Nov. 25, 2007

DeKALB, Ill. - The 2007 Northern Illinois football team saluted its nine-member senior class and Head Coach Joe Novak passed out the squad's annual awards Sunday as the Huskie Football family gathered at the Ballroom of the Holmes Student Center on the NIU campus to formally close out the just-completed season.

Sophomore tailback Justin Anderson (Chicago, Ill./Steinmetz HS), who gained 1,245 rushing yards on 274 carries to post the ninth-straight 1,000-yard rushing season by an NIU tailback, was named the 2007 Offensive Most Valuable Player, while junior defensive end Larry English (Aurora, Ill./Marmion Academy) picked up the Defensive MVP award. The MVP awards were voted on by the 2007 Huskie team.

English led the Huskies with 10.5 quarterback sacks, the third-highest single-season total in school history, and finished with 67 tackles while playing nearly every defensive down for Northern Illinois. Anderson's single-season tally ranked 12th on the NIU single season chart despite suffering a knee injury in the first-quarter Saturday that limited him to just nine yards on six carries. He also broke the Northern Illinois record for catches by a running back with 45.

Two players shared the Most Improved Award for their efforts during the past campaign. Punter Andy Dittbenner (Bloomington, Ill./Normal University), who set a new NIU record for single season punting average with 43.5 yards per punt on 59 kicks, and linebacker Zach Larsen (Northfield, Minn./Northfield HS), who started the last six games of the season at middle linebacker and finished the season with 59 tackles, two sacks, two fumbles caused and two recovered, were the NIU coaches' choices for the honor.

The Fran Cahill Award, presented to a Northern Illinois receiver in honor of the Huskie Hall of Fame receiver who helped lead NIU to a perfect 9-0 season in 1951, went to 2007 leading receiver Matt Simon (Farmington, Minn./Farmington HS). Simon finished 2007 with 52 catches and five touchdowns; his 969 receiving yards were the most ever by a Huskie junior.

Junior defensive tackle Alex Krutsch (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg HS), meanwhile, earned the Jawan Jackson Award, given annually to the Huskie player who came to NIU as a walk-on and made the greatest impact in 2007. Krutsch, who joined English as the only Northern Illinois defensive linemen to play every game on the season, made 44 tackles and 6.5 tackles for loss on the year.

The NIU Team Academic Award, which goes to the senior with the highest grade point average, went to defensive lineman Adam Schroeder (Rockford, Ill./Boylan HS). A prevention and rehabilitation sciences major, Schroeder plans to enroll in medical school following graduation.

All nine of NIU's 2007 seniors are on track to graduate in the next year. The nine seniors, who were honored prior to the game versus Ball State Saturday as well as at Sunday's awards banquet, are: OT Chris Acevedo (Lyons, Ill./Curie HS), TE Brandon Davis (Broadview, Ill./Riverside-Brookfield HS), Zach Holycross (Georgetown, Ill./Ridge-Farm HS), LB Saul Ibarra (Elmwood Park, Ill./St. Patrick HS), TE Tom Kelly (Elgin, Ill./Larkin HS), K Chris Nendick (Naperville, Ill./Central HS), TB Cas Prime (Janesville, Wisc./Parker HS), S Mark Reiter (New Lenox, Ill./Providence HS) and DL Adam Schroeder (Rockford, Ill./Boylan HS).

Brad Hoey, co-host of Inside Huskie Sports, served as emcee of Sunday's banquet, which also was highlighted by the airing of the team's annual highlight video.

Northern Illinois finished the 2007 season with a 2-10 record with five of those losses coming by six points or less. The Huskies saw 32 first or second team players miss at least one game due to injury; 36 players who started at least one game will be back in 2008.

-- NIU --

Northern Illinois University Football

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