Photo by: Hardy Meredith | SFA Photography
SFA Football Fall Camp Report | Quarterbacks
8/7/2018 12:27:00 PM | Football
‘Jacks put on full pads for first time of fall camp Tuesday morning, go live with full contact
The 2018 Stephen F. Austin football season is just around the corner and the Lumberjacks have begun fall camp, beginning the countdown to the 92nd season of Lumberjack football in Nacogdoches. Throughout the preseason camp, SFAJacks.com will break down each position or area of the team, today highlighting quarterbacks.
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the first time of its 2018 fall camp, the Stephen F. Austin football team put on full pads for Tuesday morning's practice. The Lumberjacks hosted their fifth practice of SFA's preseason camp at 8:15 a.m., hitting the grass on the pair of practice fields behind the athletics fieldhouse and going live with full contact.
The gridiron came alive Tuesday morning as the 'Jacks took full advantage of putting on complete pads for the first time since April. With temperatures around 75 degrees and plenty of east Texas humidity at the start of its workout, SFA got its first taste of live football as the 'Jacks hosted their 20-session practice.
Following its standard pre-practice positional drills, stretching and warmups, SFA took on three sessions of special teams work with the focus on punts and punt returns. From there, the 'Jacks jumped into several positional and one-on-one drills with wide receivers taking on defensive backs, while seven-on-seven inside running drills took place on the opposite field. The team then ran 24 man coverage plays with just the skill position players as defensive linemen battled offensive linemen.
SFA ran approximately 40 full team plays to close out its fifth fall camp practice as the 'Jacks continued to work on their playbook install for the season. Opening up with eight pass blitz pickup plays, SFA went completely live with eight 3rd-and-short running plays before competing in eight 3rd-and-6 plays. The 'Jacks made their final 16 plays as close to a game as possible, calling plays from the sidelines with first, second, third and fourth-down snaps. Practice ended with a lot of excitement from both the offensive and defensive sidelines as the chains were brought out to measure a close but successful first-down conversion by the offense.
"What I was proud of is that we finished well," senior quarterback Foster Sawyer commented on Tuesday's practice. "There was a point where we hit a lull period where we were kind of flat but then we finished strong. The offensive line definitely came through towards the end."
"It's what we've been itching for all summer," Sawyer said about putting on full pads for the first time of fall camp. "The energy is just night and day. I know I'm really excited to be coming back from injury but feeding off of these guys makes me want to move to that next step. The competition of putting pads on, that's why we play football."
Quarterbacks
Arguably the biggest storyline of SFA's offense leading up to the 2018 season is the quarterback battle. With five quarterbacks available it will be a competition to see who gets the starting nod come Sept. 1.
The 'Jacks return both of their starting quarterbacks from a season ago, including senior TCU transfer Foster Sawyer, who played in the first four games of 2017 and made three starts before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Abilene Christian. Sawyer completed 68-of-104 passes (65.4 percent) for 623 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception prior to his injury. He held a team-best passer efficiency rating of 126.47 and averaged 155.8 passing yards per game.
SFA will also have the services of junior Jake Blumrick, who started the first game of the 2017 season and the final seven, leading the 'Jacks in passing yards (1,654), completions (171), attempts (303), touchdowns thrown (8) and passing yards per game (165.4).
"It's awesome, we've brought in some good guys and we've had some guys who have been here," contributed Blumrick on the quarterback competition. "Getting Foster (Sawyer) back and bringing Josh (Covey) in is great, it pushes all of us more so than anything, especially with how close each of us are."
"It's not one of those things where everyone is arguing or has trouble with anyone," continued Blumrick. "If someone makes a good play, everyone is out there supporting them. Everyone has got some constructive criticism for each other but it's awesome. I haven't been around a quarterback group that has been this close. To be this close and for everyone be so talented is something special. We've got one of those 'next guy up' mentalities where whoever steps up, we know can do the job and we're all going to be right there supporting them."
Junior Texas transfer Josh Covey, who adds a different dynamic to the position with his athleticism, will be another viable option after showing plenty of skill throughout spring camp. Redshirt freshman Zach Truelove has shown much improvement after taking a healthy amount of snaps throughout the spring following his redshirt year in 2017.
Talented true freshman Cam Arnold (Cy-Fair) arrived in Nacogdoches this summer and is more than ready to learn SFA's offensive playbook.
Fall Camp Continues
SFA's 20 total practices of preseason camp continue Wednesday as the 'Jacks host their second afternoon practice of fall camp at 3:15 p.m. and return to shoulder pads, helmets and shorts. Following Wednesday's practice, the team will get its first day off Thursday before returning to the gridiron Friday for an 8:15 a.m. practice on the grass.
