Kill recovering from minor surgery

Northern Illinois coach Jerry Kill had minor surgery on Friday but will be on the sidelines for Saturday's 6 p.m. home opener against North Dakota at Huskie Stadium.

Kill would not comment on the reasons for his surgery but said his "situation is not serious."

"It's not cancer-related or anything of that nature," said Kill, who had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his kidney in 2005. "It is what it is. I had to deal with something that I didn't have a choice but to get in. I went in on Friday and was out on Saturday. I'm just moving rather slowly."

Kill said he informed the NIU players of his health situation before he underwent surgery. He met with the rest of the NIU coaching staff Tuesday to catch up on his team's progress after missing a few practices.

– Jeremy Werner