From walk-ons to the portal: A look inside Thomas Hammock’s NIU recruiting philosophy

DeKALB – Most people are fast to say how much the college football landscape has changed.

NILs. The transfer portal. Big money. All have changed the game.

But NIU coach Thomas Hammock has a plan. At his news conference Wednesday announcing 18 high schoolers and two transfers in the 2024 recruiting class, Hammock said a lot about how he builds his program.

Hammock on Wednesday reiterated something he has said multiple times: He believes NIU is a developmental program. He wants to produce pieces from within.

“I think the freshmen that are on campus right now [make up] the best class that we’ve signed,” Hammock said. “From a talent standpoint, from an athletic standpoint and seeing them work every single day, I do feel like the class we signed for 2025 is a better class on paper, but they’ve got to come here and put the work in.”

On Wednesday he tied that to the quarterback room. The Huskies bring in 6-foot-5, 210-pound Brady Davidson from Rock Bridge in Columbia, Missouri, because they’re losing starter Ethan Hampton to the portal.

But Josh Holst, who had plenty of playing time backing up Hampton, returns. So does Jalen Macon, who was competing with Hampton and Holst for the starting job in the spring.

Hammock said while he expects to announce a quarterback next week through the portal, the best quarterbacks come from within.

“What we look at from a quarterback standpoint is very similar to the NFL,” said Hammock, a running backs coach with the Baltimore Ravens before coming to NIU. “You have a better chance of success when you have homegrown players. Some of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League are guys that were drafted. Patrick Mahomes. Lamar Jackson. Josh Allen. Joe Burrow. And that’s what we’re going to do. Invest in young quarterbacks, get them in our program and help them develop.”

So it’s a developmental program, now wrapping up Year 6 under Hammock. But the transfer portal still is part of the game.

The Huskies definitely lose players to the portal. Trayvon Rudolph and Ray Thomas also announced they’ll be going into the portal alongside Hampton, along with a handful of those younger players Hammock was talking about who still haven’t broken through for much playing time.

Also on Wednesday, Hammock said players in the portal will have the opportunity to play in the Huskies' bowl game if they want.

Which brings us to the next part. Hammock takes pride in developing relationships with players as much as developing them on the field.

He lamented new rules against home visits, saying how that’s a big tentpole in how the Huskies recruit. He said he never talks about NIL money when he’s recruiting.

“We still build relationships,” Hammock said. “We still do the things necessary to identify talent, evaluate it, develop it and retain it. I think those schools that talk about budgeting, become very transactional. And I think that shows up with young people out there not representing universities the right way.”

The results show up when a player like Skyler Gill-Howard goes on social media to announce he’s not entering the portal. It happened last year when Rudolph entered the portal but quickly withdrew. And we may see it in the bowl game if Hampton, Rudolph and/or Thomas make the rare decision to play, which Hammock, again, said is up to them.

Then there’s the portal. It’s never been a priority for Hammock, having described it as hit or miss. He said that next week he’ll announce a quarterback and a couple of receivers coming on board through the portal. But that doesn’t guarantee anything.

He said getting high schoolers in early – this year that’s defensive tackles Jordan Bellamy and Montrel Canion along with running back Laz Rogers – replaces the need for the portal. It gives young players an extra spring practice to help acclimate to the team and the speed of college football.

Some of the most successful players in the portal, such as Nate Valcarcel, are those who were recruited by NIU in the first place. But they chose to go elsewhere before ending up as Huskies.

Hammock trusts his instincts and those of his staff when recruiting. And apparently other schools do, too.

This year’s class only included two players from Illinois. It was supposed to be more, but Iowa State flipped a pair of NIU recruits, defensive back LaMarcus Hicks II from Maine West and wide receiver Dyllan Malone from Yorkville.

“We had more kids committed to us from Illinois, but Iowa State took a couple, right?” Hammock said. “That happens. They took a receiver that we had and they took a safety that we had. We’ll add some more Illinois kids as we go, but that’s part of the process. We do a great job with evaluating, and I think other schools know that. When they get late in the season they normally look at guys we recruited.”

The last wrinkle that prevents NIU from going whole-hog on the portal is scholarships. Even before the number a school can offer is reduced next year, NIU relied a lot on walk-ons. Hammock said there are about eight to 10 players currently in the program that he wants to make sure get one soon.

So if there’s someone coming in from the portal, that’s one less scholarship going to a current player.

“I would like to sign 40 guys, but there’s guys we’ve got to take care of on our football team that have earned scholarships,” Hammock said. “We will always take care of the guys within our program. I think that’s the best way to build your program. ... If you take care of your own team, you get the best out of your team.”