NAU Preview
Saturday’s season opener may be the first time that both ASU and NAU are facing off, with both teams being ranked in their respective preseason top 25 polls (ASU in the AP poll, NAU in the FCS Coaches’ poll). What makes this Lumberjack squad of the better ones the Sun Devils have faced in recent years? Here’s our breakdown:
Northern Arizona Offense
The Lumberjack offense is led by returning starting quarterback Ty Pennington, who had an efficient and effective 2024 season, throwing for 2,288 yards with 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions while completing 65.2% of his passes. Pennington’s completion percentage ranked 23rd last year among FCS quarterbacks.
Pennington, the 2024 Big Sky Newcomer of the Year who followed head coach Brian Wright and transferred to NAU from Division II Pittsburg State prior to last season, also showed some wheels as he rushed for 437 net yards on 104 carries with seven touchdowns.
Pennington, who didn’t throw an interception last year until his 10th game of the season, had a season-high 312 passing yards with a touchdown against Eastern Washington and 265 passing yards against Idaho State. On the ground, he had five games with at least 50 net rushing yards, including a season-best 88 yards against Idaho State. On two occasions, he accounted for four total touchdowns, with a pair of passing and rushing touchdowns against Utah Tech and Weber State.
Pennington enters 2025 with high expectations as he, like his counterpart in this weekend’s game for ASU, Sam Leavitt, was named the Preseason All-Conference quarterback for the Big Sky Conference.
At running back, Northern Arizona returns its top two performers from last season in starter Seth Cromwell and backup Darvon Hubbard.
Cromwell, a former Missouri Western State transfer, was the team’s leading rusher in 2024 with 681 yards on 125 carries (5.4 avg.) with nine touchdowns, adding 16 receptions for 65 yards.
The Lumberjack rusher ended the regular season on a very hot streak last year, as he had all three of his 100-yard rushing efforts for 2024 in those final three regular-season games. Cromwell first posted a 132-yard, three-touchdown output against Cal Poly, then a 155-yard effort the next week versus Northern Colorado, before a 112-yard outing in the regular season finale against Eastern Washington. That said, Cromwell had seven games last year with under 10 carries, including five of the first six games of 2024.
Hubbard, who initially signed with Texas A&M out of Surprise’s Willow Canyon High School and later transferred to Temple before relocating to NAU, rushed 99 times for 408 yards (4.1 avg.) with four touchdowns last year, along with 16 catches for 128 yards.
Quaron Gossett, in his first year at NAU after transferring in from the junior college level, is also listed as a potential two-deep player at running back. Gossett rushed for 1,073 yards and nine touchdowns for Ventura (Calif.) College in 2024.
NAU will feature some new faces atop the depth chart in the pass game, as the Lumberjacks lose three of their top four receivers from last season.
Leading the way among returning players is Kolbe Katsis, who, like Pennington at quarterback, transferred in from Pittsburg State prior to last season. In his debut campaign in Flagstaff, Katsis caught 35 passes for 498 yards with two touchdowns to rank second on the team last year in all three categories.
Last season, Katsis had his best day in the regular season finale against Eastern Washington, in which he totaled 130 receiving yards on just three catches with a touchdown. Katsis demonstrated substantial big-play abilities throughout the 2024 season, highlighted by a 75-yard reception in that game and an 88-yard reception earlier in the season.
Also listed as a starter for this weekend is FBS transfer Jayson Raines, formerly of Stanford, who transferred to NAU this offseason after spending the 2021-24 seasons with the Cardinal. Raines appeared in 32 career games with Stanford, catching three passes for 22 yards in 2023.
Rounding out the starting group of wide receivers is Joey Stout, a JUCO transfer in his first season with the Lumberjacks.
Isaiah Eastman caught 20 passes for 238 yards with a score in 2024, but he and Katsis are the only returning Lumberjack wide receivers to have caught more than four passes last season. Eastman is listed as a backup at one wide receiver position.
