Northwestern practiced outdoors for the first time Tuesday but was without All-Big Ten senior linebacker Tim McGarigle, who sprained his knee in practice Saturday. McGarigle was not in pads and watched most of practice from the sidelines.

“I’m taking a couple of days off,” McGarigle said. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. With a sprained knee, I just don’t know.”

McGarigle led the team with 151 tackles last season and led the nation in solo tackles per game, with 8.5.

“We should know more some time by the end of the week,” coach Randy Walker said. “We don’t think it’s significant. Honestly, if we were playing this week he’d play, probably. We’re just holding him out and we’re going to do some more studies with it and see where it goes.”

From qb to fb

Sophomore Chris Malleo, NU’s backup quarterback last season, switched positions this offseason. Malleo was listed as the second-string fullback to begin the spring but has since practiced at running back and tight end.

“Talking to the coaches,” Malleo said, “they found that this would probably be the quickest way for me to get on the field.”

As the second-string quarterback last season, Malleo saw action in four games and completed two of three passes for 10 yards.

Malleo said he talked to the coaches during winter workouts and planned his workouts around the position change.

“He’s going to be a running back, fullback and tight end, a little bit of everything,” running backs coach Kevin Johns said. “That’s a lot for him because we’re not asking him to learn one position, we’re asking him to learn about two or three different ones. But I think he’s doing a good job.”

Up and Good

Juniors Joel Howells and Ryan Pederson have picked up in the spring where they left off in the fall, as special teams starters.

Howells has been the first-team kicker while Pederson is atop the punting depth chart.

Walker said although the place kicking may have been inconsistent last year, not all aspects of special teams were bad.

“There were aspects of it that needed work,” Walker said. “The obvious was that we missed some field goals that kept us home at Christmas. But we also led the Big Ten in kickoff returns and we were top couple, two or three, in punt returns.

“We just need to be more consistent in the placement department.”

Reach Abe Rakov at [email protected].