Harnish could go for Northern Illinois against Akron
By JOHN SAHLY - Shaw Suburban Media
DeKALB – A return to action Saturday would seem unlikely for Chandler Harnish, but Northern Illinois football coach Jerry Kill didn’t rule anything out on Tuesday.
Harnish’s status remains questionable for Saturday’s game against Akron, but Kill said at Tuesday’s news conference that the sophomore quarterback’s injured right knee could heal in time for him to play Saturday.
Harnish will be reevaluated today, although the decision on whether he’ll play or not likely will remain under wraps until Saturday morning, when the Huskies take on Akron at 11 a.m. at Huskie Stadium.
Kill also revealed that Harnish, who as of this past Saturday was expected to miss 2-3 weeks, had surgery on the knee this past Tuesday.
“It’s not a major thing that’s going to keep him out for the rest of the year,” Kill said. “He’ll be back. It’s just something that we’ll have to see. Optimistically, I was told that there’s a chance that he could play this weekend. But we’ll just have to see how it comes along.”
How Harnish practices – he did some throwing and light backpedaling before NIU’s 27-22 win at Miami (Ohio) this past Saturday – will determine his status for the Akron game. He was at practice Tuesday but did not participate.
“I’m old-school,” Kill said. “You’ve got to be able to practice and show me you can move around and do all of those things before we’re going to play you. We’ll just have to see.”
If Harnish cannot go, DeMarcus Grady again will start as he did against the RedHawks.
Grady said after Tuesday’s practice that his comfort level this week is different from last week and he felt more relaxed going into the Akron game than he did for the eventual victory at Miami (Ohio).
“This week I know more of what’s going on being actually in there and being able to run the plays,” Grady said. “This week I’m just really, really focusing on seeing coverages and just understanding what’s going on out there versus playing a guessing game.”
Grady added that Harnish has helped him out during the past few days, including film study on Monday.
“He’s still in it,” Grady said.
Kill also said on Tuesday that he might use senior Ryan Morris in certain situations against the Zips.
“We talked to Ryan about that before the game on Saturday, but it’s no different than when we used DeMarcus sometimes when Chandler was playing to take a little bit of a load off of him,” Kill said.
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