Welcome to the latest edition of the HuskieWire.com Q&A.
Every Thursday, I'll answer your NIU and MAC-related questions right here. Do you have a question about NIU or the MAC? E-mail your questions to me at jsahly@daily-chronicle.com and I'll answer them next Thursday.
Here are this week's questions and answers:
Justin M. asked: What positions are you focusing on for recruiting this year?
John Sahly: I'm looking for a walk-on who can take down statistics for me at games and handle the prep roundup, are you interested? We're really an up and coming program here at Daily Chronicle U., and I expect us to start busting the BCS soon. In all seriousness, I think the top positions the Huskies are looking at would include offensive line, defensive backs and athletes that can play multiple positions. This is a pretty young team that will return a lot of experienced players over the next two seasons, so the next recruiting class might be pretty spread out position-wise.
JM: Are you recruiting the state of Minnesota?
JS: If my new assistant comes from the land of 10,000 lakes I've got no problem with that. I'm sure NIU is looking at prospects from all over the Midwest. I haven't heard of anyone specifically from Minnesota that NIU is looking at, though.
JM: With the bye week, how does that change preparation for the Toledo game? Do you try to allow more time for resting and healing of bumps/bruises, or is it business as usual?
JS: NIU used the bye week to try and get healthy, but if you saw our video from Tuesday's news conference, wide receiver Nate Palmer said it wasn't really an off week for the healthy players. The Huskies thought this was a great week to have the bye week because it gave them an extra week to prepare for Toledo, which is a little bit of a unique team on offense and defense.
JM: If Toledo QB [Aaron] Opelt is out for this weeks game, how does that change your defensive strategy?
JS: Backup Austin Dantin is more mobile than Opelt and might require someone on NIU to spy on him. In our Writer's Bloc blog entry this morning, it appears that Dantin is going to play on Saturday. But regardless of who plays quarterback for the Rockets, Toledo is still going to try and move the ball through the air, so I don't think a whole lot changes if Opelt doesn't play.
Q&A archive:
Sept. 24: Big 10 refs, Mike Kritikos and non-conference scheduling
Sept. 17: Payouts, redshirts and even an Shannon Elizabeth reference in the latest Q&A
Sept. 10: Recruiting, offensive line grades and more in the second week of the HuskieWire.com Q&A
Sept. 3: Running backs, Ticket sales, Jayme Wells and more in the first edition of the Q&A.
