June 03--Unlike this time last year, Rod Carey knows who his starting quarterback will be before camp starts Aug. 5 for Northern Illinois.
Junior Drew Hare returns after leading the Huskies to an 11-3 record and a Mid-American Conference championship. He threw just two interceptions while passing for 2,322 yards and 18 touchdowns.
"Drew has to get better and he would be the first to say that," Carey said Tuesday. "And we have to get better as a football team. But it gives you a sense of what we are trying to get better at, instead of who we are trying to do (it with) and trying to get better. It's a big difference."
Hare also rushed for 900 yards and 8 TDs. He won a three-way battle for the starting role early last season.
NIU opens this season by hosting UNLV on Sept. 5 in DeKalb, and Murray State on Sept. 12. The Huskies close out the first month of play at Ohio State on Sept. 19 and at Boston College on Sept. 26.
Northern Illinois figures to be a strong contender to repeat as MAC champs.
"You lose (wide receiver) Da'Ron Brown, you lose (tailback) Cameron Stingily. But you've got Joel (Bouagnon) back, and you've got Tommylee (Lewis) coming back....all these guys coming back. On the O-line, you lose some guys there, but... it's a natural transition," Carey said.
Carey joined NIU athletic director Sean Frazier, men's basketball coach Mark Montgomery and other coaches of the school's men's and women's teams at an alumni event at Joe's on Weed in Chicago.
