Aug. 26, 2010
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Never do they look ahead, striving instead to maintain a focus that is as rigid and as narrow as any bigot's mind. That has been a mantra of the 'Cats through their off-season drills and through their practices in the spring and even through the rigors they endured at P-A-I-N, which is how they spell their Camp Kenosha. But early Wednesday evening, back home and with yet one more practice now behind them, they could finally look to the future with a conscience as clear as a sunny day.
They could do that since the toughest of their preliminary work was at last behind them and ahead, starting Sunday, they would move into their game-week routine and start preparing for their Sept. 4 season opener at Vanderbilt.
"I think we're ready (for that). We're tired of hitting each other," the defensive coordinator Mike Hankwitz would say of that. "They've pushed hard. It's been a good camp. We've just got to keep improving. That isn't going to change the rest of the season. The key to any successful season is to continue to improve throughout the year. But I like where we're at right now. We've accomplished a lot. But that's just part of it. We're moving up the ladder, but we're not very high yet."
Have the coaches had to pull the players back as the practices mounted?
"I think they're more short-tempered and testy and tired of hitting each other. That's been good. We've had to pull 'em back from that, but that's just the camp mentality, the camp grind. . . I think everybody's excited to get in game week. You're not scrimmaging against each other day-after-day. You're focusing on Vanderbilt. They'll be ready for that."
Is that anxiousness something that grows over the weeks?
"We've had a very competitive camp. It's offense against defense, ones against ones almost every day. It tends to get real competitive. There are days when we (the defense) have a good interior drill. The offense, they're competitive, so they come back and they're mad. That helps keep the competition going. Even the last couple days, as tired as they are of hitting each other, that competitiveness hasn't dwindled, which is good. But, yeah, they're tired of practicing against each other. They get held too much, they take offense to it and, you know, they start swinging when they shouldn't. A little of that is good, but obviously you don't want anybody to break their hand or to get carried away either."
"I could see that (anxiousness) about three practices ago. Yeah. They start to get a little frisky," the head coach Pat Fitzgerald is saying moments later. "That's what I said in the staff meeting the other day. 'I know we're getting a little frisky. I know we're getting a little sick-and-tired of hitting the guy across from us because he poked me in the eye or, you know, whatever. Let's make sure we coach to be good teammates.' I think for the most part they did."
But isn't some friskiness good?
"I think it's a great thing. A great thing. I think we're in a good place right now."
There was more looking ahead shortly after Fitzgerald talked when the 'Cats and their hometown announced plans for the inaugural Evanston Day at Ryan Field, which will be held in conjunction with their Sept. 23 meeting with defending Mid-American champ Central Michigan. "Paint Evanston Purple" will be the theme of that weekend, which will kickoff with a pep rally two days before the game in front of the Rotary International Building on Sherman Avenue.
Elizabeth Tisdahl, the city's mayor, was on hand for the announcement and dressed appropriately for the occasion in a purple tee-shirt emblazoned with the words "Paint Evanston." There too were University President Morton Schapiro and Director of Athletics Jim Phillips and any number of 'Cat coaches in addition to Fitzgerald, who not surprisingly allowed, "We look forward to seeing a lot of purple in the stands on Sept. 25."
"I'm excited to live in a community with a Big Ten university and a stellar football program," said Tisdahl. "I'm looking forward to Evanston residents coming out to show their support for the Wildcats on Evanston Day at Ryan Field. I encourage all residents to help us 'Paint Evanston Purple.'"
Al Netter, the offensive tackle, laughs when asked if he's looking ahead to game week. "As offensive linemen," he then says, "camp is about getting better and working on things you need to work on for the season. But, at a certain point, you're ready to see a different colored helmet. You're banging heads against your own guys. It gets tough. So we're definitely at that point. We're ready."
Has he had any scuffles with Vince Browne, the defensive end he has spent so much time working against?
"No. No. I love going against a great player like Vince because I feel it prepares me better for the game. I'd rather go against someone like Vince than anyone else. He gives me a great look every single time and I feel like I give him a great look, and sometimes he beats me and sometimes I beat him. That's just the way it goes and we're making each other better."
Still, despite the team's adherence to tunnel vision, has it been hard not to look forward to game week?
"I'm not going to lie. It is tough. At a certain point, like I said, you want to get into the season."
"It's been a growing anticipation," the safety Brian Peters is saying moments later. "We've been building our technique, we're getting ready to peak on game week. So it's good."
Has he seen the competitiveness get frisky, to use Fitzgerald's term.
"We have a team full of competitors and going back and forth, ones-on-ones, even twos-on-twos, you'll see a few people scrapping here and there. It's really just part of the game. It's part of the people we recruit here, who love to compete and love to do their job. So it does happen. Everyone is getting a little chippy. It's been what, two-and-a-half weeks now that we've been going head-on-head against our own ones, so facing another team will do us good.
"We really want to test our skills. . .and to prove that we're ready to compete again at a high level this year and take a run at the championship."