N. Illinois sprite RB Garrett Wolfe is quickly making a name for himself as nation's leading rusher

	Some of the nation's top defenses have taken their hats off to Northern Illinois RB Garrett Wolfe after he had big games against them. AP

By Brian Hamilton, Special to SI.com

DEKALB, Ill. -- At half past noon on an ashen, wind-whipped Tuesday, the rear door to the Barsema Alumni Center conference room opens slowly, so as not to disturb the weekly media confab with Northern Illinois football coach Joe Novak.

As the coach speaks, the subject of conversation slides through the doorway and into a chair at a U-shaped table. Novak's topic of the moment is Garrett Wolfe, and especially here in the far-flung periphery of Chicago, Wolfe is usually what anyone wants to talk about -- or talk to.

Wolfe, the Huskies' 5-foot-7 dynamic senior running back, is the nation's leading rusher and has proven he can carve up the best of defenses. In Northern Illinois' season opener, Wolfe had 300 yards of total offense in a loss to No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus. He followed that with 196 rushing yards against Ohio, and 263 more against Buffalo last Saturday.

Wolfe half-listens to his coach, absent-mindedly cracking his knuckles, waiting to talk because the numbers and everyone compel him to do so.

But the earrings stay behind. Not two steps into the conference room, Wolfe removes two chunky studs from his lobes. He cups them in his hands. He did the same thing at a preseason media event in downtown Chicago and at the Playboy All-American photo shoot over the summer.

A lodestar Division I-A athlete voluntarily de-blinging for decorum's sake? A nice story -- if it were wholly accurate. A kid from Chicago's West Side daily navigating a minefield of drugs and gangs to make good? That would be a nice story too, if it were that bleak.

In reality, Novak's stated preference for all players is no jewelry. And the Wolfes kept their son busy enough with Park District and YMCA teams that Garrett was left with little time to explore the ills of their neighborhood. What you're left with is Northern Illinois' Wolfe, one of the best running backs in the nation, if only everyone outside this burg of 40,000 knew it.