Wrapping up Chicago media day

There wasn't a whole lot of breaking news at NIU's Chicago media day but here are a few items of interest.

Two NIU players have been consistently picked by teammates as Huskies who could surprise this season. On defense it has been middle linebacker Pat Schiller and on offense it has been wide receiver Marcus Lewis.

Defensive end Jake Coffman was wearing his Independence Bowl ring. "It's a great conversation starter," he said.

NIU and WSCR-AM 670 extended their agreement for The Score to broadcast NIU football and men's basketball. The details are as follows: WSCR will broadcast all NIU football games that don't directly conflict with White Sox games. WSCR will also air 20 NIU men's basketball games each year.

NIU and Comcast SportsNet also have a new three-year deal. CSN Chicago will broadcast at least three NIU football games this season as a part of the agreement. The 6:30 p.m. Sept. 12 game against Western Illinois, the Sept. 26 game against Idaho and the Oct. 3 game against Western Michigan will be on CSN Chicago.

The NIU kickers/punters have not yet been told about the rugby punt rule change for this season. For those of you wondering what it is, basically, the rule change is that If a punter carries the ball outside the tackle box before he kicks on a rugby-style kick, there will be no roughing the kicker violation. Obviously if the punter gets decked after the punt there will be a flag, but there is less protection for punters on the rugby kick. We'll explore in fall camp if that means fewer rugby punts for the Huskies.

The Tuesday Countdown will be the best quotes from MAC/Chicago media days.