At tight end, though NAU loses team-leading receiver and First-Team All-Big Sky pick Bryzai White from last season, Isaiah Gerena returns to the roster after catching 13 passes for 115 yards in 2024, but he is not listed on the depth chart for Saturday’s game.
Redshirt freshman Jeter Purdy and Braden Kramer are listed as the top options at tight end for the season opener.
Purdy appeared in two games last season while maintaining his redshirt status, while Kramer is in his fourth season with the Lumberjacks. Kramer has 16 career game appearances in three seasons, including all 13 games last season, though he has primarily been used as a blocking tight end as he has yet to register a catch at the college level.
Along the offensive line, the Lumberjacks will have to replace starting center and two-time Second-Team All-Big Sky honoree Jonny Bottorff, along with starting left guard and former Sun Devil Ralph Frias.
NAU returns three starting offensive linemen in left tackle and Chandler High graduate Seth Smith, right guard and Hamilton High graduate Connor DePrez, as well as Ethan Kramer, who moves from right tackle to left guard. All three players started every game of the 2024 season for the Lumberjacks. Both Smith and Kramer were voted to be team captains for the 2025 season.
Center Terrance Caldwell and right tackle Steven Eakins figure to join the returning starting trio as the first-team offensive line for NAU on Saturday. Caldwell is in his first year with the program after transferring in from Big Sky foe Weber State, while Eakins, also a first-year transfer from an FCS program in Southern Utah, begins his Lumberjack career after earning second-team all-conference honors for SUU in 2024.
Northern Arizona Offense Summary
Last season, NAU ranked inside the top 40 among FCS teams in total offense (36th, 396.9 yards per game) and rushing offense (31st, 180.2 yards per game), team rushing touchdowns (23rd, 25), and yards per carry (19th, 4.93).
Though the run game essentially returns intact from 2024, the ‘Jacks will have to usher in a few new first-team pass-catchers with only two active pass catchers on the roster to return from last year and listed as available to play Saturday that caught 10 or more passes for NAU last year.
In Saturday’s game, NAU will need to depend on the playmaking ability and leadership skills of Pennington behind a veteran offensive line in order to strike against the ASU defense.
Northern Arizona Defense
The strength of the NAU defense may lie in its veteran line, led by nose tackle Micah Carreon. Carreon, the team’s top returning defensive lineman, posted 46 tackles and a share of the team lead with 7.0 tackles for loss in 2024, though he did not generate a sack. An Honorable Mention All-Big Sky selection in 2024, Carreon was one of two Lumberjack defenders to be named to the 2025 Preseason All-Big Sky Team.
Also returning from last season is lineman Tausagafou Ho Ching, who tallied 37 tackles, including 4.0 for loss with a sack last season. Ho Ching might also see action on offense as a fullback, where he caught a nine-yard touchdown pass last season.
Joining Carreon and Ho Ching in the starting lineup figures to be end Alani Ma’afu, who tallied 16 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with 0.5 sacks in 2024.
The Lumberjacks will have to replace veteran defensive lineman Cory Hall, who spent the 2021-24 seasons with NAU and posted 20 tackles with 2.0 sacks in 2024. Hall transferred this offseason to UNLV.
At linebacker, NAU will be tasked with replacing Tommy Ellis, last year’s leading tackler, who posted 106 tackles, including 7.0 for loss, with two interceptions last season on his way to First-Team All-Big Sky accolades. Ellis’ 106 total tackles last year tied for the most by a Lumberjack defender in a single season since 1998.
Statistically, the team’s top returning defender is linebacker Ammon Allen, an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky pick in 2024 and a Highland High School graduate who began his college career at Arizona. Last season, Allen posted 66 tackles, including 5.5 for loss, with 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble. He is NAU’s leader among returning players in tackles and sacks. However, Allen is reportedly expected to miss the entire season due to injury.
