Northwestern’s front seven is led by a familiar name with Anto Saka, a former four-star prospect out of Loyola Blakefield, leading the way with a team-high 2.5 sacks with veterans Aidan Hubbard and Mac Uihlein alongside him. Nine different players have registered at least 0.5 sacks as the Wildcats approach the midway point of the 2024 season, but the defensive line will have another piece back to boost the unit’s depth as Carmine Bastone is set to make his season debut on Saturday.
“There's no one in the country that is itching more to get back into a practice routine and get back on the field on game day than Carmine,” head coach David Braun said this week. “I think if it was up to him, he would have been back a couple weeks ago, but he's done a great job in getting himself ready to go and certainly expect for him to have a big impact on Friday night, not only with his production on the field, but just his leadership. And having him back fully pad and ready to go is something that he's really excited about, and this team is really excited about.”
Carmine has registered a pair of sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss in 19 games over the last two seasons as he, Hubbard and Saka will now be tasked with slowing down Maryland QB Billy Edwards Jr., who remains among the leaders in the country in completion percentage.
“Billy's done an incredible job playing at a really high level, really well coached, but we got to find ways to affect him and get him uncomfortable, whether that be in pre-snap or post-snap, affecting them with our pass rush,” Braun added. “Certainly have to have an understanding of where these wide receivers are at, some alignment keys, and do a good job of keeping the ball in front of us and also finding some opportunities to be really aggressive and be in tight coverage and challenge routes. But it's no surprise, ever since coach [Mike] Locksley has been at Maryland, their passing attack has been incredibly efficient and explosive, and we're gonna have to find ways to slow that down.”
While Maryland has had an extra week to prep as they come out of their first bye week of the season, both teams are coming off losses to Indiana and remain in search of their first Big Ten win of the season. Maryland will look to replicate last season’s success on Friday night as Edwards looks to pick up his second consecutive win against Northwestern, but for both teams looking to find their footing, Braun noted the urgency for the Wildcats to flush last week’s loss.
“I think the messaging to the team, especially on a short week, after a tough Indiana loss, a game that we felt like we were – had an opportunity with momentum to really take a lead and find a way to get a win at home. It can be really easy to let that linger and we couldn't let that happen. I mean, we had to flip the script and transition into Maryland. Our guys have done a great job with that up to this point, but we got to find a way to go 1-0 this week.”
Kickoff is set for 8 PM.
Related Links
Comments