March 21, 2008

DEKALB, Ill.-The Jerry Kill era at Northern Illinois University will begin in earnest Monday, March 24 when the Huskies return to the field at Huskie Stadium for the opening of spring football practice.

Practices, which are open to the public, will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and will begin at 7:50 a.m. each day, culminating with the Huskies' annual Spring Game Saturday, April 26 at 1 p.m.

The Huskies will have 15 practices spread over the next five weeks. Kill and his staff will spend much of that time evaluating talent. The Huskies return 55 letterwinners from last year's squad, 25 on offense, 28 on defense and two specialists, while losing just nine. Of those 55, 20 started for NIU last season, nine on offense, nine on defense and two special teams players.

Kill and his staff did have an opportunity to look at the Huskies last season when preparing to face NIU while they were at Southern Illinois. Now at Northern Illinois, they will spend this spring practice evaluating talent, getting personnel in the right position and teaching the players the way he and his staff do things.

"We have to do a good job of evaluating every practice," Kill said. "We're practicing Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so that gives us a day in between to spend a lot of time on the film evaluating our players."

That task will be made a little challenging for the first-year coaching staff. Last season, NIU was plagued by injuries. Many of those players are still rehabbing injuries and recovering from offseason surgery and will see limited action this spring.

"The tough thing is, physically, we're not going to be able to some of the things we'd like to do," he said. "With so many injuries, we're going to have to find a way to get some things done with some injured players."

Even with some players missing some drills, the NIU coaching staff will still be able to introduce their offensive and defensive schemes.

"We'll work on all three phases of the game equally. We'll work against each other to benefit each other," he said. "Certain drills will be set up for one side of the ball and some drills will be set up for the other side. We'll just try to implement what we need to do offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. We want to teach the fundamentals of what we want to do." Northern Illinois is Kill's fourth head coaching stop, so he's been in this position before. While every situation is different, there is one similarity Kill has seen at each school, and he sees it as a positive.

"Initially your kids are uncomfortable, you're uncomfortable, but it's good to be uncomfortable," he said. "Sometimes you get in a comfort zone and you don't get better. I'm not comfortable yet, and I know the kids aren't either. That's what spring ball is all about."

Northern Illinois opens it 2008 campaign Saturday, Aug. 30 when the Huskies travel to Minneapolis, Minn. to take on Big Ten foe Minnesota. Season tickets for NIU's 2008 home football schedule are on sale now through the Huskie Athletics Ticket Office in the Convocation Center at 815-752-6800 or on-line at www.niuhuskies.com. 2007 season ticket holders have until April 26 to purchase their 2008 season tickets at last year's prices.