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Huskies report for preseason camp

August 6, 2012

Photo of an NIU football helmet at Ford FieldNorthern Illinois Head Coach Dave Doeren welcomed the 2012 NIU Huskies to his second preseason camp as head coach Sunday with the defending MAC Champions set to take the field Monday afternoon for the first of 24 preseason workouts.

While the majority of the 2012 Huskie team, including 36 newcomers, has been in DeKalb attending summer school and working out since mid-June, Monday provides the first opportunity for Doeren and the Huskie coaches to coach the 105 players in camp.

“It’s exciting to have the guys here and be able to work with them,” Doeren said. “This is why we call ourselves coaches. We look forward to getting on the field and being together over the next few weeks, bonding and coming together as a team. This is a great time because for the only time of the year it’s just football. School hasn’t started, campus is quiet … It’s a great teaching time, a great chemistry [building] time for the staff and players.”

Preparations for the 2012 season are not limited to the field as the team will hear from different guest speakers, and spend time in meetings. Doeren said one of the key elements of training camp takes place in the evenings as the team takes ownership of this year’s “commandments.”

“These are the tenets of the program that we have put together with the leadership council,” Doeren said. “They’re different every year. They’ve been posted in our weight room all summer, but this is a time for the team to really get ownership and personalize them.”

Once again this year, Northern Illinois’ preseason practices are open. The complete season schedule is available at http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/080512aab.html.

Northern Illinois takes the nation’s longest Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) winning streak into the 2012 season-opener after winning its final nine games of the 2012 season, including the Mid-American Conference Championship and the GoDaddy.com Bowl. The Huskies play host to Iowa at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Sept. 1 and tickets to Soldier Field Showdown III are now on sale through Ticketmaster by calling 1-800-745-3000, or online at www.Ticketmaster.com.

Northern Illinois 2012 football season tickets are on sale through the NIU Athletics External Office at 815-753-1923 or online at www.NIUHuskies.com for just $120 for the full six-game Huskie Stadium season. Mini-plans, featuring any three Huskie Stadium games, can be purchased for $60, while NIU’s HuskieLand Plan provides a ticket to the season-opener versus Tennessee-Martin (Sept. 8), the Kansas game (Sept. 22) and the MAC West rivalry game versus Toledo (Nov. 14) along with $45 in gift cards from Buffalo Wild Wings, Village Commons Bookstore and HyVee.