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DeKALB - After missing the last nine games of his 2021 season due to injury, Northern Illinois sophomore cornerback Eric Rogers couldn’t wait to get back on the field - and play in front of his home crowd at Huskie Stadium again.
In the 2022 season opener vs. Eastern Illinois, Rogers announced his return in a big way, intercepting Panther quarterback Jonah O’Brien not once, but twice in the second quarter in a 34-27 win on Thursday.
“It was great to be back. Special shoutout to [associate athletic trainer] Heath [Duncan] and the whole coaching staff on kind of getting me back and prepared and ready to go,” Rogers said. “It felt really good being able to play, and just being out there with my teammates, being able to make plays when the opportunities presented themselves.”
The first pick came with 11:46 on the game clock, as Rogers jumped an underneath route near midfield and returned it to the EIU 35-yard line. Two plays later, Antario Brown scored a 35-yard touchdown run off the left tackle.
The second interception occurred on an overthrown O’Brien deep shot intended for Dewayne Cooks Jr. with 5:47 to play in the half. Rogers tracked the deep ball near the right sideline, then hauled it in over-the-shoulder at the NIU 2-yard line to flip the field again.
“I would just say it was good play calls,” Rogers said, attributing credit for his two interceptions to the coaching staff. “I read my keys and made a play when it came.”
As a whole, the Huskie defense acquitted itself well in the first half, limiting the Panthers to six points and 146 yards of total offense.
In the second half, EIU scored 21 points and racked up 295 yards - bringing its total for the game to 441 yards. The Panthers also averaged 6.8 yards per play for the game.
NIU coach Thomas Hammock was encouraged by what he saw from the defense in the first half, but also knows there are areas the unit must clean up.
“I thought we tackled well in the first half. I thought in the second half, we got a little sloppy. We gave up some leaky yardage plays,” he said. “We gotta make sure our eyes are in the right place. We gave up a wheel route and the linebacker was there, but he’s just gotta have his eyes in the right spot the whole time.
“Obviously, they figured, OK, they’d just try to stay normal down and distance, and try to milk it,” Hammock continued. “They had a couple nice little schemes, a zone oppo, where they’re blocking one way and the back is going the opposite. They had a little A-gap power they hit a couple times on us, and they had a nice little mix. They came in with a dink-and-dunk mentality, and they stuck to it, which is a credit to them. We’ll go back and look at it and assess it, and see what things we can do better.”