As a native of Chicagoland’s North Shore, a former defensive lineman at Winona State and a 10-year defensive coordinator, David Braun has always had a penchant for Northwestern’s defensive-oriented style of football, even watching the Wildcats defeat Notre Dame and the Citrus Bowl-winning squad in 2021. What stands out about successful NU seasons isn’t anything radical in the eyes of Braun.
“The best Northwestern defenses that I can recall, there was nothing sexy,” Braun said following Thursday’s spring practice. “It was just a bunch of dudes that loved one another, played really hard, played with good leverage and collaboratively as a team.