NIU football: Linebacker Daveren Rayner showing play-making abilities in spring practices

DeKALB – Any true freshman starting in a college game is going to go through growing pains, and like a lot of the 2020 NIU football team, Daveren Rayner has some war stories.

But the Huskies followed that 0-6 season with a MAC championship last year and Rayner, still classified as a freshman, averaged 4.6 tackles over eight games. This spring, he’s upped his playmaking skills even more, grabbing interceptions off quarterback Rocky Lombardi and the first team and generally wreaking havoc on defense.

“Everything is slowing down for me,” Rayner said. “With help from Juney [Barnett, NIU’s director of sports performance for football] and from coach Wimbo [linebackers coach Robert Wimberly]. I feel like my physical abilities match with the mental abilities that Wimbo has given me and talked to me about and coached me through. I feel like it’s growing a lot, and it’s going in the right direction for sure.”

Fourth-year head coach Thoams Hammock said Rayner should stand out as a playmaker in a deep linebacker group headlined by the return of eighth-year senior Kyle Pugh and junior Nick Rattin.

He said he’s come a long way since 2020, mentioning some plays he missed in his true freshman season out of Lawrence Central in Indianapolis in a COVID-19-shortened season. Rayner said he remembered one specific play against Buffalo when he chased down former Bulls and current Washington Commanders running back Jaret Patterson on a 59-yard scoring run but slipped off his body.

“Situations like that really humble you and let you know that, not necessarily that you’re not as great as you think you are, but at this level you are surrounded by other great athletes,” Rayner said. “Plays like that, you just have to go that much harder.”

Rayner started the first four games for the Huskies in 2021 but only played in four of the final 10 games, recording seven tackles in those – and six came in the regular-season finale against Western Michigan. Dillon Thomas, who transferred out of the program in the offseason, took over the starting job for the first nine games, then Jayden Dolphin started the bowl game.

“He’s got all the talent in the world,” Hammock said. “He’s athletic, he can make plays, he’s got great instincts. Now he’s got to pull it together for 12 games and show what he’s made of and make those plays. He’s made a couple interceptions in practices, he’s making tackles, he’s making tackles for loss, making sacks. He’s very active, and we’re very excited about what he can do.”

Hammock said there’s a lot of players fighting for the three starting linebacker spots. He said Jaden Dolphin has bulked up in the offseason, and redshirt freshmen Akanimo Asuquo, Elijah Hamm and Ryan King have had strong springs.

Rayner said the linebacker group might be young behind Rattin and Pugh, but they are capable of accomplishing big things.

“I don’t want to say too much, but I think we have a chance to be really special,” Rayner said. “I think we have a chance to lead. We have guys like Nick Rattin and Kyle Pugh, and with their guidance as a whole we’re pretty young but they’ll lead us the right way.”

And just like the growing pains of 2020 led to a MAC title in 2021, Rayner said the team is still able to improve a lot from last season.

“Our expectations are to do better than we did last year,” Rayner said. “Our expectations are to win a MAC Championship. Our expectations are to win a bowl game. That should be every program in the country’s expectations, I feel like. And I feel like this offseason we put ourselves in a good position to do such.”