Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1187038
n o r t h w e s t e r n f o o t b a l l • D I G I T A L P R O G R A M • N O R T H W E S T E R N v s . M I N N E S O T A 33 LIKE RIDIN' A BIKE: Asked about transitioning back after a ten-and-a-half month absence, Goens says, "The thing for me, on D line, I can just run around, hair on fire with all the effort that's unique to defense. You can just play like your hair's on fire. I wasn't able to get there in my development as a superback. On D line, now that I'm back, I can run around and make plays with effort and hustle. That's more akin to my style. So it feels good to be back there. Now it's enjoy it, have fun with it, run around, try and make some plays, and go out on a positive note." DUH: Asked if it's more fun to hit or be hit, he deadpans, "That's a rhetorical question, isn't it?" AND COME SATURDAY: "For me I don't think it'll be super sentimental. The end's coming. That's pretty obvious. But it's just go out and try to win. That's the focus. Then after that, we have another game (at Illinois). So let's win this week and go from there. It's a lot more fun when you win. You remember a lot better too." ON THE FLIP SIDE: In February of 2018, he swam a leg on the Shawnee Mission East High School 200-meter relay team that won the Kansas state championship. That fall, while starring for the Lancers' football team, he organized Touchdown for Tots, an effort that raised money that went to the Marines and its Toys for Tots program. Last February he finished sixth in the 50 free at the state swim meet, and this fall he joined the football 'Cats as a walk-on. Now, with their D line so banged up, first-year defensive end PJ Spencer is part of its rotation, and picked up a tackle in his college debut last Saturday against UMass. "We thought he played his rear end off," Pat Fitzgerald would later say of him. "Makes you feel great, right?" Spencer himself says when he hears that. "That's the expectations, though. That you go out and play your rear end off." Is he surprised to find himself playing so soon? "Maybe a little bit. But (D line) coach (Marty Long) has been preaching next-man-up the entire year, and I tried to make myself the most prepared I could be in case that happened. It did. So excited for