Breaking down the challenges the Nothern Illinois defense presents to Notre Dame on Saturday
After Notre Dame football kicked off the 2024 season with a big 23-13 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies, the Irish now head into week two to take on Northern Illinois at home. On paper, this is a contest that shouldn’t be much of a challenge. Notre Dame is clearly the better team on paper. […]
After Notre Dame football kicked off the 2024 season with a big 23-13 victory over the Texas A&M Aggies, the Irish now head into week two to take on Northern Illinois at home. On paper, this is a contest that shouldn’t be much of a challenge. Notre Dame is clearly the better team on paper.
Northern Illinois, however, does have some parts of their team that can cause some headaches for the Irish staff, and players. On defense, it is an interesting system, especially up front. Here are some early thoughts on the Huskies defense, and the top players offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock needs to know.
- When you are watching a MAC level team, you are looking for traits for the players you are scouting. You want to see players pop on film, both from a size and athleticism perspective. You see some of those things quickly when watching the Northern Illinois defense, particularly at defensive end.
- The one that popped most during their 54-15 victory over Western Illinois last week was pass rusher Roy Williams, who is a tall and gangly defender at 6-6 and 251 pounds. During that season opener, Williams recorded six total tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack. It was easy to find No. 97 on the field.
- It was also easy to find his counterpart on the other side, Jalonnie Williams, who might look the part the most of any defender for the Huskies. He isn’t an overly technically refined player, and Northern Illinois asks him to do a lot of the dirty work. But at 6-4 and 286 pounds, Williams is a tough player to move at the point of attack. You shouldn’t expect Williams to make much of an impact in the passing game but he is a valuable member of their run defense.
- The interior defensive line didn’t look like anything special based on their first game against Western Illinois. One player who did pop a bit was Skyler Gill-Howard, who is actually a backup for the team. Small at 6-1 and 285 pounds, Gill-Howard is very quick from the interior. He could provide some challenges for the offensive line, especially if they try to create a lot of movement up front.
- On the second level, Northern Illinois’ top linebacker is Christian Fuhrman, who transferred from SE Missouri State this offseason. The 6-1, 235-pound defender collected 125 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, and five pass breakups his final two years with the Redhawks. He kicked off the season with four total tackles and half a tackle for loss in game one. Fuhrman isn’t an overly talented athlete, but he’s physical and aggressive.
- The secondary is definitely the weak spot for Northern Illinois. Nobody really popped much, mostly just players who are relatively in the correct spot more often than not. This could be the perfect game for Notre Dame to spark their passing attack. There should be a lot of potential to create big plays.
