Ellis now the starter at OLB

Redshirt freshman Collin Ellis started in his first college game last Saturday, and he will remain at the strongside linebacker spot for Saturday night's game against Michigan.

The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder, who sat out the first three games of the season with a broken thumb, had a sack and three total tackles in Northwestern's 38-35 loss to Illinois last Saturday. He had been listed as the backup to Ben Johnson on last week's depth chart, but he jogged out with the first team to start the game and played the majority of snaps.

In other changes to the depth chart released today by Northwestern, both backup safety positions in Northwestern's much maligned secondary has different players on the second team.

Hunter Bates is now listed as Brian Peters' backup at one safety spot, replacing Mike Bolden. On the other side, Jared Carpenter, who also saw his first action of 2011 against Illinois, is the co-No. 2 safety with Davion Fleming behind starter Ibraheim Campbell. David Arnold, who was listed as Campbell's backup last week, does not appear on the two-deep.

On the offensive side, Mike Trumpy's season-ending ACL injury moves Treyvon Green up to the No. 2 spot at tailback, behind starter Jacob Schmidt. Schmidt, it should be noted, was listed as the No. 1 tailback last week, but Trumpy got the start in Champaign.

Green led all rushers with 68 yards on 17 carries against the Illini.

Quarterback Dan Persa, who was pulled out of the game in the fourth quarter against Illinois after hurting his foot, will start against Michigan. Persa threw a career-high four touchdown passes in his first game of 2011 after rupturing his Achilles tendon last November.

Award winners

Northwestern also released today its player of the week award winners for the Illinois game:

Offensive player: Jeremy Ebert

Offensive big playmaker: Jacob Schmidt

Offensive practice player: Tyris Jones

Defensive player: Tyler Scott

Defensive big playmaker: David Nwabuisi

Defensive practice player: Jared Carpenter

Special teams player: Brian Peters

Special teams practice player: Mike Eshun