Based on the criteria coach Pat Fitzgerald set forth, Clayton Thorson’s first season as Northwestern’s starting quarterback was an unqualified success.
The Wildcats won 10 games, after all, and according to Fitzgerald, “that’s how a quarterback should be judged.”
A redshirt sophomore, Thorson entered camp as the unquestioned starter after emerging last August from a three-man battle for the position, and as the Wildcats put on pads Wednesday for the first time at their new lakefront practice facility, the questions were more about the receiving end of his throws.
A lot has to go right for a Big Ten team to post double-digit victories and play on New Year’s Day, and many of those elements — linebacker Anthony Walker Jr., running back Justin Jackson, an underrated offensive line, a deep, talented secondary — remain intact.
Yet the need for an improved passing game was painfully evident the last time the Wildcats were in uniform, a 45-6 Outback Bowl loss to Tennessee.
“If 7-on-7 counts, we’re much better, but the fine print in their scholarships comes into play today, and that’s called blocking,” Fitzgerald said during media day Wednesday, a few hours before his 11th NU team’s first padded practice. “We haven’t been hit yet, but I like the improvement we’ve seen from the quarterbacks and wideouts.”
Upgrading the latter position became a priority before the Outback Bowl, as running back/kick returner Solomon Vault, now a junior, and redshirt freshman defensive back Steven Reese began making the transition in the practices leading up to the game.
Another defensive back, junior Marcus McShepard, made the switch this spring.
Superback Dan Vitale, a sixth-round draft pick by the Buccaneers, led the team with 33 receptions and 335 yards, and Austin Carr (16 receptions, 302 yards) is the only receiver on the roster with significant game experience at the position.
“If you’re not around the program a lot and just see through graduation, you make predictions of what teams are going to be and say, ‘Oh, they graduated everybody,'” Fitzgerald said. “But we’ve recruited well there, and it is this group’s time.”
The roster lists 17 receivers, and in addition to Carr, Fitzgerald singled out redshirt freshman Charlie Fessler — “I think you’ll be impressed today” — and sophomore Flynn Nagel, the former Marist and Lemont star who played in five games as a true freshman before suffering an ankle injury.
“I’m not ready to say what our style is going to be quite yet because I don’t have enough empirical data,” Fitzgerald said. “Now we have redshirt freshmen in the mix. It goes from, ‘When I play, I’m going to be a great player,’ to, ‘I’m playing.’
“It will start hot and heavy now. The first two days were easy. It’s going to be pretty hard here the next 72 hours, and I’ll know a lot more after that.”
Meaningful numbers: Two of the team’s best players, Walker and senior cornerback Matthew Harris, will be wearing new numbers this fall — and there’s meaning behind both changes.
Walker, who is on several preseason watch lists for national awards after recording 122 tackles in a dominant sophomore season, will no longer be No. 18 because the team’s leadership council elected him to wear No. 1.
It’s an NU tradition that began in 2011 for the player who best represents the program on and off the field. Fitzgerald said the honor might have gone to Harris had the Lyons product not already decided to switch from No. 27 to No. 11.
“My father’s birthday was 11/11,” Harris said. “He passed away in 2007 of a massive heart attack. It is something that brought my family together. It is a way to honor my father and my family and all I’ve been through.”
Harris, who has been upfront about growing up in poverty, hosted a two-day workshop at Northwestern’s summer Youth Impact Program, which focuses on strengthening leadership skills for underserved kids.
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In July, he was nominated for the 2016 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, which honors college football players nationally for commitment to service.
A picture (and words): Fitzgerald reiterated his apology for not welcoming Lovie Smith to Illinois during his Big Ten media days news conference last month — he welcomed the conference’s other new coaches — and said he has a “ton of respect” for the former Bears coach.
But that didn’t stop him from weighing in on the rekindled debate over who is “Chicago’s Big Ten team.”
“He’s kind of the next singer of the same song,” Fitzgerald said. “I’ve heard that song a bunch. I think it’s great for fans and it’s great for marketing people. But I don’t know, I think we sent out a tweet yesterday of the skyline at our practice field. So I’ll let that speak for itself.”
Mike Helfgot is a freelance reporter for the baiduhai.