Five takeaways from Northwestern football media day

With the season kickoff only 25 days away, Northwestern held its media day on Monday afternoon. The event was scheduled to be outdoors at Hucheson Field, after the Wildcats practice, but inclement weather forced the team inside to Ryan Fieldhouse.

Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald and nine players answered questions about the upcoming 2021 season. Here are our five takeaways:

Redshirt seniors Hunter Johnson and Andrew Marty are joined by redshirt sophomore Ryan Hilinski in a three-way battle for the most important position on the field in fall camp.

One might think that those circumstances would create an awkward situation for the three combatants, but that's not the case in Evanston.

"We're trying to one-up each other every day in practice," said Marty. "But it does yourself no good to not help each other."

Johnson, a transfer from Clemson in 2018, and Hilinski, who just arrived after two years at South Carolina, are even roommates. The two work through plays on the whiteboard together and like to watch movies in their free time.

Fitzgerald said there is no timetable for making a decision on the opening-day starter. He added that all three have played well so far and bring different skill sets to the table.

Fitzgerald is tired of talking about how much talent Northwestern lost from last year's Big Ten West championship squad.

"The national media's got to find something negative to say about us," Fitzgerald said. "Everybody wants to talk about what we don't have coming back."

The Wildcats have lost a lot, including their quarterback and top four receivers on offense, and four players from their back seven on defense. According to ESPN's Bill Connelly, the Wildcats return 39% of their production from last season; that ranks 126th out of 127 FBS teams.

Fitzgerald, though, is unfazed. He said the 2021 version of the Wildcats are stronger and more explosive than the team that finished No. 10 in the country last season.

"The guys that are back, I'll let their play speak for itself," he said.

Chris Bergin needs new running mates after Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher left Northwestern for the NFL. Those two finished 1-2 in tackles last season, compiling a total of 173 stops.

Redshirt senior Peter McIntyre and redshirt junior Khalid Jones are the favorites to fill out "The Firm 2.0," at weakside (WILL) and middle (MIKE) linebacker, respectively. But Fitzgerald is excited about all of the players who will get new opportunities this season. Some of the players who figure to be in the mix are Cullen Coleman, Bryce Gallagher, Michael Jansey, Jaylen Rivers, Xander Mueller, Greyson Mann and even true freshman Mac Uihlein.

"I look at it positively," Fitzgerald said. "There's great competition and great opportunity. Multiple guys are going to play that maybe didn't have a large role last year. They've been in our system, they've been in our program, and they know what to do."

All nine Northwestern players who came to the podium on Monday mentioned how excited they were to play in front of a crowd again.

Both Cam Porter and Charlie Mangieri said that it was hard for the players to find energy at times last year while playing in an empty stadium.

Ryan Field is scheduled to be back at 100% capacity for September 3, when the Wildcats open their season on Friday night against Michigan State. The Spartans handed the Wildcats their only regular season loss in 2020.

Safety Brandon Joseph said he and his teammates haven't forgotten that disappointing loss and will be coming out on opening night "with a vengeance."

The quarterback position has shouldered most of the blame for Northwestern's disastrous 2019 season, when the Wildcats finished 3-9.

But Fitzgerald thinks that the 2021 group at QB is much stronger than the depth chart he had in 2019.

"People say when you have two quarterbacks you have none; we had five, so do the math," Fitzgerald said with a laugh about the 2019 season, when the team rotated through five signal callers. "We're just in a little different spot there in confidence in that position, and in that room."

Fitzgerald also pointed to the seniors who suffered and learned through the 2019 debacle. But the team isn't harping on what was a one-year aberration sandwiched between two seasons that ended with Big Ten West titles.

Fitzgerald wants the team focused on replicating what they did well in 2020, not worrying about avoiding 2019.