Hammock: NIU about 90% vaccinated for COVID-19

DeKALB – As preseason practices continue of the Northern Illinois football team, coach Thomas Hammock on Saturday said about 90% of the team is vaccinated against COVID-19.

“Guys did a great job. Coaches did a great job,” Hammock said. “We did a lot of education early in the process. We stayed on guys, stayed diligent, stayed consistent. They understood what happened last year with the seriousness and COVID and how serious this disease is. We’re close to 90% and feel good about it.”

Hammock said that there haven’t been any issues so far and that he doesn’t expect any to arise.

“To me, that’s a personal choice. So we’re not going to pressure anybody to do it,” Hammock said. “But just understand there’s a possibility you might have to miss some time. If you contact trace, or you get COVID, and as long as you understand the repercussions of not being vaccinated and you’re comfortable with that, then to each his own. But we’ve all had people affected with COVID. We watch the news, we see the news. We understand the severity of COVID and want to make sure we protect ourselves, protect our families, and protect our football team.”

Another quarterback on board

Quarterback Ryan Yost joined the team in the summer and made his debut on the field when practices began Friday.

Yost is a sophomore transfer from Wagner. He saw some playing time in his freshman year in 2019, playing three games. He didn’t play in the spring 2021 season.

The 6-4 quarterback from New Jersey seemed to split time with Ethan Hampton as the No. 2 quarterback behind Rocky Lombardi. On Saturday, Hampton took more of the second-team snaps.

“That’s another guy with college experience in that room,” Hammock said. “I think he has a presence about him. He’s picked up the offense very quickly. He can go out there and execute. You can never have enough quarterback depth.”

Competition is back Sunday

Hammock had stressed the importance of competition in the spring, coming up with a scoring system to see which unit wins any given practice, the offense or defense.

He said that system wasn’t used Friday or Saturday but will return Sunday when the pads come back on.

“With just helmets and spiders you want to keep the completion level down,” Hammock said. “You want to focus on the fundamentals and technique of your position and take the competitive side out of it so we don’t have guys on the ground. We want to stay healthy. We want to stay on our feet.”

High energy through first couple days

Hammock said on Saturday that practice No. 2 built exactly how it should have off the first one, with the team making the proper jumps mentally and physically.

The energy level has also been high.

“It’s fun getting back to some regular football,” linebacker Lance Deveaux said. “It’s going to be a grind but I think God is going to embrace that so I think that’s going to be good for us.”