Northwestern football is almost back!
There are just five more days until the Cats kick off their season in Dublin, Ireland, in a Week 0 game against Nebraska in the Air Lingus Classic.
On Monday, the Cats held a game week press conference where head coach Pat Fitzgerald and captains Evan Hull, Bryce Gallagher and Andrew Clair took questions from the media.
Here are our notes and takeaways from the first presser of the 2022 season.
No official word on the starting quarterback yet
Fitzgerald shut down the question about naming a starter and refused to give any clues in which direction he's leaning.
"I've been thinking about this all night," Fitz said. "I'm not giving you anything."
Conventional wisdom -- and some comments to an Instragram post on Sunday -- points toward Ryan Hilinski taking the helm over Brendan Sullivan. But Fitzgerald might just be feeling snake-bitten after naming Hunter Johnson early last year. Fitzgerald voiced confidence in Johnson, but that didn't stop the Cats from plunging into a quarterback quandary that was never really resolved last season.
The Northwestern two-deep depth chart will drop at some point in the coming days, and Fitzgerald will either stop the charade and name a starter, or use the dreaded OR to designate either Hilinski or Sullivan and keep the suspense going until kickoff at 11:30 CT on Saturday.
Our bet is on the latter.
Ireland is a business trip, but a family affair
Fitzgerald started the press conference fielding questions about the upcoming trip to Ireland, and all the bells and whistles that transatlantic trek will entail.
The Cats will be heading out on Tuesday to maintain their usual game prep schedule once they arrive in Ireland. With a bye week the following week, the Cats plan to stay in country on Sunday and head back on Monday.
"Give our guys whose families are able to make it to soak in as much of the culture, and as much of the country as they can," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald didn't quiz players on their personal connections to the country, or how many family members might or might not come. But he estimated that he, personally, will have 50 to 55 family members in attendance. That's a lot of Fitzes.
Gallagher and Clair were both excited for the trip but made it clear they have their eyes on the prize: a win over Nebraska. Evan Hull put it best.
"It's a business trip," Hull said. "While there's cool things to do...we're locked in."
Fitz sees the Ireland game as an opportunity to raise NU's profile
Kicking off in Aviva Stadium in Dublin will hardly be the first time Fitz and the Cats have playing a game in a non-traditional stadium. They played Purdue just last year at Wrigley Field, and have played in locations like Soldier Field and Yankee Stadium in the past.
Still, Ireland is a different country. The Aer Lingus Classic provides a new opportunity for Northwestern as the debut game of Power Five football in 2022. It also gives the Wildcats a chance to be international ambassadors of the sport.
"We're an international school, any time we get an opportunity to do something unique, I'm all for it," Fitzgerald said. "You've seen us play at Soldier Field, we had the privilege to play at Yankee Stadium. But nothing compares to this."
Fitz and his staff did a lot of homework
There have been many changes on the Nebraska sideline since last season, as head coach Scott Frost brought in five new coaches and a total of 33 new scholarship players.
That's nothing new for Fitzgerald and the Cats.
"This is the norm for my staff," Fitzgerald said. "It seems like every year, the opener is a new head coach or multiple new coordinators."
The trio that Fitzgerald pointed out was offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, quarterback Casey Thompson and wide receiver Trey Palmer. Whipple comes to Nebraska after a stint as the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Pittsburgh, where he worked with first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett. Thompson comes from Texas, Palmer from LSU.
"You pop on LSU tape, and you see Trey Palmer and you're like oh yeah, there he is!" Fitzgerald said. "You pop on the Texas tape, and Casey's right away jumping out to you."
Fitz said that the Cats will prepare as they always do, looking at old tape from the player and coaches' old programs and estimating what they'll do on Saturday when they're all together.
Running back room is raring to go
The Northwestern running back room -- probably the most talented group on the team -- is ready for action. They are excited to put themselves to the test.
"I wouldn't want a different group to go out there and do battle with," Evan Hull said. "Because we all push each other."
The leading tandem will likely be Hull and Cam Porter, with occasional contributions from Andrew Clair and Anthony Tyus III. Fitz was excited about the depth that they have, and called back to his playing days to show how crucial he thinks it will be to Northwestern's success.
"I go back to my time in this league, the teams that have fresh running backs, it just seemed like getting hit with new waves after new waves," Fitzgerald said.
