Specifically, the facilities could be completely finished by early June and coaches could begin to move into their new offices post-Spring ball. The 2018 recruiting class should spend their entire Northwestern career in the new facilities.

The main entrance of the Walter Athletic Center — the heart of the lakefront facilities — will face south and be directly across from Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium. A spacious main lobby will feature interactive displays on both sides.

Note: All photos taken by Inside NU’s Martin Oppegaard.

The first floor will also house football meeting rooms and an auditorium, while the coaches locker room will be in the southeast part of the facility.

Student-athletes will eat on the third floor in a double height space, which houses all dining facilities in the center. There will be a private kitchen for student-athletes to learn how to prepare food among other purposes. Here’s the view they will enjoy while eating.

Windows that will eventually be installed are going to be all-glass, so the rooms will really look as open as they do in these photos. The third floor dining area will also have a balcony.

Coach Pat Fitzgerald’s second floor office will be directly across from Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium. He’ll be watching a lot of soccer.

Football sports performance facilities, Ryan Fieldhouse and Wilson Field will be located on the second floor. The 14,000-square-foot football weight room will similarly be a double height space and an isolated slab as the floor of the weight room will prevent the spread of vibration throughout the facility.

The football team will have its own terrace on the northeast part of the second floor overlooking Lake Michigan.

Finally, here’s a look at the 98,000-square-foot Ryan Fieldhouse, which will house Wilson Field. The spacious facility will have the capacity for football and soccer practice, lacrosse competition, club and intramural activities, and special events such as Dance Marathon and Freshman Convocation.

Beneath Ryan Fieldhouse on the first floor will be an Olympic sports performance center complete with a sports medicine and athletic training center, Olympic sport locker rooms, equipment rooms, meeting spaces and more.

For Northwestern students who have played basketball in crowded Blomquist or Patten gymnasiums the past year and half, they got some much welcomed news.

Beautiful day for some football.

Northwestern football held its first open spring practice on a crisp, sunny Saturday morning at lakeside Hutcheson Field. Fans, recruits and media lined the sidelines as Pat Fitzgerald and co. ran through a number of basic drills, seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 scrimmages. A few observations:

Offense:

• The offensive line looked about as you’d expect with Blake Hance, Tommy Doles, Brad North and J.B. Butler all getting first team reps. Interesting, though, was redshirt freshman Gunnar Vogel running with the starters at RT for much of the scrimmages. This will be a position to look out for, especially when graduate-transfer Trey Klock reports. “We’re getting better but we’ve got a long way to go,” Fitzgerald said of the offensive line’s progress.
• Clayton Thorson looked sharp in basic drills, but didn’t see much action other than tossing bubble screens when scrimmages broke out. Backup Matt Alviti had some impressive zip on his throws. Aidan Smith and TJ Green, who are battling for the third QB spot, both looked solid.
• There wasn’t much Justin Jackson, who will obviously be handled with care this offseason, and John Moten IV didn’t practice due to injury, but shifty redshirt freshman Jeremy Larkin looked good coming out of the backfield as a receiver and running downhill.
• Flynn Nagel appears to be the heir-apparent to Austin Carr’s No. 1 receiver position and he played like it today, catching virtually everything thrown his way, including a couple highlight-reel grabs. He also continues to field punts with first team special-teamers. “It’s not too tough handling both of them,” Nagel said of balancing punt-return and receiver duties. “But stepping up into a bigger receiver role is one I’m more focused on.”
• Corey Acker had a 60-yard touchdown run in one of the 11-on-11 drills. Jared McGee was not thrilled.
• Macan Wilson hauled in a twisting touchdown catch in the corner of the endzone from Smith to cap off a nice sequence for the offense.
• In a one-on-one drill early in practice, Jackson made a falling, shoe-string catch in the back corner of the end zone. As he rose back to his feet, ball in hand, Keith Watkins yelled, “What can’t he do?”
• SECRET WEAPON POTENTIAL: The offense ran a lot of decoy end-around action for Jelani Roberts in scrimmages. The operative word there would be decoy.

