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THIS JUST IN
By Joe Summins | Posted at 3:43 pm on Friday, July 10, 2009 Show your Huskie spirit! The latest NIU football wallpaper is available now at www.niuhuskies.com. Download it today! HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED By Donna Turner | Posted at 3:00 pm on Friday, July 10, 2009 It's a sure sign that football season is on its way. As of a few minutes ago, die-hard fans, and even just casual observers, can now find the UPDATED 2009 Northern Illinois Football roster on-line at www.niuhuskies.com. See the newest names added to the roster, including some non-scholarship players currently in summer school and working out with the team and a couple of transfers. In addition, check out the updated weights on the returnees, and see the latest number and position changes. Who will be wearing Larry English's number 51? Which Huskie linebacker made the move from 29 to 53? Who earned a letter last season? The roster is, of course, constantly changing, but this major change-over - from the spring roster to the preseason listing - is always highly-anticipated. Next week, the player and coaching staff bios will be updated. We'll give you a heads up when that project is completed so be sure to check back when the time comes. SO-READY FOR SOLHEIM By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 9:07 am on Friday, July 10, 2009 The Solheim Cup, the women's golf equivalent of the Ryder Cup, is right around the corner. The tournament is hosted at Rich Harvest Farms, home of the Huskie golf teams, and goes from Aug. 17-23. Today, the Daily Chronicle featured this story on preparations for the event. Several Huskie golfers will be volunteers, getting to rub elbows with some of the best golfers in the world. RUNNIN' DOWN A DREAM
By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:24 pm on Thursday, July 9, 2009 Congratulations to former Northern Illinois men's basketball player Bryson McKenzie (2002-03, 2004-06), who was named to the NBA's Dallas Mavericks' 2009 Summer League Team. The Summer League, featuring 21 NBA teams, runs from July 10-19 at the COX Pavilion on the campus of UNLV. The Mavs' Summer League schedule and results, averages and league totals can be tracked HERE. Of course, we'll be doing game-by-game recaps of McKenzie's progress during the month of July. Stay tuned and interested! TUNE IN TONIGHT By Joe Summins | Posted at 2:50 pm on Thursday, July 9, 2009 Huskie Fans, tune into Comcast SportsNet Chicago TONIGHT at 5:30 p.m. as head coach Jerry Kill is slated to appear on "Chicago Tribune Live" with host Dave Kaplan. Kill will discuss the upcoming season, what Huskie players to watch this year and take a look at the 2009 schedule. If you can't catch the show tonight, catch the replay on Comcast tomorrow (Friday) at 11 a.m. TOP MOMENTS OF 2008-09 - No. 1
By Joe Summins | Posted at 2:39 pm on Thursday, July 9, 2009 The wait is finally over! We've seen outstanding team achievements and incredible individual performances during our countdown of the top moments of the 2008-09 Northern Illinois athletic season. We've now come to No. 1. And while it didn't occur on the field of competition, there was no louder cheer by Huskie fans everywhere. Just hours after joining his 2008 Northern Illinois teammates on the Huskie Stadium sidelines for NIU's spring football scrimmage at the Yordon Center, where the team was presented with their 2008 Independence Bowl rings, Huskie defensive great Larry English became the highest draft choice in school history when he was selected 16th overall by the San Diego Chargers in the 2009 NFL Draft. Larry's selection was one of those moments I'll never forget. All of us in the media relations department were in the office wrapping up our coverage of the 2009 Spring Football Preview when the Charger's took him with their first pick in the draft. We all let out a big cheer and began high-fiving each other. It was a special day Larry and his family and for anyone associated with NIU. So there you have it, the Chargers' No. 1 selection of the 2009 NFL Draft fittingly is the No. 1 moment of the 2008-09 NIU athletic season. BIG DAY IN HUSKIE MEDIA RELATIONS By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 10:06 am on Thursday, July 9, 2009 It's a big day for us in Huskie Media Relations, because we are wrapping up the 2009 Football media guide. It is an all-office project, so we're in battle mode with finals edits and corrections. We owe you the Top Huskie Moment of 2008-09, and promise it by the end of the day, so keep your eyes on Huskie Happenings! INTERESTING MAC FOOTBALL NUGGETT By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:28 am on Thursday, July 9, 2009 All football, all the time. Vandelaysports.com had this list, breaking down 2009 Mid-American Conference football "By the Numbers." The Huskies were one-of five MAC teams that went bowling last year, tying a league record. Also, Chandler Harnish's 1,528 passing yards marked the eighth-best effort in league history for a freshman. TOP MOMENTS OF 2008-09 - No. 2 By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 3:13 pm on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 I was never one for English classes, so I'm not sure if it's irony or just coincidence that our No. 2 Moment of 2008-09 is the Huskie men's soccer team beating the No. 2 team in the country.
