Carifio: Five takeaways from NIU’s spring showcase

The NIU football team’s spring game* on Saturday was the culmination** of the Huskies’ spring season, and there was plenty to take note of.

* - Technically it wasn’t a spring game, it was a showcase.

** - Not a culmination either, as there are still three more practices left, including another one open to the public next Saturday.

But at any rate, here are five things that jumped out at me from the practice, which featured about 90 minutes of 11-on-11 full-team drills.

1. Rocky Lombardi is (very likely) the starting quarterback

Sure it seems like a duh statement. But coach Thomas Hammock has said all spring this is a competition. On Saturday, he said things were falling into place, and the Michigan State transfer has ‘established himself,’ Hammock said.

“Ethan Hampton will be back tomorrow and we’ll get him back to speed, but he’s definitely the guy we think can continue to progress forward. With Rocky, Ethan, Dustin [Fletcher] and obviously Rodney [Thompson].”

Even without his words, there is the eye test. Lombardi took most of the snaps. Hampton, an early enrollee from Aurora Christian, didn’t see any action with a nagging injury.

Thompson actually got a bunch of playing time and showed a lot of mobility. He was the first quarterback in after Lombardi and had scrambles of about 9 and 10 yards in his first three plays.

2. Tyrice Richie will make 221 catches this year.

OK, I may be highballing this one a little bit. But Lombardi has show ridiculously good timing with Richie. So 17 catches a game, 13 games if they make a bowl, why not?

Richie had 53 catches for 597 yards in six games last year, passing his 2019 total despite playing almost twice as many games.

And, again, Lombardi had crazy good chemistry with Richie. So let’s say 17 catches a game.

3. Behind Richie, however, still seems in flux

First off, it should be noted Hammock said he loves the depth at receiver.

“I think we got a lot of guys who can play wide receiver and we’re excited about all of them,” Hammock said. “You can’t just single out one guy. You’ve got Tyrice, you’ve got Cole Tucker, Trayvon Rudolph, Messiah Travis, Mohamed Toure, Jeremiah Howard, Fabian McCray. I think we got a deep wide receiver group. We get them the ball and they’ll make plays for us.

And second, Rudolph showed flashes last year and Tucker has been consistent over the last couple.

But Tucker had a very quiet showing. Rudolph was limited. And while guys like McCray and Travis showed flashes, they were inconsistent. There’s no clear cut No. 2 guy it would appear. At least by what the eye test showed Saturday.

McCray, however, definitely has had a spring full of flashes and Saturday was no exception.

“I feel like I’ve been making a name for myself,” McCray said. “I feel like I’ve been having a good spring so far. I’ve been playing better. I’ve been making some plays and things like that.”

4. The secondary may be a lethal weapon for the Huskies

Devin Lafayette had two interceptions. Zhamaine March, Jordan Hansen and Joshua Earl each had one.

Hansen was also all over the field making tackles as well. He looks like a force, and the secondary seems poised to be a weapon.

“As a secondary we communicated well, flew around and got the ball,” Hansen said. “When the ball was in the air we played the ball instead of the man to come down with some picks.”

An offensive guy at heart, Hammock said part of the defense’s success comes from knowing the NIU offense.

“No. 1 I think they know the calls, so when we make checks we can’t fool them,” Hammock said. “But some of it, when you watch an interception it’s not always the quarterback. One of them Cole didn’t run the right route. He’s got to be on the right landmark. But Rocky’s a pro, he understands.”

But that aside, he really likes what he’s seeing with the secondary.

“We have guys that are stepping up,” Hammock said. “You look at the two safeties, Devin and Hansen, and Josh Earl made a nice play. But our corners are playing excellent. Myles McGee, Eric Rogers, Jordan Gandy, Zhamamine March made the play at the end. Those guys are stepping up and I think they are going to be a weapon for us.”

5. Clint Ratkovich will be very useful to the offense

Ratkovich didn’t see a lot of touches Saturday. But if there was short-yardage situation, he plowed through the line. If there was a checkdown, he was there.

It’s interesting in that the tight end corps is very inexperienced – although of note every one of the eight tight ends on the roster is also listed as a fullback. And Ratkovich can be used in a lot of the same ways as a tight end or a fullback.

He’s what you get when you cross a Swiss army knife and a bulldozer. And on an offense that lacked big-play capability, he’s a guy that can pick up the tough yards until a playmaker like Rudolph or Richie can break off a monster gain.