Marcus Weymiller shakes off ankle injury to give UNI offense a needed boost

CEDAR FALLS - Before last Saturday's win over South Dakota State, Northern Iowa ranked 111th out of 128 FCS programs in rushing yardage.

Needless to say it was easy to pinpoint where the issues on offense stemmed.

Largely unbeknown to fans, the answer to the Panthers' running game troubles was on the roster.

Marcus Weymiller, a junior running back from Waukon, was injured on the first play of the second game this season against Cal Poly. Weymiller suffered an ankle injury and trainers initially weren't sure if he'd return to the field this season.

After a month's worth of rehab, Weymiller got back on the practice field last week just in time to keep the Panthers' playoff hopes alive. With his ankle not quite back to 100 percent, he rushed 42 times for 170 yards and took UNI's offense to another level in the process.

'Adrenaline kind of takes over and you don't feel (the ankle) as much, but every now and then you do,” Weymiller said. 'It's just one of those injuries you've got to deal with the rest of the season. But it's good enough to play on.”

Entering Week 8, there aren't too many players left injury-free, but there's another wrinkle that came with Weymiller's return. A season ago, with quarterback Eli Dunne injured, the Panthers unveiled a 'wildcat” package in Week 10 against Indiana State. With their top two quarterbacks unavailable, the coaching staff circled their proverbial wagons and came up with Weymiller taking the snaps as the wildcat quarterback.

'At the beginning of the week, we tried a few different guys at the wildcat position, I happened to do good enough with the few reps I got and Coach (Mark) Farley kept it for the next practice,” Weymiller said. 'Obviously I had a really good game with (the wildcat) against (Indiana State) so we kept it in the last couple games of the season. We've had it in our back pocket all season, just waiting to pull it out if we needed it and so I think it's just another package that complements our offense right now.”

Complement might be an understatement. The Panthers ran the ball 60 times last Saturday - their most in a single-game since 2015 - and Weymiller's first touchdown was an 11-yard run from the wildcat.

'I think there is a little bit of an edge to (the wildcat),” Weymiller said. 'We're having a little more fun with it and there's a little more grit to it. We want to make it work because we have seen the success of it. I think the main thing is it brings the energy up.”

The question now is not if the wildcat will stay in the game plan. That seems like a certainty. The question is whether or not Weymiller's coaches will turn the running back loose with a pass play from the run-heavy wildcat.

'I've been a football player my whole life. If need be (I can throw),” Weymiller said. 'If we keep putting things (into the wildcat), it's obviously something we've been looking at and thinking about.”