The Huskies were unbeaten through six matches at 4-0-2, while SMU entered the match 5-0-1. The Huskies dominated the match on the stat sheet, laying 12 shots on goal to SMU's two. But neither team found the net through 90 minutes of regulation. Northern Illinois finally broke a 0-0 stalemate 1:52 into the first overtime period, as Luis De La Cerda found Brad Horton in front of an open goal for the win. SAHLY ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS By Brett McWethy | Posted at 12:06 pm on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 As promised, the DeKalb Daily Chronicle's John Sahly was asked a plethora of questions, and he has provided the answers. He covers everything from football games at Soldier Field to attendance at men's basketball games, to incoming track and field recruits. Click HERE to read it all! SIGN UP FOR THE BRIGHAM-NOVAK TODAY! By Brett McWethy | Posted at 11:08 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 We've touched on the upcoming (July 24) Brigham-Novak Gridiron Classic a couple of times on "Huskie Happenings," but today came the official announcement. Single and foursome slots are still available. Make sure to gather your team and support the Huskie football program! MR. JONES AND ME, WE'RE ALL GONNA BE BIG STARS By Zach Peters | Posted at 10:18 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Alex Jones represents the KC Bandits on the J's All-Star squad. Photo credit: Chris Oberholtz, The Kansas City Star. NIU baseball's Alex Jones (Kansas City, Kan./Piper) enjoyed a stellar beginning to his Huskie career by having a very productive freshman campaign this past season with a .327 batting average, 35 runs, 55 hits, nine doubles, four triples, three home runs, 33 RBI, and nine steals in 47 games. Jones has continued his success during summer competition back home in Kansas City's Ban Johnson Baseball League as he was selected to the all-star team in the wooden bat league's 82nd season. On Monday, the 40th annual Ban Johnson all-star game was played at Kauffman Stadium, home of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals. In the game, Jones' team, the J's, came up short to the B's 3-1, but he was responsible for his team's only run as he led off the bottom of the first inning with a double and scored on an error. He finished 1-for-2 on the day. Check out the full game recap from The Kansas City Star. READY TO AIM AND FIRE By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 9:16 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2009
DeMarcus Grady is trying to improve his gun for the 2009 season... get it... his gun? Like his arm. It's a metaphor. Our old pal Jerry Burnes (formerly of Northern Star fame) has this article in the Bleacher Report on the off-season development of Huskie quarterbacks Chandler Harnish and DeMarcus Grady.
NEW AUCTION ITEMS POSTED ON NIUHUSKIES.COM! By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:00 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 As of Tuesday, two new auction items were posted on NIUHuskies.com, highlighted by a fan's opportunity to run out onto the Huskie Stadium field WITH THE TEAM prior to the Sept. 12 opener against Western Illinois. Also, a private lesson with head women's tennis coach Ryun Ferrell is up for bid. Polish up that second serve and give yourself a chance!!! INCOMING! By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 3:42 pm on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 Incoming Huskie gymnast Marisa Liptak recently completed a storied senior season at South Brunswick High School in central New Jersey, as chronicled by Jared Shanker of myCentralJersey.com. PATTON COMPLETES 2009-2010 COACHING STAFF By Brett McWethy | Posted at 3:11 pm on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 Northern Illinois head men's basketball coach Ricardo Patton and his staff will be on the recruiting trail for much of the month of July, but he will now have someone back in the offices at the Convocation Center to maintain the summer administrative responsibilities. Patton completed his staff Tuesday with the arrival of Kent Dernbach, who will serve as the program's Director of Basketball Operations. Dernbach spent the past two seasons in the same role at George Mason. TOP 10 MOMENTS COUNTDOWN - No. 3 By Joe Summins | Posted at 10:46 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009
When Northern Illinois University hired Jerry Kill as its 20th head football coach, everyone knew NIU was getting a winner. Kill wasted little time proving it as he led Northern to a bowl game in his first season with the Huskies. After posting a 6-6 record, the Huskies received an invitation to face Louisiana Tech in the 2008 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. After five days of preparation, team events and outings, the Huskies and Bulldogs met at Independence Stadium Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008 in front of a crowd of more than 41,000 fans and a nationally televised audience on ESPN. Northern Illinois grabbed the momentum early when quarterback Chandler Harnish connected with fullback Kyle Skarb on an eight-yard touchdown completion, capping an 11-play, 69-yard drive to give the Huskies a 7-0 lead. However, the Huskies' lead would be short-lived as Philip Livas returned the ensuing kickoff for 97 yards, tying the game and switching the momentum firmly to the Bulldog sidelines. Louisiana tech took the lead for good on their next possession, when the Bulldogs' Daniel Porter scored a touchdown from 11 yards. La. Tech added a field goal in the third quarter to open a 17-7 lead. NIU responded with a 20-yard field goal from Mike Salerno to pull the Huskies to within a touchdown, but NIU was unable to tie the game or take the lead and the Bulldogs won 17-10. You can relive the entire bowl experience at NIU's 2008 Independence Bowl Central. COMING SOON TO HUSKIE ATHLETICS: TWITTER AND FACEBOOK By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:46 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 The "Huskie Happenings" blog has been a great success, and one we are excited about evolving even more upon the fall sports season beginning in late August. Now, the NIU Athletics Department will be expanding its social media presence even more, when it joins both Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to "friend" and "follow" us when that becomes official, hopefully sometime this week!
