Wolfe vs. Turner
By TOM MUSICK -- Shaw Suburban Media
For more NIU coverage, visit HuskieWire.com
LAKE FOREST – Garrett Wolfe knew better than to call former college teammate Michael Turner after he broke Turner’s career rushing and touchdown records at Northern Illinois.
“Nah,” Wolfe said with a smile Monday. “Michael was very aware of everything I was doing down there. He wasn’t a big fan of that, but nor would anybody else. I wouldn’t be a big fan of somebody breaking my record.”
Those records should be safe for a while. Wolfe remains the Huskies’ all-time rushing leader with 5,164 yards and 57 touchdowns despite spending a year and a half on the sideline watching Turner.
On Sunday, the duo will square off on opposite sidelines as the Bears visit the Atlanta Falcons. Turner should receive the bulk of the Falcons’ carries, whereas Bears coaches expect Wolfe to play a larger role in the running game because Adrian Peterson is hobbled by a sprained right knee.
Critics have questioned whether the 5-foot-7, 185-pound Wolfe can sustain the beating that comes with a heavier workload in the NFL. Wolfe uses those doubts to his own benefit.
“There’s always a chip on my shoulder,” Wolfe said. “Granted, there’s always going to be people that are going to be nay-sayers until I go out and maybe rush for 500 or 600 yards.
“But that’s going to come with opportunities, and that’s going to come with carries,” he said. “Until those things arise, I’m just going to take what I get and make the most of it.”
Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he had full confidence in Wolfe to back up Matt Forte if Peterson is out. Wolfe scored a touchdown last week against the Detroit Lions and has averaged 4.1 yards a carry this season.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in Garrett, so if that’s the case, we’ll put him in,” Turner said. “You’d like to do that each game. Get him in for a series in the first half, at least, and see where we are, and try to get him in for a series in the second half, as well.”
That is hardly the path to stardom. But Wolfe said he hoped that his career would follow a similar trajectory as that of his former Huskie teammate, who played behind LaDanian Tomlinson for a couple of seasons before he signed a six-year, $34.5 million deal in Atlanta.
“I definitely think that will be the case,” Wolfe said. “That was the same thing that happened at Northern. It took awhile for Michael to get himself into that groove at Northern just like it did for me. Hopefully that will be the case in the NFL.”
Turner was a junior when Wolfe arrived in DeKalb as an 18-year-old freshman from Holy Cross High School in River Grove. The elder running back led by example for the Huskies, who beat ranked teams Alabama and Maryland as part of a record-setting 10-2 season.
“Michael was a good friend,” Wolfe said. “He and [former running back] Thomas Hammock were the guys that were in charge of the room at that time. He was definitely a good person to know.”
As two of seven players from Northern Illinois who are in the NFL, Turner and Wolfe still speak on occasion and encourage one another. Other Huskies in the NFL include San Diego Chargers rookie Larry English, Indianpolis Colts lineman Ryan Diem, Dallas Cowboys receiver Sam Hurd, Cowboys tackle Doug Free and Patriots defensive tackle Hollis Thomas.
“Michael has reached out to me numerous times throughout my career and vice versa,” Wolfe said. “We definitely still communicate with each other today.”
Those conversations focus more on the present and the future than the pair’s past in DeKalb. But Wolfe did miss some aspects of college life.
“The pizza, maybe,” he said. “I haven’t been back in a long time.”
