Northwestern hopes a new era can produce same success

Last season featured unprecedented success for Northwestern, considering the Wildcats won the Big Ten West for the first time, plus a bowl game.

Nationally, the expectation appears to be a step backward after Northwestern wasn't ranked in the preseason AP Top 25. And there are only five seniors listed as starter's on NU's depth chart this week.

At the same time, the talk within the program is about how different position groups are more talented than ever - quarterbacks, receivers, linebackers, defensive backs.

So is this a rebuild or the start of a new, more talent-laden era of Northwestern football? It does make sense that the Wildcats would have done better in recruiting with the recent success and the opening of the jaw-dropping new football facility on the lakefront.

This season will start with a difficult test, a trip to play at No. 25 Stanford on Saturday afternoon. Oddly enough, it will be NU's second straight game played California, along with the Holiday Bowl win over Utah in San Diego last December.

"The depth that we have collectively as a team is probably the best that we've had starting the season," said coach Pat Fitzgerald, who is beginning his 14th season. "So I feel pretty solid about the whole group."

One question to be answered Saturday is who starts at quarterback, either senior T.J. Green or Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson. Betting odds would strongly favor Johnson, but it wouldn't be a shock to see both of them get snaps.

"Whoever's out there is out there," said junior receiver Riley Lees from Libertyville. "We're ready to go either way, they're ready. I don't even think about it in practice at this point anymore."

Coming out of high school in Brownsburg, Ind., Johnson was the No. 2 ranked quarterback in the country by 247sports. The No. 1 QB on that list, Davis Mills, went to Stanford, but he'll be backing up third-year starter K.J. Costello on Saturday.

Northwestern lost top running back Jeremy Larkin in the middle of last season when he retired due to an injury. Now they have an experienced player in Isaiah Bowser, who rushed for 866 yards. Second-leading receiver Bennett Skowronek heads the group of pass-catchers.

The defense is led by end Joe Gaziano, the nation's active career leader in sacks with 21, and junior linebacker Paddy Fisher, who led the Big Ten in tackles. For an idea of the talent in the defensive backfield, Cameron Ruiz from Lakes High School started four games at cornerback at the end of last season and isn't listed on the two-deep this week.

Offensive line is a spot to watch, with two of five starters (LT Rashawn Slater and C Jared Thomas) returning. Longtime offensive line coach Adam Cushing took over as head coach at Eastern Illinois, while former Glenbrook South start Kurt Anderson stepped into that role.

"Up front, I think we've really learned a new set of fundamentals and technique from coach Anderson and we've added a lot of guys that are feeling confident, maybe more confident than they have in their career," Fitzgerald said. "Defensively, I think we've got a solid group up front. We've got some youth in that group. Our back seven is pretty athletic and pretty deep and pretty talented."

It's easy to look at the schedule and think this may not be Northwestern's year. After a tough opener, the Wildcats host UNLV, then run off a challenging stretch of Big Ten games against Michigan State, at Wisconsin, at Nebraska, Ohio State and Iowa in five consecutive weeks.

"We've got a good little mixture of everything," Lees said. "We've got a lot of young guys that have experience, which is good to see. A lot of guys have improved in the offseason. We're just excited to go out there. Young guys, old guys - we're all working together."

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