New year, new number, new Newsome

EVANSTON-Greg Newsome II is wearing a new jersey number this year. The sophomore cornerback switched from the No. 29 he wore as a freshman to No. 2 for the upcoming 2019 season.

As Newsome explained, “I’m the second,” so the new number makes sense. But, unlike many players, the No. 2 isn’t meant as a tribute or a reminder. In fact, it’s a way to forget. He wants to put last season behind him.

“Last season didn’t pan out how I wanted it to, injury-wise, and play-wise, in general,” said Newsome after a hot and sticky practice on Monday morning at Hutcheson Field. “I just wanted to have a fresh start sophomore season.”

Newsome wants to forget a lot about last season. Foremost among them is the ankle injury that robbed him of nine games.

The highly touted true freshman from Carol Stream (Ill.) Glenbard North (Justin Jackson’s alma mater) and elite prep school Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy got off to a strong start last season. The early enrollee made five tackles and broke up a pass in his collegiate debut at Purdue in the season opener and was rewarded with the starting job the following week. He made a career-high six tackles and had another PBU against Akron in Week 3, and then started against Michigan on Sept. 29.

At that point, things couldn’t have gone much better for Newsome. A confident and physical player with what head coach Pat Fitzgerald called “a high compete level,” he had already proven he was unafraid to lock up with some of the top receivers in the conference. He looked destined to be a breakout rookie for the Wildcats.

At luck would have it, though, that Michigan game was the last appearance Newsome made during the regular season. He “tore some things” in his ankle against the Wolverines and watched from the sideline as the Wildcats marched to the Big Ten West title.

“That was real tough,” said Newsome. “I hadn’t really got hurt pretty much my whole career and having to sit out for nine weeks… It was real tough knowing I couldn’t help my team on the field.”

That ankle injury also forced a rookie to make a veteran’s decision late in the season.

Northwestern’s cornerback room turned into a hospital triage ward as the season wore on. Newsome went down. The Wildcats’ best cover corner, senior Montre Hartage, went down. Trae Williams, who lost his job to Newsome and then replaced him after the freshman hurt his ankle, went down. Cameron Ruiz and O.J. Mayo were forced to start critical games down the stretch, yet the team somehow won seven of their last eight games to win the Big Ten West.

So Fitzgerald approached Newsome and asked if he wanted to play in the Big Ten championship game against Ohio State on Dec. 1. The stakes couldn’t have been higher: for the team, a trip to the Rose Bowl was on the line; for Newsome, a year of eligibility hung in the balance.

Newsome had already played in four games, the maximum allowed for a redshirt season. Play against the Buckeyes in Indianapolis and he would lose a year of eligibility. Sit out, and he would get that coveted fifth year down the road. Plus, he said that his ankle “still wasn’t 100%.”

To Newsome, it wasn’t much of a decision. It was a no-brainer to play.

“There was no hesitation,” he says. “I knew we had some guys down already. I talked to Fitz prior to playing in that game and he said he was probably going to sit me for the rest of the season because we had some guys (who got) healthy at that point.

“But then some guys went down, he came to talk to me and said, ‘Are you ready to go?’ and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play in one of the biggest games this program has ever seen.”

Fitzgerald sees it as an example of how Newsome put the team before himself.

“We went to him and talked to him about whether or not he wanted to preserve the four games and ‘shirt’ or go out and play in the Big Ten championship for an opportunity to go to the Rose Bowl,” said Fitzgerald. “He obviously chose to play, which obviously tells you what kind of teammate that he is. We gave that (decision) to him and his family, it was up to him.”

Newsome says he didn’t even have to involve his family. “It was all my decision,” he said.

Newsome played against the Buckeyes, but things didn’t go the way he had hoped. He didn’t start and made three tackles, but the Wildcats lost the game, 45-24.

He bounced back and started against Utah in the Holiday Bowl, making three tackles and breaking up a pass as Northwestern rallied from a 21-3 halftime deficit to beat the favored Utes, 31-20.

While his freshman year didn’t go the way he had envisioned, Newsome did learn some valuable lessons. He spent a year watching Hartage, who is now in training camp with the Miami Dolphins. Newsome plays with the same physicality and tenacity as Hartage, but is longer and leaner.

Ask Newsome what he picked up from Hartage and he doesn’t mention any techniques or skills. He talks about how Hartage helped him prepare the right way.

“How he breaks down film and how he attacks every day,” is what Newsome took away from the former Wildcat star. “He literally attacks every day like it’s a game.

“I think, for me, shadowing him a lot last season, I think the film breakdown and stuff like that, I think it will really help me a lot.”

So will the strides that Newsome made physically this offseason. He didn’t put on much weight – he will play this year between 180 and 185 pounds, just as he did in 2018 – but he focused on “eating right” and thinks it will pay dividends.

The bottom line: “I feel stronger and faster,” he said.

One thing that no one had to teach Newsome when he arrived was how to play with confidence. He came to Evanston with it, according to Fitzgerald.

The coach knows that that confidence is absolutely essential to playing cornerback in today’s college game. It requires both “a short memory” and a will to win every play.

There isn’t a lot of gray area at corner; it’s pretty black-and-white.

“Every rep that corners have, it’s not like ‘hey, I tied.’ Either you win or you lose,” said Fitzgerald. “You can tie as a D-lineman. You can tie as a linebacker. You can’t tie as a corner. You’ve got to have that high level of compete. He’s got that in his DNA already. He’s just got to be a little more consistent (this year).”

Newsome says that his experience his senior year at IMG Academy helped him develop that confidence. There, he played against some of the top players in the country every day at practice.

While teams in Illinois tended to avoid throwing to Newsome’s side when he was at Glenbard North, both opponents and the scout-team offense at IMG had no qualms about going after him. After all, the corner on the other side was probably just as good as he was.

“I really got challenged out there a lot and I found out what I could do and what I couldn’t do,” he said. “So I just tried to emulate what I did there (at Northwestern).

“For me it’s just confidence performing on the field. I think I’ve been practicing really well, but just translating practice to the game, that’s a big part, and just stepping up when the team needs me.”

Ask Newsome what his goal for the season is, and he keeps it simple. It will be the same every week, too.

“My goal is to not let (the receiver he’s covering) catch a ball all game.”