In terms of preseason recognition, linebacker Brandon Wong joins Carreon on the 2025 Preseason All-Big Sky Team after he registered 43 tackles, including 4.5 for loss, in 2024. Wong was an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky choice in 2024. That said, though his injury is not predicted to be as serious as Allen’s, Wong also is expected to miss Saturday’s game at ASU.
With Allen and Wong out of action, Travis Arena is the team’s top returning linebacker available for duty this weekend, as he posted 43 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with a sack last season.
Arena is slated to start at linebacker along with Ramere Davis and Quinlan Popham. Popham collected 14 tackles, including one for loss, last season, while Davis had two tackles in five games in 2024.
An interesting name on the NAU roster at linebacker is true freshman Joseph Allen, who in February 2023 announced that following a two-year LDS mission, he would join the Arizona State football program. The Gilbert Highland High School product will begin his college football career this year for the Lumberjacks instead, though he is not listed on the two-deep for Saturday’s game.
The Lumberjacks suffered another critical loss via the transfer portal this offseason, as Alex McLaughlin, who was the team leader last year in sacks and forced fumbles – an outstanding performance as a defensive back – and tied for the team high with 7.0 TFLs, ranked second on the team with 96 tackles, transferred to Washington.
Last year, McLaughlin was an Honorable Mention All-America and a unanimous All-Big Sky first-team selection.
NAU also endured another key transfer departure in safety Zach Lewis, A Second-Team All-Big Sky selection last year who ranked third on the team with 66 tackles and added two interceptions. The Chandler Hamilton High School alum transferred to North Dakota this offseason.
Additionally, Northern Arizona loses cornerback DJ VanHook, a Second-Team All-Big Sky pick last year, who collected 35 tackles, including 4.0 for loss with 1.5 sacks, along with three interceptions and a team-best eight pass breakups.
Returning from last season is Mikale Greer, NAU’s team leader with four interceptions, who also added 17 tackles in 13 games in 2024. Greer is expected to start at cornerback along with Michael Beresford, who had eight tackles and an interception in nine games last year.
Elsewhere in the secondary, Nahamani Harris is slated to start at free safety with Jaylan Wesley at strong safety and Canyon Moses as the nickel defensive back.
Moses posted 31 tackles, including 4.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, five pass breakups, and a quarterback hurry in 2024, while Harris added 13 tackles in five games in 2024. Wesley is a first-year transfer from Lindenwood, where he collected 39 tackles with an interception and four pass breakups last season.
Northern Arizona Defense Summary
By all accounts, the Lumberjack defense is expected to show a variety of looks in an attempt to outwit the Sun Devil offense.
Last season, NAU was solid against the run, ranking 39th nationally, allowing 139.8 rushing yards per game. Additionally, the 11 rushing touchdowns allowed by the Lumberjacks tied for eighth nationally at the FCS level in 2024.
On a player personnel basis, the Lumberjacks face a significant defensive reload in this game, as between graduation, transfers, and injuries, NAU is expected to be without six of its top eight tacklers from 2024.
Additionally, no player who presumes to be available for NAU this Saturday had more than one quarterback sack for the Lumberjacks in 2024, while only one available player had more than 4.0 tackles for loss for Northern Arizona last season.
Northern Arizona Special Teams
At punter, the Lumberjacks boast one of the top performers at the FCS level in Ben D’Aquila, an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky choice last year and the Preseason All-Big Sky Conference punter for 2025. A semifinalist for the Augusta Sports Council FCS Punter of the Year award, D’Aquila averaged 46.65 yards on 40 punts.
According to the NCAA’s website, D’Aquila didn’t register enough total punts to qualify for national statistical rankings, but for reference, only three qualified punters at the FCS level had a higher average than he did in 2024.
Similar to Arizona State in 2024, Northern Arizona had multiple placekickers see action last season as three total Lumberjacks attempted at least one field goal, with the group collectively connecting on 12-of-19 field goal tries.
