DeKalb, Illinois - With a combined 84 starts among his linebacker corps, Northern Illinois linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz knows that there will be more than a fair share of competition amongst his troops.

“(The competition) brings out the best in every one of us,” Matukewicz said. “So that is definitely a blessing that we have.”

Those 84 starts are spread among seven players, including converted safety Alex Kube (Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove). Matukewicz is pleased with the progress of Kube, but both he and the 2007 Freshman All-American know that there is always more work to be done.

“He has got a good spirit about getting better and realizes that there is a lot to his game that has got to get better at technique wise, but he has a bright future there,” Matukewicz said. “Just keep on doing what he’s doing and he’ll be just fine.”

The most experienced linebacker is senior Tim McCarthy (Neenah, Wis./Neenah) who has started in 20 games during his career and returning from a knee injury that cost him the final 10 games of the 2007 campaign.

“The guy that has really played well that we needed to play well is Tim [McCarthy],” NIU head football coach Jerry Kill said. “He stepped up and I think he is in the best shape of his life, mentally and physically. He feels good about himself and that is certainly the key to the linebacking role.”

The Huskies also return senior Josh Allen (North Chicago, Ill./North Chicago). In 2007, Allen started all 12 games for NIU and topped all Huskie linebackers with 89 tackles, good for third-best on the squad. Junior Cory Hanson (Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle) has started 18 out of the 21 games he has appeared in and has 127 total tackles in two seasons.

Other linebackers that have earned starts in their careers include Phil Brown (Chicago, Ill./Morgan Park), Zach Larsen (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) and John Tranchitella (Addison, Ill./Driscoll).

In all, Matukewicz has been pleased with the overall attitude of the linebackers.

“I really like the spirit of the whole team,” Matukewicz said. “They’ve embraced this (camp), and you can see what you are emphasizing on film. We walk out (to practice) and those guys are trying to give us what we are emphasizing…always wanting to get better everyday.”

Kill knows that the linebackers have the experience, but can they perform at a consistent level?

“I really don’t know how deep we are,” Kill said. “We have some guys who can play, but can they play consistently? I think it is too early [to tell].

“We’ve also had other guys really improve from a year ago,” Kill continued. “How deep that core is and how good it is, is yet to be determined until you play in a football game.”

With the end of preseason camp rapidly approaching, Kill spent much of Tuesday’s practice focusing on fundamentals and technique after a sluggish Monday.

“We are still trying to be a good fundamental and technical team,” Kill said. “We made way too many mental errors yesterday on both sides of the ball. Also, we had some technique situations that we were not very good at.

“We came out and we wanted to have a hard, tough practice physically and turn up the engines on them a little bit,” Kill continued. “We got after them good and tried to clean up the problems that we had.”

That being said, Kill knows that he and his staff are throwing a lot at his team.

“The kids are trying to work at the pace we want to and trying to get better,” Kill said. “We are asking so much of them right now because we didn’t have half of our squad in the spring, so they are having spring ball and two-a-days all put into one. We are asking a lot of them both mentally and physically and so far they have held up pretty

good.” The Huskies open the 2008 campaign on Saturday, Aug. 30 at Minnesota with the home opener set for Sept. 20 versus Indiana State.

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