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Northwestern entered Tuesday with a star running back and without a starting quarterback.
But life comes at you fast.
In the span of 5 minutes Tuesday afternoon, the Wildcats lost sophomore running back Cam Porter — last year’s leading rusher with 333 yards — to a non-contact lower-body injury and head coach Pat Fitzgerald named senior Hunter Johnson QB1.
Fitzgerald answered Northwestern’s biggest question by replacing Peyton Ramsey, a third-team All-Big Ten selection in 2020. Now, he has to replace his star running back.
Talk about a whirlwind.
Who’s the new running back?
Northwestern has 3 running backs on the roster with college experience: redshirt sophomore Evan Hull, Bowling Green graduate transfer Andrew Clair and redshirt sophomore Marcus Cisco.
Hull was 5th on the team with 209 rushing yards last season while Clair ran for 266 yards at Bowling Green. Cisco has only carried the ball 3 times in college, all of which came last year against Maryland. Northwestern also has true freshman Anthony Tyus III, who can contribute to the effort.
One will be tasked with replacing arguably the face of the offense 17 days before the season starts — and it sounds like Fitzgerald is leaning toward Hull, based on what he said after practice Tuesday.
“I don’t think Evan would ever want it to happen this way, but nonetheless he’s ready to go,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re really glad that Andrew’s here and same thing with Trey Tyus. You got, I think, three really talented guys that are going to help us.”
This would be Hull’s first time as RB1 if Fitzgerald goes that direction. He backed up Drake Anderson in 2019 and Porter, Anderson and Isaiah Bowser last season. In those two seasons, Hull totaled 495 yards and 6 touchdowns.
Porter’s dominance was one of the surprising storylines of 2020 since he was on the depth chart behind Anderson and Bowser, who both transferred this offseason. He then went off for 333 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Maybe Hull can be the surprise star the Wildcats suddenly need.
Hunter Johnson: Starting quarterback (Round 2)
Northwestern fans have heard this before: Hunter Johnson has been named the starting quarterback.
Johnson, a 5-star recruit, was deemed QB1 in 2019 after transferring from Clemson, but was replaced midseason by Aidan Smith after an up-and-down 6 games riddled with injuries.
This time, Johnson beat out fellow senior Andrew Marty and South Carolina transfer Ryan Hilinski — and Fitz gave him quite the vote of confidence.
“We took a look at the metrics, we took a look at where things were at,” Fitzgerald said. “We made a decision on who we felt could lead us to win a Big Ten Championship. And as we go here in the last half of camp, that’s Hunter Johnson.”
Johnson didn’t throw a pass last season, which adds to the intrigue about whether he’ll be better in his second stint as a starter.
With Ramsey under center last season, Northwestern ranked 10th in the Big Ten in offensive efficiency and still made the conference championship game. That speaks to just how good the defense was.
This year, Johnson and the offense have to be better if the Wildcats want to get back to Indianapolis.
Can Northwestern still meet expectations?
Coming off last season’s appearance in the Big Ten title game, Northwestern was picked to finish 3rd in the Big Ten West preseason poll. Before Tuesday, that seemed like a reasonable bar.
Take out the leading rusher and lock in a starting quarterback, and it’s worth revisiting that prediction.
As a team, Northwestern was 5th in total rushing yards last season. Remove Porter’s 333 yards and they fall to 9th. That’s where Johnson can be the difference at quarterback and make up for those lost rush yards in other ways.
It’s hard to pin down expectations since there’s a big question mark on the depth chart and we don’t know which Hunter Johnson we’ll get. One thing’s for sure, though: The Wildcats have gone from a possible dark horse to “wait and see.”
A lot can happen in 5 minutes.
Nick Schultz is a columnist and breaking news writer for Saturday Tradition. A 2020 graduate of Loyola Chicago, he covered the Ramblers' 2018 Final Four run from beginning to end and has worked at NBC Sports Chicago. Follow Nick on Twitter @NickSchultz_7.