After Northern Illinois’ 31-10 loss to Florida State in the Orange Bowl, senior Nabal Jefferson’s plans were up in the air.

The former Huskies defensive tackle will graduate from NIU in May with a degree in accountancy and was planning on attending graduate school in DeKalb this fall.

Not too long after the Huskies’ 2012 season ended, Jefferson put in a call to his old college teammate, Alex Kube, who trains football players at Elite 7 Inc. in Barrington. Jefferson wanted to try to get into an NFL camp, but wasn’t able to hook on with an agent. However, he was able to pick the former NIU linebacker’s brain.