Northwestern held its first open practice and media availability during fall camp on Wednesday. Here are our five takeaways:
Braun’s coaching staff is complete…almost
Interim head coach David Braun finally has his coaching staff on the field. Well, almost. New defensive assistant DJ Vokolek was there, but special assistant to the head coach Skip Holtz couldn’t make it to practice on Wednesday.
Braun said that Holtz, a veteran with 22 years as a college head coach under his belt, will be a valuable resource to him as he learns the ropes of his first head coaching job.
“He has been in the facility, and he and I are working really diligently to really iron out that role, but already he's been an incredible asset with the current context of the situation and me being involved with the defense and calling the defense moving forward. That’s less than ideal,” said Braun. He added that if it were January, they probably would have hired a defensive coordinator to take his place, but there was no time to make such a move in the middle of summer.
Braun expects Holtz to pick up some of the slack as he tries to pull double duty as both a head coach and coordinator.
“Skip has done a great job of connecting with myself and [director of football operations] Alex [Knisely] and to really take the reins on some of our recruiting, some of our operations, and some of the things that are behind the scenes…within a program of this size. With his over 20 years of head coaching experience, he brought a great deal of wisdom, which is something I certainly welcome.”
Braun said that he will continue to define the roles of both Holtz and Vokolek, who just joined the staff last week.
“[He] made it very clear to me that he was the right hire,” said Braun of Vokolek. “He's stepped into this facility, he hasn't walked in and said, ‘I got all the answers,’ or let me overstep my bounds. He's come in [and] observed. He’s been someone to lean on, not only for myself, but the rest of the defensive staff, and he'll only continue to gain a bigger role within our staff.”
“DJ is a low ego, high output kind of guy.”
The quarterback battle continues
Normally, a quarterback battle would be the talk of fall camp. But this is far from a normal fall camp for Northwestern, with the hazing scandal and the firing of Pat Fitzgerald looming over the program.
The entire room is getting reps, but the two favorites are Brendan Sullivan, who started five games for the Wildcats last year, and Ben Bryant, a grad transfer with two years as a college starter under his belt: one at Eastern Michigan and one at Cincinnati.
Braun said that offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian is ensuring that both signal callers “are getting good opportunities” with the rep distribution.
“I’ve seen some really good things out of both of those guys,” said Braun.
But he also has been impressed by Ryan Hilinski, who started six games last season but missed spring ball due to offseason knee surgery.
“Ryan's great, but Ryan is coming off the injury. I had never seen Ryan in practice before,” said Braun. “All of a sudden, it's the first day at camp and [I’m saying], ‘Man, who's this guy dropping dimes on fade balls?’”
But, he said, “right now, Ben and Sully are duking it out. There's great depth in that room with Ryan and Jack [Lausch] and, I mentioned this the other day, but what I'm very confident in is, whoever earns that starting role, that young man is gonna be the best version of himself because he's been pushed to really compete.”
Jack Fitzgerald is following in his father’s footsteps
Jack Fitzgerald is in a bit of an awkward position. The freshman walkon tight end was all set to play for his dad this season. Then July 10 happened. Pat Fitzgerald’s dream of coaching his three sons in college was dashed – or at least put on hold.
Jack Fitzgerald is still on the Wildcats roster, but not as a player. Instead, he’s helping out with team operations as a student-assistant coach. On Wednesday, he was holding pads in drills, like a GA would.
“He’s been an incredible asset,” said Braun. “[He] brings a smile every day and is working his butt off.”
Wide receiver Bryce Kirtz says the team knows that Fitzgerald is an odd sort of in limbo right now. They’re just glad to have him as part of the team, in any capacity.
“He works as an assistant now, but we've just really just been there for him, just supporting him, hanging out with him, making sure that he always has somebody around him,” said Kirtz.
A valedictorian of his class at nearby Loyola Academy, Fitzgerald still wants to go to school at Northwestern. But this move to help the coaching staff and not play this season would delay the start of his eligibility clock. It’s purely speculation, but if his father should get a head coaching job somewhere else down the road, Jack could still transfer and play for him. You never know things might work out.
