EVANSTON-Every coach in America feels pretty good at the start of spring practice. His team hasn’t lost a game yet and won’t even play one for months. Chances are that just about every player on the roster looked good in shorts and a T-shirt over the winter.

But Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald seemed particularly confident as his Wildcats opened practice on Tuesday at Ryan Fieldhouse, even if just the day before, his football office released some rather difficult news.

Senior superback Cameron Green tweeted on Tuesday evening that he was retiring from football rather than risk suffering concussions or head injuries in the future. This was a player who emerged as a potent weapon last season, leading the team with four touchdown catches and finishing second in catches (57) and third in receiving yards (483).

For an offense that lost dynamic running back Jeremy Larkin just four months earlier due to a medical retirement and often had problems scoring in 2018, this would seem to be a troublesome development.

Yet when Fitzgerald was asked if he was concerned about the loss of Green and the depth at superback, he seemed almost nonchalant in his response. He acknowledged that there’s “a depth issue” there right now, with Green gone and No. 2 Trey Pugh – the only superback on the roster with a catch – out for the spring. That’s why they moved defensive end Trent Goens to superback for the spring as an experiment.

But is he worried?

“Nah,” he coach said. “Not the first time we’ve had a guy graduate at that position. Same question I got asked with Garrett Dickerson and Dan Vitale and Drake Dunsmore. Par for the course. Guys graduate, guys retire, next guy up.”

He’s confident that Pugh (three catches), Charlie Mangieri (zero) and Thomas Gordon, a true freshman who isn’t even on campus yet, will pick up the slack in Green’s absence.

How about defensive tackle, where mainstays Jordan Thompson and Fred Wyatt departed?

“No, not at all. Nope. Maybe we have to play some young guys, yeah, but that’s alright… We’ll play a lot of guys.”

Well, is there any position group that concerns him as spring practice opens?

“Nuh-uh. No.”

Okay, then. You could chalk all those responses up to false bravado, but that’s not Fitzgerald’s style. The more likely reason is that he has things rolling just the way he wants it right now in Evanston.

“It’s an exciting time for the program,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going, building on the success we’ve had over a number of years. I think recruiting is up. The support that we’ve had from our fans is at an all-time high.”

The Wildcats just won the Big Ten West and their third straight bowl game. Fitzgerald took home the Big Ten Coach of the Year award. He is running spring practice from NU's immaculate, new, state-of-the-art Walter Athletics Center. He just lost a four-year starter at quarterback but has five-star transfer Hunter Johnson from Clemson ready to step in and take the reins.

In other words, life is good.

But the 2018 season provided more than a few new trophies to show off in glass cases. It provided validation for the Wildcat Way of doing things.

When asked what lessons he learned last year, Fitzgerald responded, “A, that our plan works. And not that it hasn’t (enabled us) to get to the postseason. But what we do and how we do things works at a championship level.”

His ultimate goal, a Big Ten championship, is just one step away.

There’s always a lengthy list of players held out of spring practice because of injury or they are recovering from postseason surgery. This year as no different, as five players will be out for all of spring ball and five more are out now but could return at some point before spring practice ends on April 13.

Out for the spring: LB Paddy Fisher, LB Blake Gallagher, K Charlie Kuhbander, S JR Pace, SB Trey Pugh

Out now but could return: WR Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, WR Jace James, DT Alex Miller, CB Cameron Ruiz, WR Bennett Skowronek

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