Northern Illinois LB Kyle Pugh has been playing college football for a long time

In the class of 2015, Chicago Heights (Ill.) Bloom Township linebacker Kyle Pugh signed with the in-state Northern Illinois Huskies fresh off a MAC title and 11-3 finish under second-year head coach Rod Carey. Eight years later, the in-state product is still in DeKalb.

NIU has their own version of Van Wilder at Huskie Stadium.

After a redshirt season in 2015, Pugh suffered a season-ending injury in 2017 after playing only four games. After returning to be an All-MAC selection in 2018, the linebacker was again knocked out for the season in 2019 as a redshirt senior after only two games. The injury bug arrive again in the spring with a knee injury before the 2021 season.

Thanks to some medical hardship waivers and the COVID-19 season giving all participating athletes an extra year of eligibility, 25-year-old Kyle Pugh is still starting games for Northern Illinois.

“I came here in 2015; redshirted my freshman year, which is pretty normal. 2017, I made my first start – got off to a pretty good start for the first four games, and then I tore my bicep tendon,” Pugh told CBS Chicago. “Came back in 2018, played through a little bit of a shoulder injury, but I only missed one game. We won the (Mid-American Conference). Got surgery after that season. And then in 2019, two games, I re-injured that same shoulder, so I lost my second season. I missed 2021 because the last practice of spring ball, I tore my ACL in a non-contact injury – you know it was just one of those, stepped wrong and it went.”

The seasoned vet is on track to earn his second master’s degree. Through three games, Pugh has recorded 23 tackles as one of the top players on the Northern Illinois defense. Pretty good for a player that was in the same high school recruiting class as fourth-year pro Josh Allen and third-year graduate assistant C.J. Conrad at Kentucky.