FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (February 24, 2021) – The Northern Arizona Lumberjacks enter the 2020 season looking to take a step forward in their second season with head coach
Chris Ball at the helm. A 4-8 record in 2019 did include some bright spots, with a 4-2 record in the Walkup Skydome and a few players earning national honors.
While Case Cookus departed during the offseason with numerous career passing records, four Lumberjacks who were named as All-Americans return for NAU. Boasting the best duo of specialists in the country, kicker
Luis Aguilar and punter
DJ Arnson both return for the first of two senior seasons with the Lumberjacks. Meanwhile, receiver
Hendrix Johnson returns to NAU's offense after being named to All-American teams as well while catching passes from Cookus.
Nearly all of Ball's coaching staff returns from last season, with the lone newcomer being
Sammy Lawanson. A former defensive coordinator for Big Sky Conference foe Sacramento State, Lawanson worked with Ball and a few other NAU assistants for two years at Arizona State. Most recently, Lawanson coached in the XFL for the DC Defenders and now works with the Lumberjacks' outside linebackers and nickelbacks.
Here's an outlook on each of NAU's position groups ahead of the 2020 season:
QUARTERBACK
No position on NAU's roster offers more intrigue than who will replace Cookus. While the task will be challenging, with Cookus leading the FCS in passing yards during his senior season, the Lumberjacks had multiple options to consider ladning on the eldest of the three a week before the season opener.
Oklahoma State transfer
Keondre Wudtee, who played in two games last season while rushing for 33 yards on 10 carries and completing 1-of-2 passes for six yards, will step into the role for the Lumberjacks. Wudtee's first season in Flagstaff was limited by an injury, with the senior playing only against Missouri State and Montana State.
While declaring Wudtee the starter, head coach
Chris Ball added that freshman
Jeff Widener will also see snaps this season after finishing his lone 2019 appearance 1-for-1 passing with three yards and one carry for 14 yards against Western New Mexico.
"Both of them had a great camp and both of them continue to get better. We can win with both of them, they are both doing a great job," Ball said.
Heath Beemiller stepped into the primary backup role to Cookus with Wudtee out last season, attempting passes in two games with a final line of 8-of-15 for 154 yards. Appearing in seven games total, Beemiller also ran for 43 yards on nine carries as a redshirt freshman and offers the Lumberjacks a third option at the position.
RUNNING BACK
Almost as challenging as it is to replace Cookus, the Lumberjacks also must fill in the whole from Joe Logan's incredible senior season that included 20 touchdowns, 14 on the ground and six through the air. Logan put up nearly 1,400 yards in the rushing and receiving game last season, and was responsible for 50.5% of the team's carries and 13.2% of the team's receptions.
Sophomore
George Robinson and senior
Aramis Aldredge return as the two most experienced running backs. Robinson's freshman season included 43 carries for 213 yards while Aldredge has tallied 69 carries and 335 yards in the first three years of his NAU career. While Robinson did not factor into the passing game during his first season, Aldredge totaled 20 receptions for 166 yards in the past three seasons.
NAU's running back group welcomed a host of newcomers, including true freshmen
Tyson Grubbs,
Joshua Maignan,
Rene Zaldivar and
Kevin Daniels.
Grubbs ran for 1,004 yards as a senior at Desert Vista in Phoenix and added 25 touchdowns combined in his final two years, playing against the largest schools in the state. Playing in conferences against slightly smaller schools, Maignan ran for 1,636 yards for Florence High School and Daniels finished with 1,432 rushing yards at Glendale High School. Out in California, Zaldivar ran for 670 yards and caught 22 passes for 282 yards as a senior for Los Altos High School.
The Lumberjacks also added
Draycen Hall during December's early signing period, but it is unclear if the freshman will be ruled eligible for the spring season.
RECEIVER AND TIGHT END
No position on NAU's roster is deeper than its outstanding receiver group, with a trio of 800-yard receivers coupled with a mix of upper and underclassmen.
Johnson and
Stacy Chukwumezie all impressed in their first full seasons at wideout for NAU. Chukwumezie quickly turned into one of the conference's best deep threats with an average of 19.3 yards per reception, one of the best in school history, while Johnson's 60 catches and 828 yards possibly stand as the best season for a true freshman in school history.
Redshirt freshmen
Coleman Owen and
Terrell Hayward also return after each playing in three games last season, with Hayward catching a touchdown pass against Arizona.
Sophomore
Riley Langton also caught eight passes for 127 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2019 while playing in all 12 of NAU's games. Freshmen
Regis Velez,
Jake Woods,
David Haen,
Ethen Cluff and
Jacob Walker are among the long list of additions to the position, which currently boasts nearly 20 players listed as receivers.
At tight end, junior
Matthew Kempton returns from an injury suffered in the season opener looking to return to his role as a red-zone threat. Kempton caught five touchdowns in his first two seasons as a Lumberjack, with the scores coming among just 27 total receptions. Other returners include redshirt freshmen
Alishawuan Taylor and
Dawson McPeak, the latter converting from quarterback. Senior
Skylor Clinton also joins the program after transferring from UAB, with the Prescott, Ariz. native expected to see playing time during the spring.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Whoever ends up at quarterback will be protected by a large number of experienced offensive linemen, as four Lumberjacks who saw significant playing time last season return in 2020.
