EVANSTON-It was a day that belongs in the opening scene of a Northwestern Football recruiting video. The sky was crystalline blue, matching the color of Lake Michigan. Wispy clouds floated high above Hutcheson Field as the Chicago skyline hung far in the distance.

Monday was a perfect day -- as long as you could see it and not feel it. Because it was hot and humid. Just standing on the sideline and watching practice caused sweat to drip down your forehead. The rubber pellets in the turf were like tiny charcoal briquettes, heating your feet through the bottoms of your shoes.

But that didn’t distract the players. Neither did the Chicago Police Department helicopter that passed by the Lake Michigan shoreline twice at a very low altitude for some unknown reason. Neither did the AC/DC or crowd noise that occasionally blared through the speakers at jet-airliner-takeoff levels as the offense ran plays during scrimmages.

This team was focused on putting in work in its final week of camp before game week.

After a spirited two-hour practice that included a heavy dose of scrimmaging, players lined up on the goal line for a seemingly endless stream of gassers. Starting at the 5-yard line, they ran to the 10, 15 and 20, touching it each time, wave after wave.

Meanwhile, a circle of skill position players surrounded strength and conditioning coach (and Internet sensation) Alex Spanos, doing various torturous exercises. Some did burpees, some did situps, some slammed a medicine ball into the turf repeatedly, some drove their elbows into a blocking pad lain on the ground beneath them. Then, after Spanos blew a whistle, they switched their exercise for the next period. It was grueling to watch.

Everyone was grinding, their skin covered with glistening sweat and tiny rubber pellets.

Well, almost everyone.

Many of the team’s most experienced stars got to sit out practice, taking what the program calls a “veteran’s day.” For every 10 starts a player makes, he gets to take a veteran’s day and sit out a practice. On this day, guys like Paddy Fisher, Jared Thomas, Rashaun Slater and JR Pace were in street clothes but offering up pointers as their teammates toiled through practice.

In head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s playing days, coaches used to give players days off once in a while. Fitzgerald has ceded control of that process to the players.

“I’d rather have them take leadership of it,” said Fitzgerald after practice. “Being a starter, being a big-time playmaker for us has its benefits.”

Fitzgerald, of course, has had his share of early season woes in recent years. The Wildcats are just 4-8 before October over the last three seasons, including ugly losses to Illinois State, Western Michigan, Akron and Duke (twice). But he seems confident about the way his team has prepared during camp this season.

He thinks that coming to within a game of the Rose Bowl last season – the Wildcats lost to Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game – has kept the chip on his program’s shoulder for the last eight-plus months.

“It’s highly motivating,” he said. “I think the guys have taken it to heart and have really worked diligently.”

When asked what position group has made the biggest jump since the end of last season or the start of the camp, he couldn’t pinpoint just one. And that’s a good thing with a stiff season-opening challenge at No. 25 Stanford awaiting.

“Every practice, they’ve come out and gone to work. I felt that way the whole offseason too. I don’t think there’s been a group that hasn’t shown up ready to go,” he explained.

“We’ve improved as a program. And we’re going to find out in a couple weeks where we’re at. Not against a good opponent, but against a great opponent.”

The daily quarterback non-report report: It wouldn’t be a Fitzgerald media session without a question about the quarterback situation. This time, it was a non-beat reporter who asked when Fitzgerald might make a decision as to whether fifth-year senior TJ Green or redshirt sophmore Clemson transfer Hunter Johnson – or someone else – would make the start in the Aug. 31 curtain raiser in Palo Alto.

The answer was vintage Fitzgerald.

“I think we play at 1 o’clock on the West Coast, so I think I’ll make that decision at 12:59:59,” he said. “You all will be the last to know, I promise you.”

Then he looked at radio play-by-play man Dave Eanet. “I won’t even tell you,” he said.

Fitzgerald did disclose some deciding factors in the quarterback competition. He said that he would weigh “the numbers” – completion percentages, making throws on time, etc. – as well as the more “subjective” measures that include answering the question, “Who do the guys believe can take us down the field and score?”

Fitzgerald also reminded everyone that the Wildcats will need at least two quarterbacks. He cited last season, when starter Clayton Thorson and Green shared reps through the first three weeks, as well as 2012, when he rotated Kain Colter and Trevor Siemian throughout the season.

“In college football, you’ve gotta have more than one ready,” he said.

Thomas leading the way: Fitzgerald thinks he has leaders “in every room” on his team, but he singled out fifth-year senior center Thomas as the most outspoken one. A likely pick for captain, Thomas started all 14 games at center last year and has 37 career appearances under his belt.

On Monday, Thomas was wearing a floppy hat and barking out instructions to his teammates like a coach.

“He’s a guy that’s played a ton of ball,” said Fitzgerald. “He’s been through the ebb and flow of a career, some highs and some challenges, and he’s just done a terrific job leading throughout.”