One Less Day Til Football, No. 46, Damien Proby

In case you guys thought rooting for Northwestern was a pathetic waste of our efforts against our better judgement, the Knicks opted not to resign Jeremy Lin, and I am distraught.

No. 46, Damien Proby, junior, LB

Who he be: Damien is the antichrist a returning starter at middle linebacker. Out of high school, he was a three star - bein from Vegas, lotsa PAC-10-now-12 offers. He first broke into the starting rotation in the Wrigley game, which wasn't exactly a rousing defensive statement by anybody's standards. However, his re-entrance to the starting lineup this past season came around the time Northwestern flipped the switch defensively and reeled off a four-game win streak. Proby was responsible 14 and nine tackles against Indiana and Nebraska, plus a big sack against Nebraska for a loss of ten.

Things that can be described as "proby": Aliens

Hopefully nobody else

Dearly departed: From a few years out, but remember No. 46 Malcolm Arrington, another middle linebacker who played about half a season while I was at NU before a career ending injury. Malcolm was a key defensive player on what was, at the time, one of the better defenses in the Big Ten, but he'll best be remembered by me for his one bar on Mo Greene's 2008-edition "Go U NU", which said he was better than Lavar.

Looking forward: I think Northwestern would be smart to play both Proby alongside David Nwabuisi, who heads into the season as Northwestern's best defensive player. The past few years have seen Northwestern look for taller, faster linebackers - Quentin Davie style players with limited success as tackling ability sometimes wasn't there. I see Nwabuisi crowding the middle while Proby, at 6-feet-flat and 235 pounds, could move to an outside linebacker slot. (EDITORS NOTE: I SCREWED THIS UP. I think Proby is more likely to remain in the middle with Nwabuisi outside, as happened last year, but apparently wasn't paying attention to which guy I gave which position while writing. My bad.) If that doesn't happen, Proby will be Nwabuisi's backup, but both should get a lot of playing time.