From the first drive of Northwestern’s summer scrimmage Saturday, there were a lot of reasons for fans to worry. In nine series, the offense fumbled four times and surrendered one interceptionfor a touchdown. But with two weeks of practice left until opening day, coach Pat Fitzgerald had a message for concerned fans.
“There were a lot of execution things that we need to clean up,” Fitzgerald said. “But hey, we didn’t play Towson today, so it was a pretty good start.”
The game got off to an inauspicious start for the offense as sophomore linebacker Ben Johnson picked off senior quarterback Mike Kafka’s sixth pass of the day and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.
“It was kinda gift-wrapped for me,” said Johnson of the pass. “I didn’t get too much of a great break on it. I just couldn’t drop it.”
The linebackers – Johnson along with juniors Nate Williams and Quentin Davie – were the only complete defensive unit on Saturday. Fitzgerald held out the entire starting secondary along with defensive linemen Corey Wootton and Corbin Bryant. Kafka also only played one series.
In the absence of those six defensive starters, new faces stepped up on that side of the ball. Along with Williams, redshirt freshmen Hunter Bates, Tim Weak and Brian Arnfelt led the defense with three tackles apiece. True freshman Roderick Goodlow had two tackles,including a bone-crushing hit on running back Alex Daniel that knocked the ball loose.
Recovering from the loss of 70 percent of its rushing yardage and 80 percent of its receiving yardage, the offense was looking to answer gaping questions on Saturday. As expected, a bevy of running backs carried the ball on Saturday – six backs totaled three or more carries.
The group was led by sophomore Jacob Schmidt, who carried the ball 11 times for 45 yards and one touchdown. Freshman Arby Fields rushed seven times for 72 yards and led all running backs with one catch for12 yards.
“It was good to get out there and compete and do things that we have been practicing for,” Fields said. “We still have a lot to fix, a lot of stuff that we have to go back and watch on film, but for the mostpart it was good to get out here and compete with these guys.”
Like its running backs, NU’s signal callers also racked up yards on the ground. While Kafka, the group’s most prolific runner, did not record any rushing yards during his sole series, backups Dan Persa and Evan Watkins combined to rush five times for 49 yards. Persa completed eight passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns while Watkins, a 6-foot-6, 235-pound true freshman from Carol Stream, Ill., went 6-for-10 for 73 yards.
While Persa challenged Kafka for the starting job in the spring, the sophomore is well aware of his position on the team.
“Right now my role is to push Mike to do the best he can,” he said. “He’s the starter right now, but I’m ready to go. I’m behind him, but if anything were to happen then I would be ready to go in.”
And when Persa went into the scrimmage, he was ready to fill in for Kafka. In his first drive of the game, Persa and the offense marched 36 yards before Persa hit senior Kevin Frymire downfield for a 38-yard touchdown. On the ensuing drive, Persa nailed senior Zeke Markshausenfor a 9-yard touchdown pass to complete a 12-play, 59-yard drive.
Markshausen, Frymire, senior Andrew Brewer and junior Carl Fisher notched two catches apiece. Fitzgerald will look to these fourupperclassmen to lead his group of wideouts who have dubbed themselvesU-cubed for being talented but unknown, unseen and unheard.
“The depth on the offensive side of the ball, especially the wide receivers, is amazing,” Markshausen said. “It’s really good, it gives us another competitive edge.”
On special teams, junior Stefan Demos, redshirt freshman SteveFlaherty and true freshmen Jeff Budzien and Brandon Williams traded kicking duties. Fields, Brewer, junior Stephen Simmons and sophomores Jerravin Matthews and Jeremy Ebert took turns fielding punts and kickoffs.
The Wildcats hold their last practice at Camp Kenosha on Monday. Afterthat, they will return to Evanston to prepare for the season opener onSept. 5 against Towson.
Reach Robbie Levin at [email protected]
