After two years of playing with his cards cemented to his chest, head coach David Braun is laying them on the table with his depth chart ahead of the 2025 season. Braun named Preston Stone was named the starting quarterback at Big Ten Media Days in July. On Wednesday at a fall camp press conference, […]
After two years of playing with his cards cemented to his chest, head coach David Braun is laying them on the table with his depth chart ahead of the 2025 season.
Braun named Preston Stone was named the starting quarterback at Big Ten Media Days in July. On Wednesday at a fall camp press conference, Braun disclosed his four-fifths of his starting offensive line.
Franchise left tackle Caleb Tiernan‘s name has been set in stone after starting the last 25 games at the position. Braun locked a new name in, Jackson Carsello, at center.
“Two guys that have been in the program for a long time are Caleb Tiernan and Jackson Carsello. They’re going to be absolute staples of that group,” Braun said.
Braun then went on to endorse Ezomo Oratokhai and Evan Beerntsen as the starters at left and right guard, respectively.
“Really excited about what’s going on inside with some competitive depth,” Braun said. “[Ezomo] played quite a bit for us at the back end of last year at left guard and continues to really improve. Evan Beerntsen at right guard is someone who’s been an incredible addition.
“I think where the question mark still exists is at right tackle.”
The three candidates Braun listed competing for the role are grad transfers Xavior Gray and Martes Lewis, and redshirt junior Deuce McGuire.
Gray was a highly touted transfer in from Liberty, a seventh-year graduate coming off a First Team All-Conference USA season. Many thought him to be a shoo-in for the starting role.
However, injury rehab knocked Gray out of spring ball, and a challenge from Lewis, as well as the continued development of McGuire, leaves the position up for grabs less than two weeks before kickoff.
Linebacker corps will be helmed by Uihlein, Brus
Similar to Tiernan, Mac Uihlein was a lock for the starting Mike linebacker role. He started all 12 games and tallied a team-high 85 tackles last season, so the question in the offseason was who would be his running mate after the graduation of Xander Mueller.
Northwestern added two experienced transfers, Yannis Karlaftis from Purdue and Jack Sadowsky V from Iowa State, in the offseason, but the job went to an internal candidate, redshirt junior Braydon Brus.
“We’ve known for a long time that his skillset, his explosiveness and speed, are things that really differentiate him as a Will linebacker…” Braun said. “He’s becoming more and more comfortable. I don’t think we made the decision, he did with his consistent performance.”
College football teams rarely rotate linebackers and Northwestern is no exception. Their two starting linebackers in their base nickel alignment, Uihlein and Brus, are expected to play every snap when healthy.
Braun wasn’t as unequivocal as he was with Brus, but he gave a strong indication that Karlaftis will be the team’s third linebacker, playing the Sam role that was filled by Kenny Soares last season. Karlaftis will be in the lineup when the Wildcats need to switch out of their nickel set to match up with heavier fronts.
“I can see [Sam] being a huge role for him…” Braun said about Karlaftis. “He’s repped significantly at Sam and he’s worthy of playing a ton of football for us.”
Sadowsky, who has two years of eligibility remaining, will begin his Northwestern career in a special teams role, said Braun.
Bastone earns No. 1 jersey
Defensive tackle Carmine Bastone has been selected by his teammates to wear the No. 1 jersey for Northwestern, an annual honor that goes to a player that embodies the program’s values.
It’s been an incredible rise for Bastone, a preferred walkon in the Class of 2020 who worked his way into the rotation in 2023, playing in all 13 games with nine starts. Last season he was elected a team captain. Injuries limited him to seven games, six of them starts, though he made his presence felt with a strip sack in his season debut against Maryland that led to a touchdown, fueling a 37-10 romp in College Park last Oct. 11.
Now, Bastone will don the No. 1.
“Carmine embodies everything this program is about and everything college football should be about…” Braun said. “Even in this new landscape, we need to continue to find guys like Carmine Bastone that are tough, resilient, love football, want to be coach hard, and maybe just haven’t blossomed as early as others [in high school] but can turn themselves into really good Big Ten football players.
“That’s exactly what Carmine has done.”
Category: General Sports
