NIU football: Top 5 plays from the first open practice of fall camp

DeKALB – The NIU football team held its sixth fall practice Tuesday, the first fully open to the media.

It was the third full-team practice after the first three were split into two groups.

Quarterbacks Jalen Macon, Josh Holst and Ethan Hampton took turns rotating in and out of various drills, all taking close to equal snaps. The Huskies are searching for a starter for the Aug. 31 opener against Western Illinois.

Here are five standout plays.

Switching it up

In the high-energy, late short-yardage drills, the offense lined up in the wildcat on fourth-and-1 with Macon lined up wide and Jaylen Poe at quarterback.

Poe kept the ball, and the line paved a huge whole for him to go through right up the gut for a big gain.

Breaking up is easy to do

Early in the practice in 8-on-8 drills, Holst was at quarterback and was looking for redshirt freshman receiver and Homewood-Flossmoor product Christopher Gore.

He seemed open at first, but safety Muhammed Jammeh came flying in from nowhere and almost got a pick six. He had to settle for the pass breakup.

On a roll

Late in that same 8-on-8 series, Macon had a hot stretch where he completed about 75% of his attempts, although Neuqua Valley grad and sophomore defensive back Andre Cobb almost jumped a pass to fullback Brock Lampe.

But the play before, Macon found Bolingbrook grad and St. Thomas transfer Andrew McElroy over the top after he slipped past the defense. It’s always hard to tell in no- and little-contact practices, but the play may have gone for a touchdown.

The one turnover. Maybe

The defense was solid through the practice but may have forced only one turnover. It was hard to tell when it was whistled dead, but Macon had the ball slip out of his hands while attempting a pass. Jay’Shon Thomas, a redshirt freshman from Cataula, Georgia, got to the ball first.

Some whistles sounded before he fully corralled the ball, so maybe Evan Buss recovered for the offense. But it sure seemed Thomas was there first.

Brown’s big run

Newly minted Walter Camp watchlist running back Antario Brown didn’t have a huge workload Tuesday.

But in an 11-on-11 drill late in practice, he started a series with a huge run, bursting through the middle of the line and coming out unscathed until the second level.