Northwestern Football Post Spring Preview

I'M BACK! Sorry for the long break, but I have been very busy lately. In this article I will give a position by position breakdown for Northwestern football this upcoming year.

Quarterback: Clayton Thorson is the man at quarterback. He won ten games as a Redshirt Freshman and there is no reason to believe that he won't be improved next season. Both Thorson and Pat Fitzgerald noted Thorson's greater confidence and improvement as a quarterback.

Justin Jackson "The Ball Carrier"

Running Back: The Ball Carrier. Need I say more? Warren Long will also see carries as he was effective spelling Jackson last year. (John Moten IV has been very impressive throughout spring)
Wide Receiver: Northwestern's worst position. Christian Jones is gone (thankfully?). Solomon Vault (from RB) and Marcus McShepard (from DB) have both moved to wide receiver. Northwestern will rely on their best receiver from last season, Austin Carr, to carry this unit. Flynn Nagel, who showed promise before getting injured last season, will also see a lot of snaps. There is one problem with all the names I just mentioned (except McShepard), THEY ALL PLAY SLOT RECEIVER. In four receiver sets, Carr could be moved outside, but this is not where he is strongest. Another option is leave either Vault or Nagel off the field and put Redshirt Freshman Charlie Fessler or Senior Andrew Scanlan as the other outside receiver.

Solomon Vault on one of his school record 2 Kickoff return TDs last season

Superback: This is the offensive position where Northwestern will suffer the biggest loss. Dan Vitale was a 6th round pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Northwestern will lean on Garrett Dickerson to be the superback. Dickerson showed signs of being a good superback when given an opportunity last year (mostly Penn State game). Dickerson will not be Vitale, but he will have a decent year.
Offensive Line: The O-Line will shift and swap positions throughout the year as usual. But I will take my best guess at the Week 1 lineup. There are some guarantees like Blake Hance and Eric Olson at the tackles and Connor Mahoney at one of the guard spots. That leaves the center and one guard spot open. Ian Park will likely start at one of these positions. That leaves Shane Mertz and Brad North to compete for the other spot.

Jordan Thompson may have to move outside to
Defensive End to make the NU defense as good as it can be

Defensive Tackle: Possibly Northwestern's deepest position. Tyler Lancaster, CJ Robbins, and Jordan Thompson are all great starting options. All three played and played well last season. Robbins and Thompson can also play defensive end if need be.
Defensive End: As I mentioned above, Jordan Thompson can play defensive end, and I think he will have to. Xavier Washington will start at one D-End spot. The other one will likely originally go to Ifeadi Odenigbo, but I have zero confidence he can become a two way defensive end. He is a great pass rusher, as is evident by his 5 sacks last season. He, however, will have to learn to stop the run and I don't think he will. This will force Thompson to be the primary end opposite Washington, with Odenigbo coming in for pass rush situations.

The Northwestern defense will again center around Linebacker Anthony Walker Jr.

Linebacker: Northwestern keeps All-American linebacker Anthony Walker Jr.  Nate Hall, who saw some action last year, will also likely start. Jaylen Prater, who started last season before being injured, looks to have been beaten out by Joe Jones for the final starting spot. Cameron Queiro had a very strong spring and could see decent playing time at any of the linebacker spots.
Safety: Godwin Igwebuike returns to lead Northwestern's safeties. Kyle Queiro, who had the game winning interception against Stanford, then broke his arm against Ball State, will start at the other spot. There is no reason not to be confident that Igwebuike and Queiro will be a dynamic duo at safety. Jake Murray, who has been heralded as "The next Brian Peters", will likely also see some action.
Corner Back: Matt Harris will lead the Wildcats' secondary next season. He has been one of the best corners in the Big Ten since stepping on campus, but he has not gotten the recognition he deserved until this offseason. Hard-hitting Junior Keith Watkins II, who started 2 games last season, will start at the other corner. Montre Hartage and Trae Williams will see action in nickel and dime packages.

Below is my projected Depth Chart, Starters in BOLD