As many of you already know (Oops, maybe I shouldn’t say that. After all, it was you that selected them in our Best of NU poll as the worst team on campus), the Northeastern University football team has been selected as Street and Smith’s No. 1 team in Division I-AA.
Congratulations are in order; the honor is a culmination of several years of hard work for the program, which saw a tough-luck 4-7 squad evolve into an indomitable 10-3 unit and Atlantic 10 conference champion in a mere three seasons.
Still, it goes so much deeper than the top spot in all of I-AA. In addition to that mark of distinction, the squad has three televised games this season, bringing more attention to the rising program. And if one needed additional proof to validate the arrival of the program on Huntington Avenue, look no further than the Sports Network. Arguably the premier source of all information regarding I-AA football, it has selected stud linebacker Liam Ezekiel to its preseason All-America second team, in addition to selecting the Huskies as the eighth-ranked team in the nation.
It should really come as no surprise. The squad has replaced playmakers such as Art Smith and Steve Anzalone with talented newcomers such as Jeremiah Mason (Syracuse) and Andre Taylor (University of Tennessee). That does not even include the incoming freshman class, which includes Delaware Offensive Player of the Year Jamil Young and standout offensive lineman Charles Bradley.
Still, you can’t help but ask: how will they handle it? This upcoming season will be much different from anything they have experienced in years past. Instead of going into the schedule trying to prove the doubters wrong, they will have the bullseye placed squarely on their foreheads. No longer is there a question if Northeastern will finish 10th in an 11-team conference; now the issue is not if but when the Huskies get to the I-AA playoffs this season (as they did last year for the first time ever), will they be able to win the school’s first playoff game? Instead of wondering how a defense that features some talented athletes will come together and perform this season, the primary concern is whether or not last year’s defensive dominance will carry over to this year’s edition. Instead of seeing how a quarterback in his first full season as starter and a running back who returned from personal issues will be able to adjust to a hodgepodge offensive unit, now pundits will wonder: can Shawn Brady and Tim Gale do it again? These and a bevy of other questions pervade this season’s edition.
And those are just the on the field questions; what of the off-field issues? In years past, when a member of the football team would walk into the cafeteria to eat, few, if any words were said to them. Now, they have students and faculty alike coming up to them with words of encouragement and admiration. It’s a lot easier to rant about an upgrade in facilities when your team captures a conference championship and your university’s president stands in a room singing your praises. After so much time spent as the school’s perennial oversight, such attention has to feel good.
Is complacency a concern? Highly unlikely. The reasoning begins and ends with one man: New England and Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year Don Brown. Still, as great a motivator as he is, the onus on maintaining that hunger lies on the players. How they fare this season depends on them, and how much more they want as the season progresses. That said, the only question that needs answering is this: is Northeastern hungry?
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