Defense:

• We learned today that Trae Williams will be out until at least October with a torn achilles.
• Warren Long is earning high praise from coaches and teammates alike after making the switch to linebacker for this season. “He’s learning every day, he’s embraced the role, he’s got some instincts and can fly around,” Fitzgerald said. “He was making plays... Great athlete, intelligent dude,” Godwin Igwebuike said.
• Igwebuike, who didn’t practice, also said he thinks a lot of the concerns swirling around the linebacker position will be resolved by the end of spring.
• Nate Hall, Joe Gaziano and Xavier Washington, among others, also didn’t make appearances at practice today.
• Watkins II was limited and sporting a brace on his knee. Fitzgerald said they won’t rush him back and that “baby steps” are being made for a guy he called “an all-Big Ten player.””
• McGee played with great energy and was all over the field today, laying two noticeably jarring hits in 11-on-11s. “I think Jared has really developed,” Fitzgerald said.
• Montre Hartage defended well in one-on-ones, looking especially physical in breaking up a pass to Solomon Vault in the back of the endzone during one drill. He needs to become more consistent this year.

Special teams:

• The Jack Mitchell era is over and that means we’re in for some spring competition at the kicker position. Mason Weissenhofer and Drew Luckenbaugh will be competing until true-freshman Charlie Kuhbander arrives.

Kellogg-gate?:

• When asked jokingly if the new Kellogg School of Management building looming over the practice field was a cause for concern because of the threat of ‘spies’ from other teams infiltrating practice, Fitz simply responded, “Still gotta block us. Still gotta tackle us.”

Other quotes from availability:

• Fitz on what they were able to accomplish today: “Game-like situations...any time you can put guys in situational football, it gives you an opportunity to teach a ton, and that’s what we’ll have an opportunity to do on Monday.”
• Fitz on Nagel returning punts even as one of the top receivers: “Sure. Absolutely. I just watched Christian McCaffrey go do it for a number of years, so I have no problem with our best players being on the field every play. If we started today, Flynn would be our punt returner and Solo(mon Vault) would be our kick returner.”
• Fitz: “Are roles clearly defined? Absolutely not. Spring ball, we try to...make it hard on them mentally so they can learn.”
• Fitz on the mood of the team: “I think the guys are pretty salty with the way we played early in the year (last season), and it always comes back to the way you prepare. We’ve got great momentum. We carried the momentum from the bowl win over into winter workouts, into recruiting...pretty cool to see the basketball team, that’s athletic department and university momentum.”
• Fitz: “We’re maturing, we’re growing, we’ve got some redshirt freshmen that are totally different guys today than they were week one of spring ball. We’re gaining on it, but this next stage after spring ball is so critically important for that. That little taste of the field for some guys is a hell of a motivator.”
• DT Tyler Lancaster on the team’s sense of urgency: “Coming off a 10-win season, I felt like we were sorta okay with that, and then we were gliding through thinking ‘oh, we’re good, we’re a 10-win team,’ and obviously showing up in the next season, that’s not the case. Everything matters. Now we’re pushing it like we’re 0-0 and we wanna go undefeated, and we’ve been working our butts off accordingly.”

Walker Jr. had sported the No. 18 uniform in his previous years in Evanston.

“The No. 1 jersey, in our program, is used to recognize the young man who truly embodies the values and character of the Northwestern football family,” head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s description reads. “It is worn by someone who consistently dedicates himself as a great teammate, an excellent student and an influential member of our community. It is more than a flashy number. Here it represents a way of life.”

Last year, defensive tackle Max Chapman had the honor of sporting the No. 1. Walker is the first non-senior player to earn the honor since Tim Hanrahan also wore it as a junior in 2013.

It’s yet another honor for Walker Jr., who has been recognized by ESPN as one of the nation’s top players, named to the Sports Illustrated All-American second team and various preseason watch lists (Bednarik and Butkus) and been dubbed “The Franchise” by his teammates, leading to an impressive line of marketing (including his own superhero identity). He was named the top linebacker in college football by Sports on Earth this offseason as well.

Walker Jr. was a third-team All-American last year, leading a defensive renaissance of epic proportions for a team that had struggled in that area over the previous few seasons

The former Northwestern quarterback is now with his third NFL squad.

The left tackle had a decent debut campaign.

We've ranked our Top 10 most important players for 2016, and in at No. 10 is Blake Hance, a rising redshirt sophomore left tackle. Hance did a solid job last year and earned Big Ten All-Freshman team status for his work protecting Clayton Thorson's blindside. He'll look to take a step forward this coming year and become one of the top tackles in the conference.

Tristan Jung and Ian McCafferty debate how important he is to the team's success in 2016.

