Injured players reclaim slots

Northern Illinois football coach Jerry Kill released his first depth chart as the Huskies' coach, and not a whole lot should be read into it at this point he said. Senior Dan Nicholson is listed as the No. 1 quarterback, followed by redshirt freshman Chandler Harnish, junior Ryan Morris and redshirt freshman DeMarcus Grady all listed on the second team. Senior Britt Davis is the No. 1 X-receiver, senior Matt Simon is No. 1 at the Z-reciever and Greg Turner is the No. 1 V-receiver. What's interesting about those three positions is that three of those four top players at their respective positions were out for all of spring practice because of injuries. “How can I drop them if I haven't seen them?” Kill said. “That was basically the thinking there.” Justin Anderson and Montell Clanton are both listed as the top running back. The left tackle is Trevor Olson (redshirt freshman), with sophomore Kevin Skatrud at left guard, junior Eddie Adamski at center, junior Jason Onyebuagu at right guard and junior Jon Brost at right tackle. Reed Cunningham is No. 1 at tight end. After various players tried out at fullback in the spring, there is no fullback position listed on the depth chart. “I don't want to give away all of our secrets to the world,” Kill said. “There were a few guys that tried out and we didn't get to see Anthony Antonacci because of injury.” On defense, the top line goes: senior Larry English, senior Craig Rusch, senior Alex Krutsch and junior Brandon Bice. Bristan Kelley, who made news by practicing with the team this spring after basketball season, was not listed on the two-deep but is still listed on the roster. The strong side No. 1 linebacker is former safety Alex Kube, with Tim McCarthy in the middle and John Tranchitella the lead player on the weak side. Josh Allen, who was the starter on the strong side last year, is listed on the second team. The No. 1 corners are Melvin Rice and either Chase Carter or Bradley Pruitt, who are both listed on the first team. A pair of sophomores are listed at safety, with Mike Sobol at strong and Justin Stewart at free safety. Andy Dittbenner will do the punting, Mike Salerno is the kicker and Nolan Owen is the long snapper. Again, though, Kill cautioned not to spend too much time thinking about this post-spring depth chart. “The bottom line is that the only depth chart that matters is the one when we run out of the tunnel for our first game in Minnesota,” Kill said. “A lot of what the depth chart will look like depends on the health of our football team and what they do in the summer.”

NORTHERN ILLINOIS FOOTBALL DEPTH CHART Offense: X-Wide receiver 7 Britt Davis (6-2, 205, Sr.) 84 Tyler Clasey (6-1, 189, So.) 5 Marcus Perez (5-11, 180, Jr.) Left Tackle 62 Trevor Olson (6-6, 278, Fr.-R) 74 Adam Kiel (6-6, 295, Fr.-R) Left Guard 59 Kevin Skatrud (6-6, 330, So.) 61 Panan Tense (6-4, 294, So.) 77 Tim Mayerbock (6-4, 312, Jr.) Center 50 Eddie Adamski (6-2, 282, Jr.) 71 Scott Wedige (6-4, 285, Fr.-R) Right Guard 65 Jason Onyebuagu (6-2, 310, Jr.) 78 Dan Keller (6-4, 300, Sr.) Right Tackle 60 Jon Brost (6-6, 303, Jr.) 72 Joe Pawlak (6-5, 294, Fr.-R) Tight End 83 Reed Cunningham (6-4, 250, Jr.) 91 David Koronkiewicz (6-3, 259, Sr.) 96 Bryan Beckner (6-4, 255, So.) Z-Wide receiver 85 Matt Simon (6-2, 200, Sr.) 80 Landon Cox (6-3, 203, So.) V-Wide receiver 17 Greg Turner (6-0, 190, Sr.) 81 Nathan Palmer (5-11, 175, Fr.-R) Quarterback 19 Dan Nicholson (6-2, 192, Sr.) 12 Chandler Harnish (6-3, 211, Fr.-R) 15 Ryan Morris (6-2, 199, Jr.) 3 DeMarcus Grady (6-1, 196, Fr.-R) Tailback 21 Justin Anderson (5-11, 222, Jr.) OR 20 Montell Clanton (5-9, 185, Sr.) 3 Chad Spann (5-10, 189, So.) OR 4 David Bryant (5-10, 202, So.)

Defense: Right Defensive End 51 Larry English (6-3, 254, Sr.) 48 Mike Kritikos (6-2, 222, Jr.) Defensive Tackle 99 Craig Rusch (6-4, 274, Sr.) 58 Mike Krause (6-3, 264, So.) Defensive Tackle 69 Alex Krutsch (6-2, 258, Sr.) 90 Ed Jackson (6-4, 278, So.) 98 D.J. Pirkle (6-1, 295, So.) Left Defensive End 56 Brandon Bice (6-3, 254, Jr.) 54 Jake Coffman (6-3, 240, So.) Strong-side Linebacker 37 Alex Kube (6-1, 203, So.) 9 Josh Allen (5-11, 211, Sr.) 52 Phil Brown (5-11, 222, Jr.) Middle Linebacker 53 Tim McCarthy (6-0, 232, Sr.) 23 T.J. Griffin (6-0, 227, Sr.) 29 Pat Schiller (6-2, 218, Fr.-R) Weak-side Linebacker 42 John Tranchitella (6-2, 221, Jr.) 26 Cory Hanson (6-1, 209, Jr.) Cornerback 2 Melvin Rice (5-10, 192, Sr.) 33 Patrick George (5-11, 180, So.) Strong Safety 38 Mike Sobol (6-0, 200, So.) 27 Spencer Williamson (6-2, 205, Jr.) Free Safety 39 Justin Stewart (6-1, 194, So.) 41 Tracy Wilson (5-11, 194, Fr.-R) Cornerback 36 Chase Carter (5-11, 170, Sr.) OR 24 Bradley Pruitt (6-1, 187, Sr.) 1 Anthony Mason (5-11, 185, Jr.)