EVANSTON-Amazingly, the great Northwestern quarterback quandary that hung over the team like a funnel cloud over the last several weeks had largely blown over by head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s press conference on Tuesday.

While the health of quarterback Clayton Thorson’s right knee had dominated all of Fitzgerald’s recent media sessions, on Tuesday he went more than nine minutes without a single question about his quarterback.

There are a few reasons for that.

For one, most reporters have accepted that the Wildcats would continue their rotation of Thorson and backup TJ Green for the foreseeable future, until Thorson’s knee is all the way back. When Fitzgerald was asked the question about the playing time between his two quarterbacks this week, he shot back, “No idea.”

Secondly, Thorson wasn’t made available to the media, so he couldn’t talk about how his knee felt.

And finally, maybe the reporters feared asking one QB question too many and playing the role of Maria Taylor to Fitzgerald’s potential Nick Saban.

On Tuesday, not even questions about exacting revenge on Duke elicited much of a response. Asked whether last year’s embarrassing 41-17 loss to the Blue Devils fuels them this week, defensive tackle Jordan Thompson fell back on the team’s 1-0 mantra.

"That loss is in the back of our minds, but does it change how we consistently play every day? No," he said.

So what did we talk about? A lot of time was spent on pigeon toes and pretty boys.

Jeremy Larkin doesn’t mind talking about his pigeon toes. To him, it’s not just a curiosity – it’s an advantage.

“I am 100-percent (pigeon toed),” he says with a smile. “I think it’s gotten worse over the years with the way I stand with my feet crossed.”

The redshirt sophomore demonstrated how he often stands, with his feet stacked one in front of the other, toe to heel, going in opposite directions, like new shoes in a box. Ballet dancers may be able to readily pull that off, but it’s safe to say that not many football players can.

“I can’t do what he can do, I don’t think anyone in this room can do what he can do in terms of turning his feet sideways,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s pretty cool.”

Larkin is a smooth strider with deceptive speed, so it’s harder to spot his pigeon toes when he’s running. But watching him walk or jog is jarring. How can such an agile runner have such a pronounced inward turn on both of his dangling feet?

Far from a detriment, Larkin feels that his unique gait actually gives him an edge in running.

“Honestly, I think it helps me a little bit with my running and making cuts,” he said. “I just think it gives me an advantage to go side-to-side more laterally.”

No one can vouch to the medical validity of that claim, but those pigeon toes looked pretty effective in running for 143 yards and two touchdowns in last Thursday night’s 31-27 season-opening win over Purdue.

Fitzgerald says he is a believer. “I think it helps his balance,” he said.

Cameron Green came to Northwestern as a tall wide receiver from nearby Buffalo Grove (Ill.) Stevenson. Asked when he accepted the fact that he was a superback who plays on the line of scrimmage with the big uglies, Green admits that he hasn’t quite come to terms with that reality yet.

“I’m still not comfortable with it, to be honest,” he said with a smile. “I’d still love to be on the outside.”

“Coming in as a receiver, you just want to be on the outside and make pretty boy plays,” he continued. “That’s what I used to call myself in high school, pretty boy.”

But when he got to Northwestern, a funny thing happened. He started eating at the training table and lifting heavier weights. Soon enough, he had eaten his way into another position.

“He just got bigger,” said Fitzgerald matter-of-factly. “We had a role, and his role was going to get closer to the ball, the way that he had continue to work in the weight room and just continued to go from a smedium to an extra large pair of pants.”

And extra-large pants, Green found out, don’t line up 10 yards off the line. The now 237-pounder now puts his hand on the ground in a three-point stance and wrestles with linebackers and defensive ends in the trenches.

Green, a redshirt junior, emerged as a legitimate pass-catching threat last season, when he caught 20 passes, including six each in wins over Maryland and Michigan State. He began the 2018 season by catching five passes for 50 yards in last week’s win over the Boilers.

He says that he’s grown to appreciate his less-glamorous position. He learned from one of the best in former Wildcat Garrett Dickerson, who is now a rookie tight end with the New York Giants.

“You kinda just have to turn over your mindset,” he said. “That’s just credited to my other teammates, my superbacks, that got my mindset right to be in the trenches with the big boys because that’s completely different than being a pretty boy.”

“We didn’t anticipate that when we recruited him,” said Fitzgerald. “It’s just the way that things have played out.”

Green may be happy in his new role, even if he hasn’t fully embraced it.

“I’m still a pretty boy,” he said.