Braun said that Fitzgerald still could play for the Wildcats this season. But if he’s sitting out fall camp, it’s doubtful that he’d suit up for them this fall.
“Right now, he's helping us out in other areas,” said Braun.
Braun looking at the positive side of the transfer portal
The transfer portal window closed last night, so Northwestern lost a total of five players who elected to leave the program. Players had 30 days since Fitzgerald was fired on July 10 to enter the portal.
Braun thinks the fact that only five players left the program is a sign of its strength, despite all of the obvious reasons to leave. What’s more, the players who left were four incoming freshmen who had yet to play for the Wildcats (Justin Cryer, Nigel Glover, Chico Holt and Dylan Senda), and just one starter who spent a season at Northwestern and chose to return to Duke (Jeremiah Lewis).
“I think it's abnormal from the standpoint of how many young men have stayed committed and how many have stayed in,” said Braun. “They understand the value of the Northwestern degree.
“You know, in in the current climate of college athletics, where things are going, much more towards pay-for-play [and] transactional. Northwestern still has the ability, when done right to be the ultimate student-athlete experience, a world-class education, playing in the Big Ten, which is only growing and expanding in new opportunities.”
Braun acknowledged that recruiting is a challenge in the current environment. The Wildcats lost six players from their Class of 2024 who decided to decommit since Fitzgerald’s firing (Jamir Benjamin, Brett Eskildsen, Dillan Johnson, Payton Stewart, Julius Tate and Brendan Zurbrugg).
But Braun thinks he and the coaching staff still have a lot to sell about the program and they’re still trying to recruit 2024 and 2025 prospects. He picked up his first commitment as NU's head coach last week, when wide receiver Carson Grove picked the Wildcats.
“There's still so much to put on a full display in terms of the opportunity that exists here at Northwestern, playing within this football program, playing in the Big Ten,” he said. “We plan to fill this class with a group of young men that want step up to that challenge. They understand that these aren't calm waters. In some regards, they're running to, facing the storm… They see the opportunities that still exist in Northwestern, and they, and they're willing to embark on that challenge.”
The T-shirts turned into another black eye for the program
Braun and the players deftly deflected questions about Fitzgerald and hazing in the press conference. Braun said he would only talk about things that happened after he arrived in Evanston on Jan. 16. The players, mostly linebacker Bryce Gallagher, repeatedly said that they were there to talk about football, not the hazing allegations.
It all would have gone to plan if it weren’t for the T-shirts that led to another round of media coverage centered on the very topics they said they wanted to avoid.
The “Cats Against the World 51” T-shirts worn by some staff members, including offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian and Jack Fitzgerald, went viral and became the symbol of a program painted as tone deaf by the media, social media and even athletic director Derrick Gragg, who felt compelled to issue a statement after practice.
Gragg hasn’t been right about many things in his or his athletic department’s handling of the hazing scandal, but he was spot-on here. Wearing the shirts was not a good idea, and an easily avoidable black eye for a program that is collecting them at an alarming rate these days.
The “Cats Against the World” message is fine because just about everyone can empathize with the program feeling like it’s under attack. But the 51 – the former jersey number of a fired coach – was over the top and served as a bullseye for a public ready to pounce on any indiscretion. Rightly or wrongly, the public sees support for Fitzgerald as condoning some of the alleged hazing incidents.
Braun said he was okay with the T-shirts because he supports players and coaches and how they feel about the still-fresh firing. He added that he didn’t want to suppress their free speech. That’s fine.
But he also said numerous times that his goal is to move on from the scandal and keep the focus on the future. Those shirts were nothing but a step backwards, a divisive symbol for a program trying to show unity.
Everyone understands that Braun is still learning the ropes as a head coach. The lesson here: make sure that everyone on the staff and team are wearing nothing but Northwestern- or Under Armour-logoed gear for the rest of camp.
