Northwestern cornerback Harold Blackmon seems to be in the minority on the team this year. The senior, unlike many of his teammates, hasn’t scored a touchdown — yet.

That doesn’t mean that Blackmon hasn’t been a major contributor. On the contrary, he currently has four interceptions — tied for seventh in the country — and nine passes broken up, pushing his NU career record to 35.

“I’m thinking interception then pass deflection all the time,” Blackmon said. “Sometimes that gets me into trouble, but hey, I’m just going out there and trying to make plays.”

Many coaches tell their corners to secure the incompletion before attempting the interception. But Randy Walker doesn’t seem to mind his big-play corner going after his share of interceptions.

“I teased him after last season because he probably had the school record for passes broken up, so I said, ‘Hey, Harold, you can catch some of those once in a while.'”

Blackmon seems to be listening thus far. About the only thing he hasn’t done for the Wildcats’ pass defense is take one of those four picks back for a score. And that doesn’t have Blackmon too pleased.

Of his four interceptions, only the one last week against Indiana had a return, and he only took that one back 18 yards.

“The first one I was in the end zone and I fell,” Blackmon said, explaining the lack of return yardage. “One it was basically a pretty tall receiver and I jumped — and I fell again. And then the last one I was going out of bounds when I caught it.”

As he readily admits, there’s no doubt that Blackmon is searching for that one errant pass that punches his ticket to the end zone.

“Hey, I’m looking to go. When I catch it, I’m looking to get upfield,” he said. “Just trying to help the offense out, do my part.”

THE RETURN OF LOUIS: With Sam Simmons iffy for Saturday’s game because of a nagging back injury, the Cats may look to sophomore Louis Ayeni. Ayeni had his first full practice Tuesday since suffering a stress fracture in his hip during the first week of Camp Kenosha, and could fill in for Simmons against Purdue.

“We’re a well-conditioned team and we go real fast,” Ayeni said. “We just want to get back in the mix and make sure I get back in the groove. I did that real well. People were surprised. I fit in pretty well today, caught the ball real nice.”

Ayeni remained adamant that the team needs Simmons back as soon as possible, no matter how it affects Ayeni’s playing time.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” he said. “Anybody in my position, we feel like we can contribute to this team. We want to make plays. We want to be the guy.

“Sam Simmons is a special player. The more special players we have, the better we are, the better chance we have to get where we want to be. When we have Sam healthy, the better team we are.”

Walker was one of the people who wasn’t surprised by Ayeni’s swift and producive return to practice.

“He’s a pretty smart kid, he stayed into it whole time,” Walker said. “I’ve always said, if you work at it while you can’t play you can certainly play every rep mentally. I think that’s what Louis has done. He’s stayed with us, and while he couldn’t go physically he could go mentally. And he’s ready to jump right in there now.”

SZYMUL ON FIRE: Doug Szymul may not be the best-known player among the Cats, but he’s earned some respect, nonetheless.

The freshman walk-on was originally slated to redshirt this season, but NU’s woes on special teams prompted the coaches to turn to Szymul (pronounced SHIM-ull) to sacrifice a year of eligibility to help make some tackles.

And help he did — Szymul was credited with five tackles against Indiana.

“I was just so hyped up, I needed to knock somebody down,” Szymul said. “On kickoff, you just have to get a bunch of guys who are willing to do anything — run down there with their hair on fire, crazy guys knocking people out.”

The Cats’ problems on kick coverage have been well-documented, but Szymul’s reckless abandon might be the spark they need to limit returns. Szymul said the decision to forego the extra year of eligibility was an easy one, since the coaches believed it would help the team.

“The team needed help and they needed somebody to step in. I was willing to do whatever the team needed me to do. If it meant sacrificing the extra year, so be it,” he said. “Keep looking for the kickoffs. The kickoffs are the most fun part of my day.”