Porter, McLaughlin plan to draw on winning experience

Watching Cam Porter highlights from 2020 is a surreal experience. The running back's three-game run that propelled Northwestern to a huge win over Illinois, a Big Ten championship appearance and a Citrus Bowl victory feels like a lifetime ago.

To see him take the podium Wednesday, joined by another 2020 contributor in defensive end Sean McLaughlin, was like realizing Picasso lived long enough to see a man on the moon.

This year's senior class was the last to see Northwestern meet two of its three annual goals: win the West, win the Big Ten, win a bowl game. The Wildcats have fallen woefully short of all three goals since Porter and McLaughlin's freshman campaign.

Now, even as they may feel like they belong to a different era of Northwestern football, both players will be feature heavily this season. They are no longer first year contributors, they are senior staples, and they know the work that lies ahead.

“I think for me and Sean, the biggest thing about being a part of that 2020 team is we know what it takes,” Porter said. “We’ve been there, and we’ve seen the leadership that has taken us to that place. So now that we’re leaders, we understand that it’s going to take a lot of sacrifice and that those experiences are going to help carry us to our goals."

In the dog days of fall camp - temperatures in Evanston hovered in the upper 90’s this week - it was a good time to get a read on the leadership within Northwestern football. Interim head coach David Braun hinted that the Wildcats would name captains “very soon” and seniors like Porter and McLaughlin figure to be in the mix for the honor.

Northwestern has players who know how to win. Transfer quarterback Ben Bryant led Cincinnati to nine wins before his injury last season, and transfer wide receiver AJ Henning went to two College Football Playoffs with Michigan. But the 2023 roster has very few players who have played a role on winning teams in Evanston.

Luckily, some names that don’t appear on the roster have come back here to help.

“The former student-athletes at Northwestern, the football players here, have been incredible coming to practice, reaching out to our players and just showing their unwavering support,” Braun said on Wednesday. “To be a student-athlete at Northwestern, it takes a special person to embark on that.”

Braun declined to name the former players who have been at practice this summer but his response indicated that while many former players have voiced their displeasure with the administration's firing of long-time head coach Pat Fitzgerald, they are still supporting the current players.

That continued support connects with Porter, who has appreciated the alumni appearances since he first came to campus.

"It's been awesome. Since my freshman year, players always come back and enjoy coming back," Porter said. "They enjoy giving us knowledge because they've been in our shoes and they've experienced what we experienced."

Porter and McLaughlin have been through a lot at Northwestern, but after two seasons with a 4-20 cumulative record and a wide open transfer window after the head coach that recruited them was fired, they both chose to stay for their senior seasons.

McLaughlin cited the bonds he made with teammates like Porter in this year's locker room and his personal connection with past players.

"The guys in the locker room, without a doubt," he said on why he stayed. "Those guys have been there from the minute I stepped on campus my freshman year.

"I don't know what I would do without some of those guys who I formed relationships with. Some of the older D-linemen like Joe Spivak or Trevor Kent, they taught me some serious things that you can't [get] any other place...I've formed bonds that will last forever. That's the biggest reason I stayed."

Porter agreed, saying it was an easy choice.

"It was kind of a no-brainer," he said. "We came together and made a decision that we're going to make this a special season."

Now that the roster is locked in, it's time for Porter and McLaughlin to get to work on establishing the winning mindset and traditions that they remember.

“Being part of that [2020] team, we were surrounded by a lot of great leaders,” McLaughlin said. “With everything that’s happened so far, we’ve gotten closer…Now we’ve just got to put it into action to get back to where we want to be.”