Of the three, only Samuel Hunsaker, who made 4-of-7 field goals last year, returns for 2025. Marcus Lye, NAU’s most consistent kicker last year, who made 8-of-11 field goal attempts, transferred this offseason to UMass. Hunsaker tops the NAU depth chart at placekicker as well as for kickoffs.
Outside of Hunsaker, NAU has two true freshmen kickers on the roster to compete for playing time in 2025.
In the return game, receiver Isaiah Eastman was an Honorable Mention All-Big Sky pick at punt returner in 2024. He averaged 11.39 yards on 28 punt returns last year with a long return of 50 yards.
NAU will field a new kickoff returner this season as J’Wan Evans, a talented return specialist who averaged a solid 26.15 yards on 13 kick returns last year, has moved on after playing his senior season in 2024. Similar to D’Aquila, Evans appears not to have met the cutoff to qualify for national rankings, but only 15 FCS players who qualified had better than a 26.5-yard average on kickoff returns.
Eastman is again listed as the team’s top punt returner, with receiver Kolbe Katsis tagged as the top kickoff returner.
Overall Summary
In what will be the 42nd all-time meeting between Arizona State and Northern Arizona, Saturday’s game likely features the best versions of ASU and NAU to ever face one another as the Sun Devils enter Saturday’s game ranked No. 11 at the FBS level, while the Lumberjacks are ranked as high as No. 18 at the FCS level.
After what was more than a 50-year gap between games from 1950-2003, ASU is 7-0 against NAU since 2003 with an average score in those games of about 41-12. The two teams met most recently in 2022, with ASU claiming a 40-3 victory.
The most recent matchup in which ASU did not win was a 13-13 tie in Tempe in 1946, while the last time Northern Arizona gained a victory over Arizona State was a 19-13 outcome in Flagstaff in 1938.
For a few decades in the first half of the 20th century, this meeting was essentially an annual affair, as minus the seasons impacted in the 1940s by World War II, ASU and NAU played one another each year from 1924-1950, largely because from 1931-53 the two schools were both members of the Border Conference.
Fast-forward to modern times, following the 2023 season, Northern Arizona cut ties with former ASU assistant coach Chris Ball, who had been NAU’s head coach from 2019-23 and compiled a 20-30 overall record without posting a winning season during his tenure.
To replace Ball, NAU hired Brian Wright of Division II Pittsburg State out of Pittsburg, Kansas. Wright, the offensive coordinator at Toledo from 2016-19, was Pittsburg State’s head coach from 2020-23 and put together a 33-8 record across those four seasons, including an outstanding combined 23-3 record with back-to-back top five finishes in 2022-23.
Wright, who was also a perfect 4-0 at the FBS level in 2013 as interim head coach of Florida Atlantic, seamlessly continued his winning ways in year one in Flagstaff, as he guided the Lumberjacks to an 8-5 record and their first FCS playoff appearance since 2017. The eight-win total for NAU in 2024 stands as the program’s winningest season since 2013.
To close last year, NAU finished the season ranked No. 22 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll and entered the 2025 season ranked No. 18 in that very same poll. The Lumberjacks figure to be battle-tested throughout the 2025 season, as in addition to playing a nationally ranked FBS program in Arizona State, NAU plays four teams ranked in the FCS preseason top 12, including three teams in the top seven.
In terms of conference rankings, the Lumberjacks were chosen fourth in the 2025 Big Sky Preseason Coaches’ Poll and fifth in the media version of that same preseason poll. On the surface, these rankings might suggest a prediction for a mediocre season for NAU, but it is worth noting that the Big Sky currently has five teams ranked within the top 15 of the AFCA Coaches Poll, a list that currently has the Lumberjacks ranked No. 18 in the nation.
Northern Arizona should have an outstanding season and has the potential to legitimately contend for a repeat appearance in the FCS Playoff, but if ASU truly is the eleventh-best college football team in America, the Sun Devils should be able to, at a minimum, cover the four-touchdown spread that sees ASU as the favorite in Saturday’s game.
