SPOKANE, Wash. (July 25, 2022) – Opening up the final day of the Big Sky Football Kickoff, the conference announced the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks were once again voted to finish seventh in both the Coaches and Media Preseason Polls while offensive lineman
Jonas Leader and safety
Morgan Vest were named to the 2022 Big Sky Football Preseason All-Conference Team.
Now a 12-team conference with the departure of the Southern Utah Thunderbirds, the Big Sky Conference placed the Lumberjacks into the same spot in the Coaches Poll for a third consecutive year and repeated last year's Media Poll prediction as well. Just in front of Northern Arizona, the Weber State Wildcats, UC Davis Aggies and Eastern Washington Eagles finished fourth, fifth and sixth respectively in both polls. Northern Arizona's eight-game Big Sky schedule includes all five programs voted behind it in the two polls, while Montana State (second in Coaches, third in Media), Weber State and UC Davis round out the schedule. Northern Arizona will not face the preseason favorite in both polls, Montana, or Sacramento State which landed third in the Coaches Poll and second by the Media.
Idaho (eighth in Coaches, ninth in Media) and Portland State (ninth in Coaches, eighth in Media) alternated the two spots following Northern Arizona while Cal Poly was placed 10th in both polls. Idaho State and Northern Colorado tied for 11th in the Coaches Poll, with the Bears given the edge by the Media for 11th and the Bengals landing 12th.
As for the Big Sky's Preseason All-Conference Team, Leader earned the honor for the first time in his Lumberjack career. An All-Big Sky selection in both the spring and fall seasons of 2021, Leader enters the fall with 27 consecutive starts along Northern Arizona's offensive line. Starting 11 games at right guard in 2019, Leader began the spring season in the same position for a pair of contests before closing out the five-game schedule with three starts at right tackle.
Beginning the fall once again at right tackle on Northern Arizona's line, Leader helped Northern Arizona rank 36th in the FCS for total offense and 29th in rushing offense while playing with a true freshman at quarterback in
RJ Martinez and a freshman at running back in
Kevin Daniels whose collegiate career began the previous spring.
As for Vest, the All-Big Sky Second Team selection following last fall was named to the Preseason All-Conference Team for the second straight year. A unanimous All-Big Sky First Team selection following the spring season, Vest followed up his abbreviated debut season with an even more impressive fall. Leading the Lumberjacks with 106 tackles, Vest ranked inside the Top 25 of the FCS while tying for the fourth-most tackles in a single season at Northern Arizona. Adding 5 interceptions, 4.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery, Vest's impact was seen all over the field. The interception total was tied for the sixth-most in the FCS in 2021 and the sixth-most by a Lumberjack in a single season.
Finishing with double-digit tackles in eight of 11 games last fall, Vest reached a season-high of 12 against South Dakota and Cal Poly. Vest's pair of interceptions against Idaho included the game-clinching play, grabbing a pass by the Vandals at Northern Arizona's own 6-yard line to secure the Lumberjacks 38-31 victory over the Vandals.
Northern Arizona finished the fall at 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big Sky Conference, and now heads into head coach
Chris Ball's fourth season with the program. The Lumberjacks open the 2022 season with a trip to Tempe, Ariz. on Thursday, Sept. 1 to face the Arizona State Sun Devils for the first time since the 2016 season. After a trip to Texas to face the Sam Houston Bearkats, who are now in the middle of their transition to the FBS, Northern Arizona returns home to open a five-game fall schedule in Flagstaff with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks on Saturday, Sept. 17.
Tickets can be purchased online at
www.nauathletics.com/buy and questions can be directed to the Lumberjack Ticket Office at LumberjackTicketOffice@nau.edu or 928-523-2253.
