NIU Football...End of 07...Beginning of 08

The 2007 season and my first college football season is officially over. The 2008 season is just now under preparation. Our preparation for next season has already started off with a pretty big bang...Coach Joe Novak, our head coach, has officially retired from coaching and decided to move to North Carolina in July of 2008. Since our coach has retired, now we have to construct a nation-wide search for a new head coach. Once the new head coach has been signed and has arrived, he will make his decisions on new assistant coaches and if he is going to have some, if any, of our present assistant coaches continue here as a part of the NIU coaching staff. The new coach will decide to give the axe or give the helping hand. As a player of the Northern Illinois Huskies, this change is exactly what this team needs to become a big competitive school. We have a tremendous amount of talent for the 2008 season, we just need a young, innovative, and new-school football coach who is ready to do whats necessary to bring home MAC championships, National Rankings, and consecutive Bowl Game appearances. The dreams and aspirations that we have as a football team can only be met by great and young coaching who is willing to recruit from wherever need be to get top recruits to play as a Huskie. To refrain from looking to far ahead, for this next season, we have the tools and heart to go however far we want, we just need a great coaching staff to lead the way. These next few days, weeks, or months even are going to be a ride, a ride of a lifetime in search of the new Northern Illinois Huskies Head Football Coach. Once he is here, we, as in we i mean us Northern Illinois Huskie Players, are willing to get in the cart and take the roller coaster ride of the year 2008 with our new coach and along the way pick up a MAC Championship, National Ranking, and ultimately go "Bowling". We see the Boise State's and the Hawaii's of the College Football world doing it, it is our time, like how it was back in 2003, to be the next Boise State. The first step to doing so is by doing whatever it takes to prepare day-in and day-out and start the season by beating Minnesota (Big 10) and Tennessee (SEC) and making a name for ourselves in the College Football world. I am tired of getting my ass kicked and I know you are, it's payback time, it's our time to be giving the ass kickings, it's time to shine fellow Huskies, I think its time to show that we are not a bottom 10 team, but a top 25 team in the nation! PAYBACK IS COMING, 276 DAYS AND COUNTING UNTIL THE FIRST ASS KICKING AGAINST THE MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS. GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!

Bye Weekend...One of the Best Ever

BYE WEEKEND…was the best weekend I’ve had in a while. I was able to do things that I haven’t done in a while or haven’t done ever.
On Friday, November 2, I went to my favorite band’s, Coheed and Cambria (aka CO CA or just Coheed), concert in North Chicago at the Riviera Theatre. It was by far one of the best times of my life. I have wanted to see CO CA in concert for four years, and I haven’t had the time, money, or means of transportation, or whatever legitimate reason, such as practice, to see them in concert until last weekend. Out in California, they would play either on Wednesday or Thursday nights, and on those nights I would have high school football practice. This year was different because I didn’t have to worry about practice, because our team had a bye week in football. So I was finally able to see my favorite band!!! Mind this that my car is back at home in California. The problem was I had a for sure ride to the concert until two days before it, where my kicker and I, who was going to be my ride, got in a scuffle about something at practice. Well after that I officially had no ride to the show…I had to ask around and around for somebody to let me borrow their car, or have them take me there, eventually after five different people that I asked, I was able to borrow the third string quarterbacks car!!! This was totally last minute and very generous of him. After a full day of classes, 3 hours of traffic, and two bands later, finally…COHEED!!! It was the best show I have ever been to bar none. It was something that I have wanted and waited patiently for so long. It was well worth the four years of waiting! I sang out of the top of my lungs every single word of every single song Coheed and Cambria played. I wasn’t the only one either, people to my right, and people to my left were singing as loud as they could. It is a memory of something that I will never forget and a memory of a feeling that I will never forget! They sounded so perfect and polished, and best of all it was LIVE! Call me a fanatic, I don’t care, because this bands music has been very precious to me for a very long time now, so I wanted to make sure I enjoyed the best concert of my life!
On Sunday, November 4, I helped coach a NIKE kicking, punting, and long snapping top recruit search camp. Last year I was a participant in that camp, this time, however, I was a coach! It was really incredible being able to coach future and current college prospects for snapping. I was used as the example snapper the whole day; I remember back how I was a participant in this camp and how I always looked up to the example snappers…It was something very special to me this time to actually be the guy being looked up to. My snapping coach was the organizer and head coach of this camp, it was really incredible being on the other side of the fence, where I no longer had to prove to him I was a top snapper in the country, this time he already knew I was a top snapper in the country, so he utilized me as the demonstrator! I can definitely tell the difference of ability from last year to this year. I have increased in talent and ability by monstrous leaps, and I hope that I continue to do so!