NIU Football Welcomes Nine Newcomers on First Day of Classes

DeKALB, Ill. – Northern Illinois University head coach Thomas Hammock announced the addition of six transfers to the Huskies’ 2024 roster on Tuesday, the first day of spring semester classes at NIU. The six transfers joined three of the Huskies’ December signees as newcomers to the roster for the spring.

“I’m very pleased with the guys we were able to add to our roster mid-year, including three December signees,” Hammock said. “The big thing we look for with transfers is productive players with character and that’s what you see with this group. We wanted to bring in the right fit from a competitive standpoint, an athletic standpoint, and a social standpoint and we got that in this group.”

2024 NIU Football Mid-Year Transfers
Name Pos. Hgt. Wgt. 2024 Class Hometown High School/Previous School(s)
Jake Appleget TE 6-4 235 So.-R Lincoln, Neb. Southeast HS/Nebraska
Christian Fuhrman LB 6-1 235 Sr. Mesa, Ariz. Queen Creek HS/Garden City CC/SEMO
Kenji Lewis WR 6-1 200 Jr. Memphis, Tenn. Memphis East HS/UAPB
Jalen Macon QB 6-5 230 Jr.-R Nashville, Tenn. Hillsboro HS/UAPB
Andrew McElroy WR 6-3 192 Sr. Bolingbrook, Ill. Bolingbrook HS/St. Thomas
Marc Pretto LB 6-2 220 Jr. Montclair, N.J. St. Peter’s Prep/Fordham
To date, the Huskies have added four offensive and two defensive players as transfers and will announce one additional in the coming days. The group includes a pair of 2024 juniors from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in quarterback Jalen Macon and Kenji Lewis. Macon threw for 634 yards and four touchdowns in six games while completing 66.3 percent of his passes in 2023 while Lewis led the Golden Lions in receiving with 33 catches for 429 yards and three touchdowns in 11 games in 2023.

The Huskies also added senior wide receiver Andrew McElroy from St. Thomas University and sophomore tight end Jake Appleget from Nebraska. McElroy, a Bolingbrook native, caught 98 passes for 1,432 yards and nine touchdowns over the past three seasons and also returned punts and kickoffs for the Tommies. Appleget, an all-state player out of Lincoln Southeast High School, played in six games for the Cornhuskers in 2023 as a redshirt freshman.

NIU recruited a pair of transfer linebackers for 2024 in senior Christian Fuhrman from Southeast Missouri and junior Marc Pretto from Fordham. Fuhrman was SEMO’s third-leading tackler in 2023 with 65 stops, while Pretto made 75 tackles in 11 games for the Rams last season.

In addition to the transfer newcomers, three players signed by the Huskies in December – junior quarterback Kenny Lueth (Rocklin, Calif./American River College/Rocklin HS), freshman cornerback Dashaun Gibson (Manassas, Va./Mt. Zion Prep) and freshman offensive lineman Aiden Olsen (Clinton, Wis./Elkhorn Area HS) – began classes at NIU on Tuesday.

Hammock said having the players on campus this semester will benefit the players and add to the competitiveness of the Huskie roster this spring.

“The great advantage is that these guys will go through offseason workouts, will go through spring ball, and get acclimated to our coaching staff, to our team and to the football side of things so they can give themselves every opportunity to play in the fall,” Hammock said.

NIU defeated Arkansas State, 21-19, in the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama to finish the 2023 season with a 7-6 record; the Huskies’ 5-3 mark in the Mid-American Conference was good for second in the MAC West. NIU, the winningest team in Illinois since 2010, opens the 2024 season in Huskie Stadium on Saturday, August 31 versus Western Illinois and will play at Notre Dame and at N.C. State in 2024. The Huskies are currently accepting $24 deposits toward new season tickets. Click here to make a deposit and become a Huskie season ticket member for 2024.