It’s like a football lobbed into a quiet pond – there’s a big splash at the point of contact, but it’s the ripples in the water that reach out and touch every shore.

Northwestern has seen its share of injuries this season, but none so damaging to the team as Damien Anderson’s. His strength supported the NU backfield, both figuratively and literally — the first two players who took on his workload have since been sidelined with season-ending injuries.

The losses have forced the coaching staff to play musical chairs with their wideouts as NU enters the final stretch of the season. This has put more pressure on the most consistent element of the Cats’ offense — its receiving corps.

Once the youngsters on NU’s offense, the receivers are now among the most experienced players on the field.

Take Ronnie Foster, for example.

The sophomore receiver started the season as a backup, but he is now a veteran of the offense — a familiar story in a Cats season filled with injuries.

The 6-foot-1, 192-pound wideout was a special teams star in 2000, appearing occasionally at the end of games to spell tired receivers and hopefully catch a coach’s eye.

He had the same role coming into this season, catching his first career pass against Duke on Sept. 22, a game in which quarterback Zak Kustok connected with eight different receivers.

But like so many other second-stringers, injury has led to opportunity for Foster. In NU’s loss to Purdue on Oct. 27, starting wideout Roger Jordan was lost for the season with a stress fracture in his thigh. This placed Foster at the top of the depth chart. The injury also shifted freshman Ashton Aikens to the outside from the slot and brought redshirt freshman Tom Fluegge into the mix.

Anderson’s injury has also moved wideout Jason Wright to backup running back. But Wright, who ran the ball in high school, isn’t the only Cats receiver with experience in the backfield — Foster has done some rushing of his own.

“(Foster) had the whole package,” said Steve Hatfield, Foster’s head coach at Peoria Heights High School in Peoria, Ill. Hatfield identified Foster’s speed and strength and moved him from wideout to running back during his freshman year.

Hatfield remembers that Foster, a naturally shy kid, was hesitant about the adjustment.

“He got tattooed at the lower levels in his freshman and sophomore year,” Hatfield said. “But it was neat to watch his development.”

Foster eventually found his place at running back and led the team to a winning record during his senior year. In 26 years of coaching, Hatfield said Foster was the only player he ever sent to a Division I-A school.

After joining the Cats, Foster was forced to make another transition — from running back to receiver.

“I don’t think I had ever really caught a ball,” Foster said of his early struggles at the position. “It was real rough trying to convert from running back here.”

In coming to Evanston, Foster followed in the footsteps of his cousin, Darryl Ashmore. Ashmore also hailed from Peoria and played for the Cats from 1987-91 before heading to the NFL. He currently plays offensive guard for the Oakland Raiders.

Ashmore has provided his younger cousin with advice — and tickets to the Raiders’ playoff games.

“He really liked (NU) and thought it was a good program,” Foster said.

After two years of scuffling on NU scout teams and special teams, Foster began to create a place for himself in the Cats’ offense. Then in spring practice, he found himself on the starting squad.

Cats offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson sees Foster as a young player who has made progress at his position, but still has room to grow. He’s got the size, speed and ability of a playmaker — but like the rest of the Cats, Foster has had trouble bringing assertiveness with him on Saturday afternoons, Wilson said.

“He needs a couple of plays to go his way to realize he’s got confidence in the game,” Wilson said. “He does some things in practice — we just need to get him a ball or two in the game to get him confidence because he’s made enough significant strides in practice to be OK in the game.”

Wilson said Foster, much like a lot of the younger players forced into the spotlight, simply needs to shake off some of his hesitancy.

“He’s a guy who’s played well on the driving range, but hasn’t finished the 18th hole yet,” Wilson said. “We’ll get him a little swagger that says, ‘Hey, I want the ball.'”

Foster knows the ball will be coming his way in the Cats’ last two games.

“We’ve just got to go out there and play with what we’ve got,” Foster said.