(MCT) Around the time the Northwestern football program became fodder for “The Daily Show” and MSNBC, its players gathered to do something unusual — put down their smartphones.

“The guys looked at each other, eye to eye, and actually talked to each other,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said.

Linebacker Collin Ellis described a series of players-only meetings in which the Wildcats asked themselves: Do we really want to be represented by a union?

“A lot of them got heated, though not in the negative sense,” Ellis said. “People showed their emotion and passions, and then we’d have in-depth conversations about big-time stuff.

“It made us realize we have to be accountable to each other and learn about each other. There are guys sitting in meetings who you may have only said two words to because they’re on the opposite side of the ball. Then you hear them stand up and say, ‘Here’s what I think about this issue.’ You can’t help but respect that.”

Center Brandon Vitabile called it “bridging the communication gap.”

“After everything we went through in the offseason, we’ve become closer,” Vitabile said. “It’s been really cool.”

Northwestern will announce its captains Friday at Ryan Field during Meet the Team Night. Vitabile and quarterback Trevor Siemian are among those who say last year’s team lacked leadership. Did that contribute to its seven-game losing streak, the longest of the Fitzgerald regime? Who knows?

Last year in fall camp, quarterback Kain Colter began talking to teammates about his idea to form a union. During the Sept. 21 game against Maine, Colter became a face of the “All Players United” movement by writing “APU” on his wristbands and towel.

Fitzgerald was not pleased by the display, saying, “What we try to do here is keep things in a team context.”

The Wildcats failed to make a bowl for the first time since 2007, and they were hounded by union questions during spring practice.

The players decided before their April 25 vote, Ellis said, to put the union talk “on the back burner.”

“Our main focus is this season,” Ellis said. “Let’s not let this be a distraction. It’s time to get to work.”

It was a secret ballot, and Colter’s pro-union stance garnered some support. But there has been virtually no union talk since that day, and Fitzgerald said he believes “there’s no more unified football program in the country.”

That sounds good, of course, but how does that translate to the field?

Vitabile said a unified team “goes the extra mile” to communicate what works — and what doesn’t.

Example: Say Vitabile thinks a fellow offensive lineman is outperforming another in practice. Is he comfortable sharing that opinion with his coach? Let’s say a certain run-blocking scheme is faltering during a game. Do the linemen trust each other to seek an alternative?

“It’s open communication rather than being self-centered and saying, ‘Well, I did my job, so whatever,’ ” Vitabile said. “You can’t win that way.”

Big Ten Network analyst Chuck Long said team chemistry can translate to victories. Long coached the Oklahoma quarterbacks when the 2000 Sooners won the national title.

“In my six years there, that was by far our least talented team,” he said. “The players came to work, did their job, were very unselfish and had a genuine closeness. We were down to Texas A&M at halftime, and there was this unspoken confidence in the locker room.

“Unity does help teams win games. You can’t have selfish guys or locker-room lawyers be the focal point.”

Last week the Wildcats were dealt two more tough blows: Running back Venric Mark left the program and receiver Christian Jones was lost to season-ending knee surgery.

“It would be naive to think the guys have not been distracted at times,” Fitzgerald said. “Will it be part of the narrative? Yes, it will.”

If the Wildcats don’t rebound with a strong season, Fitzgerald said people will point to all of NU’s issues since October and think, “Hey, they couldn’t overcome it.”

If Northwestern wins big, people will take the opposite tack.

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