Competition Wednesday provides, as as Thomas Hammock loves to repeat this spring, a chance to "bring the juice."

That came in the form of board drills, where two players lock up and try to physically overwhelm the other, and one-on-one routes.

The one-on-ones are where Fotis Kokosioulis won with a deep route touchdown to win his challenge against safety Mykelti Williams.

Defensive end Quintin Wynne won a board drill against tight end Liam Soraghan. Offensive lineman Nolan Potter won a board drill lockup with defensive tackle Caleb Wright.

Huskies call out another for a challenge over Twitter, one of the was NIU has tried to utilize social media to build hype in and around the program.

“‘It’s hard. You’re going to call somebody out, you better win," Hammock said. "In this day and age, confrontation is not a big thing. We trying to encourage competition.”

And while the defense got the better of the offense overall on Wednesday, much to the delight of a demonstrative defensive coordinator in Derrick Jackson and cornerbacks coach Aaron Wilkins, Hammock was pleased with the level of competition throughout Wednesday.

"They’re competing their (butts) off. That’s what we want them to do," Hammock said. "We want them to be as game-like situations as possible. We’re tying to make sure that we can be as prepared as possible as we can get them to play in a game.”

Junior defensive end Matt Lorbeck knows there's a certain amount of pride in each position group to have success.

"Coach (Travis) Moore just says, if you get called out, you don’t want to lose," Lorbeck said. "If you call someone out, just go and represent the position group well.”

On Wednesday, a fellow defensive end in Wynne was called out and won the aforementioned board drill.

The big aerial connection of the day was a deep ball high-pointed by former quarterback turned wide receiver Rodney Hall. Hall and his long 6 foot, 2 inch, 219-pound frame leaped into the air approximately 30 yards down the field, plucked it down and raced down the right sideline for the score during a team session.

For Hall, a switch to the wide receiver position is nothing new. He practiced some at wide receiver in fall camp last year. This spring, he played purely as a quarterback, but made the full-time switch to wide receiver last week.

“Making the switch now is a big help for me," Hall said. "I get now, the the summer and fall camp. It was more my personal decision this time. I just wanted to help the team the best way that I can, and I feel that the best way to do that is at receiver.”

While last year's coaching staff made the decision for Hall to work at wide receiver in practice, Hammock was pleased to see some initiative taken by Hall to suggest the change.

“I think he’s coming out trying to learn the details of the job. It was his suggestion," Hammock said. "We obliged and obviously I think it’s going to pay dividends down the line for us.”

Smiling while thinking about his new role, Hall takes pride in his new offensive role with a chance to prove himself once more from a different spot on the field.

“Defensive guys, you know how they are. They want to take the ball away," Hall said. "They think they’re big and scary. We just want to show them we can beat them.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Jiya Wright, who has been taking snaps at quarterback all spring, didn't work with the quarterbacks during Monday's practice and spent Wednesday among the safeties and working through special teams drills.

“We trying to find the best players that’s going to help us win," Hammock said. "He’s a great athlete and we’re trying to put him in a position where he can help the team win.”