FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (June 29, 2021) – It may have been just five games, but Northern Arizona deputy head coach and offensive line coach
Bob Connelly made the most of his position group's time on the field this past spring.
While upperclassmen
Luke Rudolph and
Jonas Leader each started all five games along the offensive line during the spring season, at times they were joined by as many as three freshmen in the starting lineup.
Angel Flores and
Noah Barta each started three games, with
Maxwell Flores and
Blake Gamez each starting two, and
Eriq Williams getting one start to open the season before missing time with an injury.
For four of the five, it offered another abbreviated playing opportunity after redshirting in 2019 while each still playing in four contests. However, for Gamez, the spring was the first time on the field for the freshman out of Verrado High School in Buckeye, Ariz.
"Really, really proud of the young guys," Connelly said. "A lot of guys played that I wouldn't have anticipated or did not expect to play this spring... Obviously it only made us better moving forward, just building confidence and depth, and giving them those game reps."
Many players along the offensive line missed time for one reason or another during the spring, but it may have been hard to notice thanks to Connelly's work with the group and the program's improved depth built through recruiting.
A strong group of returners, including others who didn't see playing time in the spring, as well as five signees in December will give the Lumberjacks double-digit underclassmen at the position this coming fall.
"Hopefully that's going to catapult us moving forward to have the confidence and build the competition in my room," Connelly said. "As we all know, competition makes us all better and our numbers are getting where they need to be."
Connelly's vast experience across college football seems to have paid off early on in his tenure under head coach
Chris Ball. Similar to many others, Connelly and Ball go back to the early 2000s, first at Washington State with both moving to Alabama together in 2003.
The two reunited at Arizona State in 2012, with Connelly coaching at UCLA, UTEP, Oklahoma State and USC in the years prior and after his stop in Tempe. When Ball joined Northern Arizona in December 2018 for his first head coaching job, Connelly was one of the easy decisions to add to the staff.
"He's one of the first guys I went to. I consider him one of the best offensive line coaches in the country," Ball said. "As far as how to run the football, he's a great technician who does a good job of putting the players in the right spot up front and does a good job of game planing. He just understands the position really, really well and knows how to teach it."
Unsurprisingly, Ball and Connelly share a similar view for what they want their players to take away from their time in the program upon graduation.
"He's like one of my best friends in the coaching profession. We've spent eight years together and we've known each other for 20-plus years," Connelly said. "We're very much in this for the same reasons and that's making a difference in the lives of the young men that we get to coach. At the end of the day, we're looking to put out productive citizens. Our goal is for these young men to be the best version of themselves every day that they come into this facility and in all areas of their life."
Ball and Connelly, as well as many others on the staff, have stressed how crucial the long-standing relationships on NAU's coaching staff are in establishing a close-knit atmosphere throughout the program.
"The hours we put in as football coaches and the time we spend together are countless," Connelly said. "There's nothing more rewarding and nothing easier than to be able to come in and do it with people that you enjoy being with and around on a daily basis... The relationships that we have on this staff can carry over and exude the family-like atmosphere that we are trying to present to our players building this program moving forward."
