Northern Illinois Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Northern Illinois Huskies Preview 2024

Consistency hasn’t exactly been a strong suit lately at Northern Illinois - a program that used to be a rock of high-end production in the MAC for years.

When things have gone wrong in the five seasons under Thomas Hammock - like 0-6 in 2020 and 3-9 in 2022 - they go really, really wrong. And it’s not like it lost all of those games to good teams.

When things have gone right - like last season going 7-6 - the Huskies mostly beat the mediocre with a few stunners sprinkled in.

You want Northern Illinois lately? It started last season with a win at Boston College and followed it up with a home loss to Southern Illinois.

But there’s too much experience, too many good pieces in place from the late run that saved the campaign, and too many winnable games to not come up with a second winning season in a row for the first time under Hammock.

NOTE: The previews were published early this summer. We tried to catch the changes, but if we missed anything, please let us know at @ColFootballNews and we'll fix it right away.

Northern Illinois Preview 2024: Offense

- The Northern Illinois offense wasn’t bad on the ground with a far stronger season from the line after a rough 2022 campaign.

Overall it’s been a bit of an adjustment period, and a few losses will change up the dynamic, but once again this group should be good in pass protection, solid for the rushing attack, and unlike the past few seasons, the veteran experience is there to pave the way for …

- Antario Brown should be one of the MAC’s best backs again. The tough, compact runner came up with almost 1,300 yards with ten scores, but he’s not alone with former Iowa transfer Gavin Williams a strong running mate.

- QB Rocky Lombardi is done after what seemed like 14 seasons. He was a sound veteran who went through the wars, and now Ethan Hampton gets the first look - he has just enough experience to be okay. It’ll take something special for one of the other six quarterbacks to make some noise.

Fortunately, five of the top seven receivers return led by leading target Trayvon Rudolph and dangerous deep threat Grayson Barnes.

Northern Illinois Preview 2024: Defense

- By a mile, NIU came up with one of its best defensive seasons in decades. All of a sudden, and without a pass rush, the Huskies were fantastic allowing just 320 yards and 21 points per game. Just enough talent is back to be almost as good.

- But the pass rush … there wasn’t any. The system overall worked, but there were just 23 sacks and not enough pressures. Even so, the line should have a good rotation - especially on the inside - and the end combination of Roy Williams and leading tackler Raishein Thomas is dangerous.

The depth in the linebacking corps thinned out a bit, but Jaden Dolphin is a good hitter.

- The secondary did a fantastic job considering the line didn’t help enough. Nate Valcarcel and Jordan Hansen are veteran safeties who can hit, and the corners have the experience to be a plus. Javaughn Byrd should be an all-conference performer on one side.

Northern Illinois Key To The Season

Stop the run.
The Huskies won’t have the consistent offensive explosion to count on if the defense is getting steamrolled over. For the most part the run defense was okay, and the lack of sacks and tackles for loss skewed the stats, but they were 7-1 when allowing fewer than 179 rushing yards and 0-5 when giving up that many or more.

Northern Illinois Key Player

QB Ethan Hampton, Jr.
Drew Hare. He’s the last Northern Illinois season-leading quarterback who completed more than 60% of his throws. He did it in 2015. Jordan Lynch in 2013 - remember Jordan Lynch? - was the last NIU QB to throw for more than 2,600 yards. That was the last time any NIU passer threw 20 touchdown passes.

Hampton - or whoever is under center - won’t have to wing it around the yard, but just come up with something more for the passing attack.

Northern Illinois Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: LB Christian Fuhrman
The Huskies needed more options at linebacker after losing a few good producers. The 6-1, 235-pound Furman comes in from SE Missouri State with the ability to get into the backfield along with holding up against the run.

Top Transfer Out: C Pete Nygra
For the most part, the Huskies won the transfer portal game. They lost a few parts, but they were a net positive when it came to filling in the gaps. Losing their starting center to Louisville, though, hurts.

Northern Illinois Key Game

Toledo, Oct. 19
The Huskies lost three of the last four in the series going back to 2019, and this time around this should matter that much more as a midseason home game. Lose this, and with three road games in the next four - including at Miami University - getting to the MAC Championship will be an uphill climb.

Northern Illinois 10 Best Players

1. Antario Brown, RB Sr.
2. Javaughn Byrd, CB Sr.
3. Raishein Thomas, DE Sr.
4. Trayvon Rudolph, WR Sr.
5. Grayson Barnes, WR Sr.
6. Jaden Dolphin, LB Sr.
7. Devonte O’Malley, DT Sr.
8. Jason Prophete, S Sr.
9. Ethan Hampton, QB Jr.
10. Logan Zachemitz, C Sr.

Northern Illinois 2023 Fun Stats

- Penalties: Opponents 80 for 729 yards, NIU 58 for 517 yards

- Sacks: NIU 23 for 137 yards, Opponents 16 for 94 yards

- Two Point Conversions: NIU 4-of-8, Opponents 0-of-2

Northern Illinois 2024 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen

Again, from the intro to all this, don’t expect consistency.

Don’t expect any rhyme or reason to how the Huskies get to to seven-ish wins.

The Huskies should be able to get by Western Illinois, UMass, Akron and Buffalo at home for a nice base of four wins, and they should be good enough to come up with an upset or two to offset the whiff when they don’t go 4-0 against the Leathernecks, Minutemen, Zips and Bulls.

You know how this is going to work - sort of.

The passing game will be along for the ride, the O line will be strong for the ground attack, and the defense … remember, the D surprised last year. Maybe this NIU team will stun a bit with more explosion and consistency and …

Nah. It’s Northern Illinois. Good luck assuming anything here.

Set The Northern Illinois Win Total At … 6.5

Likely Wins: Akron, Buffalo, UMass, Western Illinois

50/50 Games: at Ball State, at Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Toledo, at Western Michigan

Likely Losses: at Miami University, at NC State, at Notre Dame

2024 Northern Illinois Football Schedule

Aug 31 Western Illinois
Sept 7 at Notre Dame
Sept 14 OPEN DATE
Sept 21 Buffalo
Sept 28 at NC State
Oct 5 UMass
Oct 12 at Bowling Green
Oct 19 Toledo
Oct 26 at Ball State
Nov 2 OPEN DATE
Nov 6 at Western Michigan
Nov 13 Akron
Nov 19 at Miami University
Nov 30 Central Michigan

Missing: Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Ohio