Northwestern football coach Randy Walker has neither an established quarterback nor a running back of renown. He has a new offensive coordinator in Mike Dunbar and a new defensive coordinator in Greg Colby.
He has no seniors slated to start on his defensive line and three more underclassmen slated to start for the first time on his offensive line. He has a redshirt freshman and a true sophomore bookending senior middle linebacker Pat Durr, and redshirt sophomores at right cornerback and strong safety.
Those are enough unknowns to confound even the most accomplished puzzle-solver.
“It’s kind of like being a kid at Christmas,” Walker said Friday, the day before the Wildcats open training camp in Kenosha. “You think there’ll be good presents under the tree, but you’re not sure yet.”
Uncertainty is the only certainty and competition is his team’s password as it begins preparing for its season opener Aug. 31 at Air Force. Quarterback Tony Stauss, a redshirt sophomore, now runs the first-team offense as the successor to Zak Kustok.
“But the best thing he may have going for him is competition,” said Walker, alluding to redshirt freshman Brett Basanez and true freshman Alexander Webb.
Being the starter “feels good,” Stauss said. “I’ve been waiting for this chance. But there are a lot of great quarterbacks out here, and all the battling will just make each of us better.”
Battling is taking place too among three tailbacks, each looking to replace three-year starter Damien Anderson, and there’s no leader in the clubhouse.
It could be fifth-year senior Kevin Lawrence, the most experienced of the group but coming off a knee injury sustained against Iowa in November.
Or it could be junior Jason Wright, a converted wide receiver. Or it could be redshirt freshman Jeff Backes, who was injured much of last season but was Ohio’s Mr. Football.
“There’s going to be a guy Coach Walker depends on in tough situations,” Lawrence said.
“But each of us brings something unique,” Backes countered. “So it’s going to be up to the coaches to put us in situations.”
The departure of former offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to Oklahoma was the situation that led to Dunbar’s ascension, and a woeful defense was the reason Colby, a Danville native and Illinois graduate, was brought in from Kent State.
Under Dunbar, the Wildcats will continue to feature a no-huddle, up-tempo attack. But, he promised, they will run it from a variety of formations–“from five wideouts to none.” He also plans more varied passing routes.
Colby also has produced a raft of formations for a unit that started as many as nine freshmen last fall. His defense will look like a conventional 4-3. But it is more a 5-2 that features a nickel package, a dime package, a quarter package–and even a penny package, manned by just defensive backs and linemen.
“It’s very exciting to open up the playbook and see all this new stuff,” Durr said.
Walker said this team is more talented than the Wildcats who shared the 2000 Big Ten title.
“We were a better team [in 2000] than we were as individuals,” he said. “So if we can get these guys to come together and make sacrifices together, we can be pretty good.”
