EVANSTON, Ill. -- On the storefront window of a quaint, ma-and-pa jewelry shop in this city's shopping district sits a purple piece of poster board with black letters that read, "RAW: In our hearts forever."

A few blocks down the street, at a greasy hot dog stand, a purple Northwestern pennant is joined by a white piece of paper with the No. 30 written on it.

No, this tightly knit Northern suburb of Chicago doesn't plan on forgetting the death of Northwestern safety Rashidi Wheeler any time soon. The same could be said of the Wildcat players, coaches and athletic personnel.

But the fact remains that there is a game to be played at UNLV Friday, the team's first of the season. And much like the NASCAR drivers before them who had to face the questions and deal with the death of Dale Earnhardt, the Wildcats will do their best to move on, remembering their fallen teammate while focusing on the task at hand.

"While there will always be a significant part of Rashidi with us everywhere we go, my faith calls for me to move forward," head coach Randy Walker said. "I believe he's in a better place and we have to understand that and be able to move on."

	QB Zak Kustok is one of the players helping Northwestern deal with the loss of Wheeler.

In a year that Northwestern should be in the spotlight for its on-field prowess, what with the talents of Heisman candidate Damien Anderson and All-Big Ten quarterback Zak Kustok, the once struggling program that has won or shared three conference titles in the past six years has been in the headlines because of Wheeler's death, an accident many believe could've and should've been prevented.

Wheeler died Aug. 3 from a bronchial asthma attack he suffered during a preseason workout. In the month since, Walker and the Northwestern program have been forced to defend their intense conditioning program, their emergency safety procedures and schedule of offseason workouts that were potentially in violation of NCAA rules. On Aug. 23, Wheeler's family filed a lawsuit against the school and seven staff members, including Walker and athletics directory Rick Taylor. Even Jesse Jackson and Johnnie Cochran have become involved.

Lost in much of the finger pointing and controversy have been the Northwestern players, the young men who were there when Wheeler collapsed while running sprints. The same young men who now stare at a glass-encased locker or an empty dining room chair and wonder, "Why?"

With the roller coaster of emotions, it would have been easy to understand if the Wildcats had a difficult time focusing the past month. But that hasn't happened. At Monday's workout, players were hooting, hollering and chanting "Wildcats" with the enthusiasm of any team preparing for its season-opener.

"We've taken the mentality that we can only control the things we can control," Anderson said. "We know with all the legalities and things like that, they'll take care of themselves. We can't worry about that. So now our focus is on remembering Rashidi the best way we know, and that's going out and winning each and every football game."

Walker believes the leadership of his 16 seniors, especially Anderson and Kustok, has been integral in the team being able to get past the potential distraction's of Wheeler's death. They have set examples for the younger players as how to handle the difficult situation.

In addition, the team has maintained a strong faith and a unified, Us-Against-The-World mentality. That togetherness was built during a just completed stay in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the team holds its preseason training camp. By living, eating, breathing, sleeping and practicing together for two weeks straight, an impenetrable bond developed. A players-only meeting scheduled by Walker cemented that connection even further.

"Ever since then, we've come together to help each other heal," Anderson said. "We are a more bonded, a closely-knit unit. And if you do have a problem or are feeling down, you are around the best people because we've all experienced this together and are going to help each other through this process."

Dealing with tragedy is nothing new at Northwestern, a school that has been dealt more than its share of life lessons the past few years. Two years ago, former Wildcats basketball coach was shot and killed in a race-motivated attack. That same year, former NU fullback Matt Hartl died of Hodgkin's disease. His teammate, defensive lineman Bobby Russ, was shot to death after a run-in with Chicago Police. And in 1995, defensive back Marcel Price died in an accidental shooting.

But the sudden death of Wheeler and subsequent controversy has dealt a challenge entirely new: How do you honor Wheeler and memorialize his death without allowing the controversy surrounding it to become a distraction? Walker, who came to Northwestern from Miami of Ohio in 1999, said it's been one of his most difficult challenges in coaching.

"I'm not sure there's a right or wrong way to do this. I think you do things based on your heart," he said. "There's no book out or anything you could read to give you a plan as to how to handle this sort of thing. So you just try to do a good job communicating with your kids and letting them help you understand where they're at and what they're needs are."

In Wheeler's memory, the Wildcats will wear a patch on their uniforms that has Wheeler's initials, RAW. In addition, there are plans to retire his jersey No. 30, a first at Northwestern. And in team locker room, Wheeler's locker is preserved with a glass case surrounding his jersey and helmet.

Despite these constant reminders of the tragedy, the players plan on keeping their heads up and focusing on football. After all, that's the reason they're here.

"It's like if you lose someone in your life, do you stop working the job that you've worked all your life because you lost that friend?" linebacker Kevin Bentley, a roommate of Wheeler's, told the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald. "Or do you use that as inspiration to help you move on? We're going to use him as inspiration -- and maybe you do it even better because of that."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.