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Northwestern has released its Week 1 depth chart for the matchup against Western Michigan.
There are several surprises. The biggest one, though, has to be Joseph Jones listed over Nate Hall. Although the linebackers will assuredly rotate around a lot, Hall had a very strong close to the 2015 campaign. Jones is a very good athlete and a special teams contributor, too.
At wide receiver, Austin Carr, Flynn Nagel and Solomon Vault are the starters, while Macan Wilson makes a jump to join Andrew Scanlan and Marcus McShepard as primary backups. At superback, Cameron Green has moved in from wide receiver. At 6-foot-3, Green has good size and a big catching radius.
Along the line, Tommy Doles gets the start at right guard. We saw him practice there on Aug. 23, but he had primarily played tackle earlier in his career.
Starter/1st String | Backup/2nd String | |
Quarterback | Clayton Thorson | Matt Alviti |
Running Back | Justin Jackson | Warren Long |
X-Receiver | Austin Carr | Andrew Scanlan |
Y-Receiver | Flynn Nagel | Macan Wilson |
Z-Receiver | Solomon Vault | Marcus McShepard |
Superback | Garrett Dickerson | Cameron Green |
Left Tackle | Blake Hance | Ben Oxley |
Left Guard | Connor Mahoney | Andrew Otterman |
Center | Brad North | J.B. Butler |
Right Guard | Tommy Doles | Shane Mertz |
Right Tackle | Eric Olson | Sam Coverdale |
Starter/1st String | Backup/2nd String | |
Defensive End | Xavier Washington | Joe Gaziano |
Defensive Tackle | C.J. Robbins | Fred Wyatt |
Defensive Tackle | Tyler Lancaster | Jordan Thompson |
Defensive End | Ifeadi Odenigbo | Trent Goens |
SAM Linebacker | Jaylen Prater | Brett Walsh |
MIKE Linebacker | Anthony Walker Jr. | Nathan Fox |
WILL Linebacker | Joseph Jones | Nate Hall |
Cornerback | Montre Hartage | Alonzo Mayo |
Safety | Godwin Igwebuike | Parrker Westphal |
Safety | Kyle Queiro | Jared McGee |
Cornerback | Matthew Harris | Trae Williams |
Starter/1st String | Backup/2nd String | |
Kicker | Jack Mitchell | Matt Micucci |
Punter | Hunter Niswander | Matt Micucci |
Kickoff Specialist | Jack Mitchell | Matt Micucci |
Kick Returner | Solomon Vault | |
Punt Returner | Matt Harris | Flynn Nagel |
Long Snapper | Chris Fitzpatrick |