Four Northwestern players opt out of 2020 football season
The loss of Whillock and Miller on defense hurts.
www.insidenu.com
WR Slater had earlier opted out...one of best offensive weapoms, Skowronek, earlier transferred to ND
from the linked story: Seniors Travis Whillock and Samdup Miller are the two most significant losses from the group. Whillock was slated to start at safety again this season after solid contributions in 2018 and 2019. Last season, he recorded 78 total tackles, three tackles for loss, two fumbles recovered, one pass breakup, one sack and one forced fumble. He earned All-Big Ten honorable mention for his efforts.
Miller was also set to start again this year and step into a significant role to fill the void left by Joe Gaziano. He started eight games at defensive end last season before missing the final four due to injury, recording 29 total tackles, 2.5 for loss, a half a sack and a pass breakup.
Junior quarterback Aidan Smith was a major contributor in Northwestern’s quarterback room last season, but he would have likely not seen much playing time this season. He appeared in eight total games and started six, completed 86 of his 171 passes on the year for 760 yards and threw three touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also added 72 rushing attempts for 211 yards.
Finally, sophomore quarterback Jason Whittaker has seen limited minutes in his time with the program thus far. In his redshirt freshman season last year, he appeared in two games and recorded three rushing yards.