ON THE TURF: Wednesday Practice

ROUNDUP

Following yesterday’s gorgeous weather, Wednesday’s practice featured an escape from the sun, but pleasant, pristine conditions. The team returned to shorts and shells, a standard procedure for midweek practices.

The best news of the day?

Tyrell Sutton practiced and showed flashes of why he’s the most dangerous running back in the Big Ten. And C.J. Bacher practiced for the second consecutive day without tape on his hand or fingers. All is well on the injury front for the Wildcats.

“If it's not broken and I can walk, I'm going to play," Sutton said after the morning session. “I’m 100 percent.”

And just one day after the offense witnessed the wrath that is Mick McCall, the Cats’ defense felt the same from Mike Hankwitz. After a series of missed tackles, the new defensive coordinator tore into the lack of effort and the need to finish plays.

If it wasn’t enough, McCall made three players do pushups for the length of post-practice interviews, which lasted at least 20 minutes.

FIVE RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Redshirt freshman quarterback Dan Persa lined up in the slot on a third-and-long. Yes, as a wide receiver. Persa ran a slant, juked a defender, and went into the end zone untouched. Current Northwestern receivers Eric Peterman and Andrew Brewer were high school quarterbacks who now line up on the outside. Could we have witnessed the beginning of a position change for Persa, who also saw time at running back during the Spring Game?

-For the first time all week, the Cats’ offense ran third-and-goal situations and ran various plays from a multitude of formations. The favorite play? Omar Conteh on an option pitch from Bacher. It has worked twice this season in short yardage situations because Bacher’s field vision as a runner is second-to-none. NU also ran several playaction passes where Bacher rolled back to the left and found Peterman in the corner of the end zone. While the team has been perfect in the red zone thus far, it has had difficulty from inside the 5-yard line.

-While senior defensive tackle John Gill noted that every team in the Big Ten is strong, physical, and tough, he said that the contest with Iowa might be the most physical game the Cats play all season.

“It’s going to be a tough, hard fought game,” Gill said. “Iowa’s one of the most physical teams we play all season.”

-While Kinnick Stadium is one of the toughest venues in the Big Ten, it has one of the most interesting locker rooms in the conference. The opponent’s locker room is painted pink.

“Everyone loves the pink locker room,” senior offensive lineman Keegan Kennedy said. “Everyone is fascinated about that. To tell you the truth, it’s the nicest away locker room we play at, even though it’s pink. The pink doesn’t distract us; we think its funny and a joke. We get ready for the game and go play Iowa.”

And Tyrell Sutton, the usual jokester that he is, agreed.

“I want to paint my room pink,” the star tailback said.

-Gill, a monster in last year’s game against Iowa, had a stellar practice on Wednesday. He was in the backfield swarming the ball multiple times. A season ago against the Hawkeyes, Gill had two sacks and broke up a pass in the loss.

“I’m not sure we blocked John Gill more than three times in 70 plays last year,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said to the New York Times college football blog. “He really gave us problems.”