With the exception of the Lumberjacks' three intra-squad scrimmages, all practices will take place on the two grass practice fields behind the SFA athletics fieldhouse.
The complete fall camp schedule can be found below.
2018 SFA Football Fall Camp Schedule
Practice #6 | Wednesday, Aug. 8 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
OFF | Thursday, Aug. 9
Practice #7 | Friday, Aug. 10 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Scrimmage #1 | Saturday, Aug. 11 | 8:15 a.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
Practice #9 | Sunday, Aug. 12 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #10 | Monday, Aug. 13 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #11 | Tuesday, Aug. 14 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Full Pads
Practice #12 | Wednesday, Aug. 15 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #13 | Thursday, Aug. 16 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
OFF | Friday, Aug. 17
Scrimmage #2 | Saturday, Aug. 18 | 8:15 a.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
Practice #15 | Sunday, Aug. 19 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #16 | Monday, Aug. 20 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #17 | Tuesday, Aug. 21 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Full Pads
Practice #18 | Wednesday, Aug. 22 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #19 | Thursday, Aug. 23 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Scrimmage #3 | Friday, Aug. 24 | 6:30 p.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
On Monday afternoon, STATS FCS released its preseason top-25 rankings and SFA received seven votes in the poll as voted upon by a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. The 'Jacks are one of six Southland Conference teams to appear in the preseason rankings or be receiving votes. Sam Houston State is ranked fourth in the preseason poll, followed by Central Arkansas 16th, McNeese 17th and Nicholls 18th. Southeastern Louisiana received one vote to join SFA.
Week One
The 'Jacks open up their 2018 season Saturday, Sept. 1 with a trip to Starkville, Mississippi, to face Southeastern Conference mainstay Mississippi State. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU, available everywhere via the ESPN app. SFA hosts NCAA Division II Tarleton State in a 6 p.m. tilt for its home opener Saturday, Sept. 8.
SFA Football Season Tickets
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for the 2018 SFA football season can visit the new home for SFA Tickets at SFATickets.com or contact the SFA Athletic Ticket Office at 936-468-JACK.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Lumberjack football throughout the 2018 season.
-SFA-
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – For the first time of its 2018 fall camp, the Stephen F. Austin football team put on full pads for Tuesday morning's practice. The Lumberjacks hosted their fifth practice of SFA's preseason camp at 8:15 a.m., hitting the grass on the pair of practice fields behind the athletics fieldhouse and going live with full contact.
The gridiron came alive Tuesday morning as the 'Jacks took full advantage of putting on complete pads for the first time since April. With temperatures around 75 degrees and plenty of east Texas humidity at the start of its workout, SFA got its first taste of live football as the 'Jacks hosted their 20-session practice.
Following its standard pre-practice positional drills, stretching and warmups, SFA took on three sessions of special teams work with the focus on punts and punt returns. From there, the 'Jacks jumped into several positional and one-on-one drills with wide receivers taking on defensive backs, while seven-on-seven inside running drills took place on the opposite field. The team then ran 24 man coverage plays with just the skill position players as defensive linemen battled offensive linemen.
SFA ran approximately 40 full team plays to close out its fifth fall camp practice as the 'Jacks continued to work on their playbook install for the season. Opening up with eight pass blitz pickup plays, SFA went completely live with eight 3rd-and-short running plays before competing in eight 3rd-and-6 plays. The 'Jacks made their final 16 plays as close to a game as possible, calling plays from the sidelines with first, second, third and fourth-down snaps. Practice ended with a lot of excitement from both the offensive and defensive sidelines as the chains were brought out to measure a close but successful first-down conversion by the offense.
"What I was proud of is that we finished well," senior quarterback Foster Sawyer commented on Tuesday's practice. "There was a point where we hit a lull period where we were kind of flat but then we finished strong. The offensive line definitely came through towards the end."
"It's what we've been itching for all summer," Sawyer said about putting on full pads for the first time of fall camp. "The energy is just night and day. I know I'm really excited to be coming back from injury but feeding off of these guys makes me want to move to that next step. The competition of putting pads on, that's why we play football."
Quarterbacks
Arguably the biggest storyline of SFA's offense leading up to the 2018 season is the quarterback battle. With five quarterbacks available it will be a competition to see who gets the starting nod come Sept. 1.
The 'Jacks return both of their starting quarterbacks from a season ago, including senior TCU transfer Foster Sawyer, who played in the first four games of 2017 and made three starts before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Abilene Christian. Sawyer completed 68-of-104 passes (65.4 percent) for 623 yards and four touchdowns with only one interception prior to his injury. He held a team-best passer efficiency rating of 126.47 and averaged 155.8 passing yards per game.
