On defense, starting Strong Safety Bryan Heinz was knocked out for the year with a knee injury. Other players also had bumps and bruises that kept 14 - 18 players in orange most of the camp.

But if the 2 Deep released by the football office today is any indication, the Cats have come through the pre-season with most of the projected starting lineup intact.

On offense, the two big line-up battles were at running back and center. #1, Brandon Roberson [So 5-9 195] gets the nod at running back, beating out Tyrell Sutton [Fr 5-9 190] and Omar Conteh [Fr 6-0 200]. At center, #42, Austin Matthews [So. 6-5 285] was named the starter, after Joel Belding, long reported to be Trevor Rees' replacement, suffered an injury to his knee last week.

Over on Defense, it appears that #99 Corey Wootton [Fr 6-6 260] has earned the starting nod, at least on the printed release, beating out upperclassmen # 72 David Ngene [6-3 275] and #91 Mark Koehn [6-3 260]. What is important to remember about the defensive line, is that NU employs a lot of defensive sets and tends to liberally substitute players up front.

[Update!] Then comes word from Randy Walker's Weekly Press conference, that Mims and Ngene are actually the starters, but Wootton will be waiting in the wings. Not sure about that change, but the last time NU started a tureFrosh at DE in the first game was Loren Howard's debut against Air Force in 2002.

#25 Frederick Tarver [Sr 6-2 215] takes over for Heinz at Strong safety, the rest of the defensive backfield remains the same as it did throughout Kenosah, #20 Marquice Cole [Jr 5-11 180] and #24 Herschel Henderson [Sr 6-3 195] at Corner and #27 Reggie McPherson [So 6-3 190] at Free Safety.

What is unique about this year's opening game 2 Deep is the number of true freshmen listed;

• RB #19 Tyrell Sutton
  
• RB #29 Omar Conteh
• WR #8 Rasheed Ward [5-10 170]
• RT #78 Kurt Mattes [6-4 280]
• RG #68 Tyler Compton [6-5 285]
  
• DE #99 Corey Wootton [6-6 260]
• DT #70 John Gill [6-3 285]
• SAF #29 Brenday Smith [6-1 215]

[Update]There are no freshman actually in a starting role [Wootton] and unlike 4 years ago, all of the linebackers, and most of the D-Line has some experience, with Senior Barry Cofield [6-4 305] and junior Trevor Sch7ultz [6-2 295] anchoring the middle.

In case you haven't noticed, its less than 5 days until kickoff. Bring on the Bobcats.