NIU's Free shrugs off preseason hype

DeKALB - As the preseason honors keep rolling in for Garrett Wolfe and Doug Free, Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak continues to downplay the hype. The sentiment generally expressed by Novak, the 11th-year coach with an old-school, team-first mentality, is, it's a nice honor, but once we're on the field, none of it really matters. However, Novak displayed a dash of new-age player promotion at NIU's Media Day at Harry Caray's Restaurant in Chicago on Wednesday, adding logs to an already raging fire by proclaiming Free could very well be the highest drafted Huskie ever, topping John Spills (1969, Green Bay, third round, 64th pick). &#8220Doug can probably go to the NFL and play tight end, that's how athletic he is,” Novak said. Free