Donovan Outlaw and
Luke Rudolph each started all 12 games at left tackle and left guard respectively, while
Jonas Leader spent nearly all of the season as the team's starting right guard.
Trevor Reinwald split time at center last season and rounds out the team's primary returners.
There are nearly 10 underclassmen who are among the depth at the position, including sophomore
Jalen Hooper who spent considerable time as an additional offensive lineman on the field playing tight end in short-yardage situations.
Noah Barta,
Angel Flores,
Maxwell Flores and
Eriq Williams all saw limited playing time as true freshmen in 2019.
DEFENSIVE LINE
The move to a 3-4 defense in 2019 led to positional changes for a handful of Lumberjacks, including
Carson Taylor who spent time at outside linebacker. Again listed as a member of the defensive line as NAU tweaks its defensive approach this season, Taylor returns for his senior season after leading NAU with 10 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks a year ago.
"He's had a great camp, he's done a great job," Ball said. "He's doing a good job leading. Shows up every day and works hard. He's just doing a lot of really good things right now."
Sophomores
Jaden Tauanu'u,
Eloi Kwete and
Mark Ho Ching each saw success in their first collegiate seasons. Tauanu'u finished the season with 13 tackles and an interception, Kwete recording five tackles for loss and three sacks in eight games, and Ho Ching added 2.5 tackles for loss in five games.
The three are among the more than 15 underclassmen at the position listed on NAU's roster, as the team will enter 2020 with many seeing their first time on the field. Additionally, Eloi's brother
Cosmas Kwete transferred into the program from Washington State and Boise State transfer
Kukea Emmsley arrived in Flagstaff with three years of eligibility remaining. Along with Louisiana transfer
Shomari Hayes, the trio infused even more young talent onto the defensive front. East Los Angeles College transfer
Traemaine Savea enters the program as one of the group's few upperclassmen, with Wagner transfer
Malik Johnson and San Jose State transfer
Lionell Wiggins also adding experience the position group.
"You've got to fit what you have," Ball said. "You've got to take what your players do really well and let them do it. We sat down during the offseason and felt like we were built better for this. We are going to put our players in a position to allow them to do what they do well."
LINEBACKER
With
Tristen Vance returning for an additional year of eligibility offers a veteran addition to a linebacking group that earned plenty of playing time for the first time.
Harrison Beemiller started all 12 games for NAU in 2019 while
Heston Lameta,
Jhasi Wilson and
Andrew Blitzke played in multiple games as reserves last season for the Lumberjacks and combined for four tackles for loss and 47 tackles in total. NAU also added multiple freshmen to the group.
"To have Tristen back is huge," Ball said. "We missed him a ton last year, and to have him back is a blessing. He's a dominating force and does a great, great job of leading. He's really worked hard, he's changed his body. He's gotten stronger and faster."
DEFENSIVE BACK
Another position that saw multiple underclassmen take the field in 2019, the defensive backfield is led by safety
Anthony Sweeney. The team's leading tackler with 83 last season, Sweeney started eight games while playing in 10 for the Lumberjacks. Finishing the year with five pass breakups and five tackles for loss, Sweeney finished second in both categories last season.
Cejai Parrish also played in 10 games with four starts at safety, tallying 35 tackles and a pair of pass breakups while
Jacob Mpungi moved from running back to corner during the 2019 season, finishing with 19 tackles and a pass breakup. The two sophomores lead the way for returning underclassmen as
Daego Albert,
Amelec Juntunen and
Eddie McClendon all saw limited playing time during their true freshman seasons.
While Juntunen redshirted, Albert and McClendon enter their sophomore seasons in 2020. Albert finished with seven tackles in seven games and intercepted his first career pass in the victory over Northern Colorado.
The Lumberjacks added graduate transfer
Brenndan Johnson, who spent two years at UTSA before playing for Louisiana in 2019. A safety and nickelback during his first three years in college, Johnson recorded 76 tackles across 34 games. NAU also brought in
Josh Marsh from Auburn, who spent time at linebacer while with the Tigers, but could see work at nickelback for the Lumberjacks. At corner, Jonathan Phenix entered the program from Houston, where the Cougars moved him between defensive back and running back early in his college career.
Freshman
Kamdan Hightower, freshman
Devontae Ingram and senior
Morgan Vest should also get opportunities to play in the secondary this season for the Lumberjacks.
SPECIAL TEAMS
With a pair of All-Big Sky and All-American honorees, NAU's special teams pairing of
Luis Aguilar and
DJ Arnson provides the program with possibly the best special teams group in the FCS.
Honored with three All-American awards following the 2019 season, Arnson finished with a career-high 45.8 yards per punt finishing third in the FCS. Arnson booted 16 punts for 50 or more yards and 19 pinned opponents inside their own 20-yard line.
Aguilar's 2019 season earned him All-Big Sky honors, seven All-American awards and the Fred Mitchell Award honoring him as the top kicker in the FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA and NJCAA.
The senior kicker broke the program record for kicking points in a season with 118, as he connected on 22-of-25 field goals and all 52 extra points. Aguilar enters the 2020 season on a streak of 56 consecutive extra points made dating back to Nov. 17, 2018, when he hit 4-of-4 extra points in a victory against North Dakota. The senior also led the nation with 61 touchbacks, as 76% of Aguilar's kickoffs came without returns.
Both specialists praised the work of long snapper
Justin Hathoot during their All-American campaigns, crediting the senior for their consistent success in the kicking game.
