FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (March 27, 2018) - The Northern Arizona Football tuned up its aerial attack and put one of the nation's top defensive backfields to the test during the second day of spring drills on Tuesday afternoon at the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.
For the second straight practice, the Lumberjacks practiced in helmets and shorts and focused on precision and execution in the 7-on-7 period, individual drills and the team session while exhibiting great energy and skill, particularly in the passing game.
Junior quarterback
Case Cookus continued to look sharp for the second consecutive day of spring practice while connecting on a large number of his passing attempts during all periods, including a 60-yard touchdown strike to junior
Luke Nguyen during the team portion.
In addition, top wide receiver
Emmanuel Butler ran precise routes and showed his strong hands in snaring a number of passes against the Lumberjacks' secondary, which features four returning starters after ranking as one of the nation's top units against the pass in 2017.
The defense had its share of big plays as well including a pick-six by senior cornerback
Maurice Davison and a number of physical pass breakups during both the team and 7-on-7 competition.
The 'Jacks will return to the practice field at the Skydome on Thursday, March 29 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. MST. Thursday will mark the beginning of the progression to full contact as NAU will put on the shoulder pads for the first time this spring in preparation for the first full-contact scrimmage on Saturday.
Each of NAU's spring practice sessions are open to the public free of charge.
Head Coach Jerome Souers Quotes
"I love the attitude and enthusiasm of this group. The energy is outstanding. It is just difficult without pads to see where you are at. We are better than we were on Sunday. I feel like we have cleaned up a lot of our alignment and assignment errors that were an issues. Still, some of the snaps were awry but they were better today. So, like you always do, from one day to the next are you getting better and I know we are. That's huge. As long as we maintain a pattern of improvement each day every week we are going to be fine."
"The offensive and defensive lines we have a lot of younger guys who are stepping up, a lot of guys that have not been in contact drills, pad level and fundamentally blocking getting off blocks. We are getting prepared for live, which hopefully will come on Saturday when we can have termination type plays and can see the guys play until the end. Everything is in a progression so what we are looking for when we put the shoulder pads our guys being able to adapt to more gear on because that changes the balance of your body and being able to come out and execute technique. I would love to hear pads popping on Thursday and see some of this energy translate into effective fundamental execution."
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