 

SILAS PREPPING FOR SEASON IN UNIQUE WAY

The anticipated arrival of Xavier Silas into the men's basketball program has been well-documented.  What is very interesting is how Silas is preparing for the upcoming season.  John Sahly of the DeKalb Daily Chronicle caught up with both "X" and coach Patton to investigate Silas' "intense" regiment in sunny California.