Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley met with the media today (Friday) and says with a lot of new faces, he’ll depend on his staff to bring them along. “As I look at this football team moving into a media day with only one practice behind it, I think the best opportunity that we have is going to start with the coaching staff. I think the coaching staff has been the stable part of what we’ve done over all the years,” according to Farley.

One area where there is experience is at quarterback. Aaron Bailey has the skill set and has the experience now, and his game could be as good as he develops it too…..he’s put the time in, now we know his skill set,” Farley says. Another experienced leader is on defense. He says Karter Schult is a leader and another self -made, self-developed player form Tripoli who represents what it means to be a U-N-I player. Farley says Schult has gotten a lot of preseason recognition and hopefully he can earn some post-season recognition too.

Farley says the new faces in camp will add the depth that has been missing. Farley says the team was lean in the spring due to injury and the size of the graduating class. He has filled out the roster with a mix of players. There are several freshmen, and a transfer from Fresno State, Florida State and Northern Illinois. “So we have some young men that came in with some experience and some maturity to them, and yet we have some young men who came from some great programs who have a lot of confidence,” Farley says.

The Panthers open the season September 3rd in Ames against Iowa State.

(Learfield Sports)