Tristan Jung (Rank: No. 3): Northwestern's offensive line was a mess last year due to injury, but the redshirt freshman Hance emerged as a starter at left tackle. He was decent last season, but his value as a steady force on Thorson's blind side was invaluable to Northwestern's patchwork offensive line. I have Hance ranked highly because I believe Hance's development and health will be key to Northwestern developing a good offense next season.

The Wildcats recruited Hance to play on the offensive line even though he played some tight end in high school. As with most Northwestern offensive line recruits, Hance redshirted his freshman year but was quickly added to the starting lineup after Geoff Mogus' injury early last season. Even when Mogus was healthy, Hance retained his spot at left tackle and gained confidence as the season progressed.

With Northwestern's biggest needs clearly on the offensive side of the ball, protecting Thorson will be a huge factor in any potential improvement. Northwestern was 101st in adjusted sack rate last year, which significantly hampered Northwestern's offensive output. As Thorson's primary protector, Hance is critical to the team's success.

Ian McCafferty (Rank: NR): Blake Hance is important. Just the fact that he plays left tackle makes him an important part of this team. However, there are more important pieces to this team than an average left tackle. Hance was fine last season, and Thorson was still running for his life on seemingly almost every dropback. It's true that Northwestern needs to take a big step forward on offense, but that will come from Thorson and the receivers more than the line.

Thorson can have all the time in the world, but if he misses his target, it doesn't matter. Similarly, if the receivers can't get open, Thorson can't complete a pass, no matter how good the protection is. There are simply more problems and more important positions on this team than Blake Hance at left tackle.

TJ: I agree that Thorson and the receivers must improve next season, but if Hance can improve into an impactful force on the offensive line that Northwestern has lacked for the last two seasons, Northwestern's offense will be greatly en-Hanced (I can't even make this pun in good conscience). Hance's main skills are his agility and speed, but if he can develop strength, improve technique and stay healthy for a full year, Thorson's job will be much easier.

Last year, Hance may have been "fine", but he could have been better. On some plays, he struggled to give Thorson the protection he needed, which nearly led to disaster against Penn State and a stagnant offensive performance against Wisconsin. If he can become a true rock on the offensive line, it will give Thorson enough breathing room to be the quarterback that Northwestern needs.

IM: Hance may very well improve, but at this point we kind of already know what we're going to get from him. As you described in our season in review, "Against teams with below average defensive fronts, Mogus and Hance looked fine, but they really struggled against elite pass rushers." That's kind of what you're going to get from Hance this season unless he undergoes a huge transformation. He can be a rock at the end of the line but not an elite rock.

Last season, Mogus was ranked as one of the team's most important players and, granted he got hurt, he wasn't fantastic when he played. The Northwestern offensive line has been incredibly volatile the last few years and it's dangerous to just assume that a player will improve. Hance may become the left tackle that Northwestern needs, but he also has a pretty good chance to not do so.

Also, we've completely ignored Justin Jackson and the running game, which is kind of fitting due to the fact that it's been great despite the offensive line. Jackson is one of the best running backs in the nation and that's with an offensive line that was 87th in adjusted line yards last season. To an extent you could argue that the line really isn't all that important to half this offense anyway.

TJ: I disagree that the offensive line isn't that important. The offensive line was mediocre last year and the offense was consequently mediocre. With Northwestern lacking elite talent at wide receiver, any improvements from the offensive line will be very important. Hance may not become an elite offensive lineman this year, but if he does, this offense will have a much better chance to succeed.

And of course, if Hance can also improve as a run blocker, that could make Jackson and his fellow ball carriers' lives much easier. If Northwestern is going to build the base for a successful offense over the next few years, it will have to turn offensive line prospects like Hance into above average players. With Hance only entering his sophomore season, he has a chance to become that player for Northwestern in 2016.

As we kick off our 2016 Northwestern Football Summer Guide, we first turn our attention to the most important players heading into the season. We didn't define "important," but instead chose to leave it open to interpretation — every writer could define importance in their own way, be it based on offseason improvement, play-to-play importance, or need to step up for a departed starter. Here's how our staff ranked their Top 10, as well as the overall rankings.

Throughout the next two weeks, we'll be having debates on whether the players belong where they ended up on the ladder, starting later today with No. 10, Blake Hance. Below — or throughout the series — feel free to join in on the discussion and let us know what your Top 10 is.

Loads of money.