"HUSKIE WIRE" EXPANDS QUESTION DEADLINE TO 5 P.M. TODAY By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:41 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 The DeKalb Daily Chronicle's John Sahly, the architect of the "Huskie Wire" blog, is expanding his summer mailbox deadline. Originally, Sahly's answers to your questions were going to run today, but with the high volume of questions he has received, the deadline has been extended to 5 p.m. Tuesday to account for a few last minute questions (and to give Sahly time for his answers!). The mailbox will now run WEDNEDAY AT NOON on the "Huskie Wire" blog. INCOMING STUDENTS: STOP BY THE ATHLETIC TABLES AT ORIENTATION! By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:21 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 Student orientation is underway on campus, and the NIU Athletics Department is looking forward to welcoming more members of the student body into the Huskie family! For those of you on campus this week (orientation runs through Thursday), be sure to stop by the Athletics tables, where you'll be able to pick up posters, schedule cards, etc., to get fired up for the fall season! 2009 FOOTBALL COMMERCIALS BEGIN AIRING TONIGHT! By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:12 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 By now, you've probably already seen the initial video on our new front page media player, in which coach Kill tells his team how to "swallow the frog" en route to a passing touchdown. Now, for you couch potatoes, you'll be able to see these commercials on your cable television. The commercials will air on ESPN, TNT, the History Channel, The Learning Channel, Discovery, Comcast SportsNet, the Big Ten Network, and during televised Cubs and White Sox games. The time slot for the commercials is from 5 p.m.-Midnight. MORE ON TEAM USA FOOTBALL By Russell Houghtaling | Posted at 9:05 am on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 More on incoming football freshman Jordan Lynch and his win with team USA from the Southtown Star. I learned something new in this article: Team USA was ranked second before entering the tournament. Second? Right. Then they went and outscored France, Mexico and Canada by a combined score of 174-3. TOP-10 MOMENTS COUNTDOWN - No. 4 By Donna Tuner | Posted at 1:17 pm on Monday, July 6, 2009 Anytime a Huskie student-athlete is crowned a Mid-American Conference champion, it's a great moment. When two Huskies share a title as happened at the 2009 MAC Gymnastics Championships this past March 21 in Muncie, Ind. It's No. 4 on our countdown.
Am I seeing double? Nope just two Huskies winning MAC titles in the same event. Northern Illinois senior Jennifer Naughton and sophomore Holly Reichard were crowned as the 2009 MAC Co-Champions on the balance beam, marking the first time in NIU gymnastics history that two Huskies shared a MAC event title. In addition, no Northern Illinois gymnast had won the beam at the league meet since 1998, when Alisha Conaham claimed the honor. LYNCH, USA FOOTBALL CROWNED JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPS By Brett McWethy | Posted at 10:07 am on Monday, July 6, 2009 Incoming NIU freshman Jordan Lynch was a part of the USA Football's 2009 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Junior World Championship team on Sunday. The second-seeded Americans topped Canada, 41-3, in the Gold Medal contest before a crowd of 15,473 fans at Fawcett Stadium. Read about the USA's impressive run in the three-week event RIGHT HERE. ENGLISH CONTINUES BLOG FOR CHARGERS.COM
By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:59 am on Monday, July 6, 2009 Larry English, the highest professional draft pick in Northern Illinois athletics history, has been occasionally blogging for Chargers.com since being picked by San Diego with the 16th overall selection in April's NFL Draft. In his latest entry, read about how English threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Petco Park, how he is becoming acclimated with the defensive schemes in San Diego, and what he'll be doing from home while preparing for Training Camp. GETTING TO KNOW David Bryant By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:31 am on Monday, July 6, 2009 As teased on Huskie Happenings last week, MAC-Sports.com, the official website of the Mid-American Conference, will feature two Northern Illinois football players in its "Getting to Know" summer feature series. First up: safety David Bryant, who appeared on the website today. Enjoy.
"HUSKIE WIRE" WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU! By Brett McWethy | Posted at 9:28 am on Monday, July 6, 2009 The DeKalb Daily Chronicle's John Sahly, NIU's athletic beat writer, has opened his summer mailbox, and wants to hear from Huskie fans. As posted on his latest "Huskie Wire" blog, Sahly is fired up about the upcoming football season, the release of what will be a challenging men's basketball schedule, and anything else surrounding NIU athletics. E-mail him at jsahly@daily-chronicle.com, or huskiewire@dailychronicle.com to send in your questions. He'll have answers later this week -- everything is fair game! As always, we want to hear from you too! E-mail us at bmcwethy@niu.edu, or houghtaling@niu.edu with any questions or concerns. |
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