SFA will also have the services of junior Jake Blumrick, who started the first game of the 2017 season and the final seven, leading the 'Jacks in passing yards (1,654), completions (171), attempts (303), touchdowns thrown (8) and passing yards per game (165.4).
"It's awesome, we've brought in some good guys and we've had some guys who have been here," contributed Blumrick on the quarterback competition. "Getting Foster (Sawyer) back and bringing Josh (Covey) in is great, it pushes all of us more so than anything, especially with how close each of us are."
"It's not one of those things where everyone is arguing or has trouble with anyone," continued Blumrick. "If someone makes a good play, everyone is out there supporting them. Everyone has got some constructive criticism for each other but it's awesome. I haven't been around a quarterback group that has been this close. To be this close and for everyone be so talented is something special. We've got one of those 'next guy up' mentalities where whoever steps up, we know can do the job and we're all going to be right there supporting them."
Junior Texas transfer Josh Covey, who adds a different dynamic to the position with his athleticism, will be another viable option after showing plenty of skill throughout spring camp. Redshirt freshman Zach Truelove has shown much improvement after taking a healthy amount of snaps throughout the spring following his redshirt year in 2017.
Talented true freshman Cam Arnold (Cy-Fair) arrived in Nacogdoches this summer and is more than ready to learn SFA's offensive playbook.
Fall Camp Continues
SFA's 20 total practices of preseason camp continue Wednesday as the 'Jacks host their second afternoon practice of fall camp at 3:15 p.m. and return to shoulder pads, helmets and shorts. Following Wednesday's practice, the team will get its first day off Thursday before returning to the gridiron Friday for an 8:15 a.m. practice on the grass.
With the exception of the Lumberjacks' three intra-squad scrimmages, all practices will take place on the two grass practice fields behind the SFA athletics fieldhouse.
The complete fall camp schedule can be found below.
2018 SFA Football Fall Camp Schedule
Practice #6 | Wednesday, Aug. 8 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
OFF | Thursday, Aug. 9
Practice #7 | Friday, Aug. 10 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Scrimmage #1 | Saturday, Aug. 11 | 8:15 a.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
Practice #9 | Sunday, Aug. 12 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #10 | Monday, Aug. 13 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #11 | Tuesday, Aug. 14 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Full Pads
Practice #12 | Wednesday, Aug. 15 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #13 | Thursday, Aug. 16 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
OFF | Friday, Aug. 17
Scrimmage #2 | Saturday, Aug. 18 | 8:15 a.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
Practice #15 | Sunday, Aug. 19 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #16 | Monday, Aug. 20 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #17 | Tuesday, Aug. 21 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Full Pads
Practice #18 | Wednesday, Aug. 22 | 3:15 p.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Practice #19 | Thursday, Aug. 23 | 8:15 a.m. | Practice Fields | Shells
Scrimmage #3 | Friday, Aug. 24 | 6:30 p.m. | Homer Bryce Stadium | Full Pads
- Practice time and location subject to change dependent on weather
On Monday afternoon, STATS FCS released its preseason top-25 rankings and SFA received seven votes in the poll as voted upon by a national panel of sports information and media relations directors, broadcasters, writers and other dignitaries. The 'Jacks are one of six Southland Conference teams to appear in the preseason rankings or be receiving votes. Sam Houston State is ranked fourth in the preseason poll, followed by Central Arkansas 16th, McNeese 17th and Nicholls 18th. Southeastern Louisiana received one vote to join SFA.
Week One
The 'Jacks open up their 2018 season Saturday, Sept. 1 with a trip to Starkville, Mississippi, to face Southeastern Conference mainstay Mississippi State. Kickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU, available everywhere via the ESPN app. SFA hosts NCAA Division II Tarleton State in a 6 p.m. tilt for its home opener Saturday, Sept. 8.
SFA Football Season Tickets
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for the 2018 SFA football season can visit the new home for SFA Tickets at SFATickets.com or contact the SFA Athletic Ticket Office at 936-468-JACK.
Stay tuned to SFAJacks.com, as well as SFA's social media platforms, for complete coverage of Lumberjack football throughout the 2018 season.
-SFA-
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football12.15.25 | Weekly Press Conference- Football
Monday, December 15
12.12.25 | SFA @ MSU Postgame Press Conference
Saturday, December 13
12.8.25 | Weekly Press Conference- Football
Monday, December 08
12.6.25 | FCS Playoff Round 2 vs ACU Postgame Press Conference
Monday, December 08
