The Amazing Story of Northwestern Football's Senior Class

Tomorrow afternoon, 21 NU seniors will play at Ryan Field for the final time.

They've been through hell and have emerged as one of the most successful senior classes in Northwestern football history.

For many of the seniors, 2005 was their first year in the program. It was a banner year for Northwestern football, as Brett Basanez helped lead the 'Cats to the Sun Bowl, where they fell just short in a memorable battle with the UCLA Bruins.

It seemed like NU had turned the corner and was set up for years of success.

Then on June 29, 2006, the unthinkable happened. Head Coach Randy Walker died of a heart attack at the age of 52.

All of a sudden, football just didn't matter anymore. It would have been understandable if many had decided to transfer.

But they didn't.  

They stayed, and on July 7, 2006, Pat Fitzgerald was named as the new Head Coach. He immediately became the youngest coach in all of college football.

The senior class has grown along with Fitzgerald since that day.

2006 was the first year any of this year's seniors (save Defensive End Corey Wootton and Safety Brendan Smith) saw action on the field.

It was a rough season to say the least. It would have been a difficult season even without the added burden of Coach Walker passing away. After all, NU was trying to find a new quarterback with Basanez playing on Sundays.

I too am a senior, and did not follow Northwestern football until the day I was admitted to the university. I learned about Coach Walker's passing from the Northwestern home page.

I remember listening to their emotional win over Miami (OH), which of course is where Walker used to coach.

Mike Kafka started at quarterback that day to open the 2006 season. I heard he was a red-shirt freshman and assumed he'd be the quarterback for my entire time at Northwestern.

But like so many in this senior class, he faced some personal adversity right away as he got injured in the Nevada game, and didn't start again until this year.

With Kafka out, it was Andrew Brewer's turn to try the quarterback position. Brewer was a highly touted recruit out of Oklahoma where he played for a traditional football powerhouse and excelled as a dual-threat quarterback. But to be quite frank, he was not very good at Northwestern.

When sophomore CJ Bacher finally got healthy, Brewer was out of a job, but not for long. Northwestern's seniors have a 3-0 record at Kinnick Stadium for a reason...they just seem to love it there. Brewer's transformation into this year's No. 2 receiver began there, when he caught a deep throw from Bacher to set up a NU touchdown.

But Brewer had to deal with even more adversity in 2007, when he missed the entire year with an injury. After a great game against Syracuse to start 2008, Brewer again battled through injuries the remainder of the year.

Now, in 2009, Kafka and Brewer have re-emerged as vital cogs in NU's offense. After a spectacular cameo last year against Minnesota, where he set the Big Ten single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback, Kafka has used his arm more than his legs this year.

People doubted his passing before the season, but his success through the air is a tribute to his hard work and the coaching staff at NU. Buried behind Bacher for the past few seasons, Kafka has been an upgrade over what Bacher provided last year.

Meanwhile, Brewer has finally turned into the wide receiver we were all dreaming he could be back in that Iowa game in 2006.

The latest example being his huge catch on a seam route against Illinois, which set up a Northwestern touchdown. He's been consistent as well, in fact, the only receiver who has been better than him this year might be the most improbable story of them all.

Zeke Markshausen played wide receiver and ran track at Division Three UW-Platteville in 2005. He walked on at Northwestern and red-shirted in 2006.

Markshausen has said that the coaching staff gave him a week-long tryout, and that he was just trying to fit in, and not be noticed for doing anything wrong. Well, they noticed him doing a lot right, and he made the team. 

But before this magical senior season, he only had one career catch. Currently, he's second in the Big Ten in receptions. Teammates have described Markshausen as the hardest worker on the team by far, and this year the effort and persistence has paid off.

He and his fellow senior receiver Brewer both share a strong Christian faith that has kept them going through the tough times.

Both will walk off Ryan Field tomorrow as some of the more resilient players in NU history. Hopefully, they can get a Senior day victory and a bowl win as well.

Our story of perseverance is certainly not limited to the offensive side of the ball. Corey Wootton actually played in four games as a freshman, but got hurt in the fourth, and got a medical hardship.

I remember going to the Eastern Michigan game my freshman year and thinking, "Man, No. 99 is huge, I hope he's good, he looks like a beast!" When Wootton first signed with the Wildcats, Walker said he had the potential to be the best defensive player in NU history.

That's a lot of pressure to put on a freshman. Wootton underachieved relative to fans' expectations in 2006 and 2007. But in 2008, he emerged as one of the best players in the entire conference, if not the country.

A dream season for Wootton ended abruptly though as he tore his ACL while pursuing Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel.

Wootton had to go through a very tiring and difficult rehab in order to get back for the 2009 season.

As Fitzgerald, who also dealt with injuries during his time in Evanston, said, the biggest challenge is to regain that mental confidence to play football at full speed again.

Wootton started 2009 slowly, and suffered a minor injury midway through the season, furthering his difficulties.

But at the same time, he made the play of the season against Iowa. He sacked Ricky Stanzi in the end zone, jarring the ball lose, and fellow senior Marshall Thomas recovered it for the touchdown.

On the play, Stanzi was hurt, and from that point on, NU dominated on defense as they shocked the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes.

Senior Safety Brendan Smith has a chance this year to make history. If he plays in NU's bowl game, he will become the first player ever at Northwestern to play in three bowl games during his career. But for Smith, it's also been a long, difficult journey to this point.

After a freshman All American Honorable Mention season in 2005, Smith performed well in 2006 as well, earning All Big Ten Honorable Mention honors that year. But in 2007, just like Brewer, Smith suffered an injury that forced him to take a medical hardship.

But he battled back and made possibly the most memorable play of the past decade for NU when he picked off an Adam Weber pass and returned it to the house as time expired to beat the Golden Gophers in one of the most improbable wins in NU school history. He was once again an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention selection.

But in 2009, it's once again been a rough road for Smith as a hand injury will keep him off the field on Senior Day.

But he told me that he's not letting this injury prevent him from playing in the bowl game, and hopefully helping NU to their first bowl win since 1949.

These are just some of the stories of this senior class. You can find a full list of all the seniors being honored tomorrow here .

There are seniors who rarely saw the field who are being honored for their hard work in helping out the program in their own way, such as quarterback Joe Mauro and linebacker, now student coach, Chris Jeske.

Their careers maybe didn't go as planned, but neither did any of these seniors' careers. They started at Northwestern under Walker, persevered through his shocking death, and have emerged with success that would have been unfathomable in 2006. 

This is the first group to lead NU to three consecutive seasons of bowl eligibility, they will be the second group to lead NU to back-to-back bowls, and they could be the first since 1949 to actually win a bowl game.

But as Corey Wootton reminded me, they need to focus on beating Wisconsin first.

They can expect a standing ovation tomorrow, no matter what the result.