Freshman tight end among early standouts for SFA

I spent the better part of this last weekend deep cleaning my house in preparation for the approaching arrival of the newest member of our family. Between the moving boxes, hauling furniture, and pretending to be a handy-man, I couldn't help but think about how much better weekend work days are just a little bit later in the year.

When the grill is on outside, a cold brew is in close proximity and college football is on the flat screen, it probably isn't so bad dusting ceiling fans, calking a gap in the floorboards and being interrupted every five minutes to make (another) snack for your very pregnant better half.

Well, folks, we're almost there. College football on the television is just around the corner and in Nacogdoches it's already began. Four practices in, the energy has been phenomenal for Clint Conque's Lumberjacks, and, while far from a finished product, the players who will headline the 2017 Stephen F. Austin football team are starting to emerge.

On Sunday evening, under the lights of Homer Bryce Stadium, a picturesque preview of many fall afternoons to come was on display. A trio of healthy quarterbacks looked notably sharper than they did through the spring season, the receivers appeared as advertised, freshmen made their presence known, and tempers flared a couple times in a deeply spirited fourth practice of fall camp.

Through the opening weekend, here are some notable story lines surrounding the SFA football program:

The battle for opening day starting quarterback is still a dead heat -

Ryan Cottingame and Jake Blumrick have been duking it out for the quarterback job since presumed starter Foster Sawyer suffered an MCL tear earlier in the summer. While Sawyer elected not to have surgery and should be available to play at some point this fall, Blumrick or Cottingame will probably get the nod on September 2nd at SMU to open the season.

Both quarterbacks have slightly different skill sets but both have been fairly impressive through the opening days of fall camp. It is a pleasant surprise in a lot of ways after they struggled to lead any kind of sustained offense during the spring game a few months ago. There have been some bad moments too - turnovers, specifically - but the offense has looked generally effective under both prospective leaders and it seems little progress has been made determining who will be under center in just under a month.

Arclies, Bentley, other newcomers, have shined -

Tight end has been a position with some health questions behind senior starter Will Taylor but the Lumberjacks appear to have landed a true freshman gem at the position. Allen Arclies, one of the 2017 signees who will probably be expected to contribute meaningful snaps immediately, has stood out as much as anyone hoped in the early part of fall camp. His frame looks awfully mature for his age and at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, Arclies has been productive getting separation and making plays on the ball. Paired with an already very large receiving corps, Arclies has the potential to develop into a young star for this team.

He's not the only newcomer turning heads, though. Romello Bentley, the junior college transfer, has been on fire since arriving in Nacogdoches. Among the otherwise tall group of wideouts, Bentley stands at just 5-foot-9. But his explosive burst and stick 'em hands have made for fun displays of circus catches and play-making genius.

Frank Iheanacho had his best practice as a Lumberjack on Sunday night, too. The large pass catching transfer from Texas A&M looked unstoppable at times, making contested grabs and showing a certain amount of speed you wouldn't ordinarily expect from a 6-foot-6, 230 pound player. At one point, on a quick move, Iheanacho ended up 10 yards in the clear down the right sideline in what would have been an easy score had Blumrick kept his eyes down the field. Frank was a bit hit-or-miss in the spring when he practiced mostly out of the slot. Now, more frequently on the outside, he's looked more like the player SFA hoped they were getting when he announced his intention to transfer early this year. He'll probably play some combination of both lineups when the season begins.

Other first year Lumberjacks who have stood out include Terian Goree, wide receiver transfer from North Texas, Juan Day, running back transfer from Arkansas, Josiah Hunter, offensive lineman transfer from Chaffey College, and a number of the freshman defensive backs.

The defense is a work in progress, but the concept seems to be working -

Practice always favors offense. Without true full contact, quarterbacks are more comfortable and running backs look free when otherwise stuffed. Fall camp for SFA has been what you would expect: a lot of pass completions, effective ball movement and sustained drives, and probably more standouts on the scoring side of the ball.

If there's one thing that new defensive coordinator Jeff Byrd's teams do well, though, it's force a lot of plays to run and capitalize on turnover opportunities when they come. Despite the high completion percentage and the electric receiving corps, Byrd's defensive backs had some nice plays in coverage on Sunday evening.

Junior cornerback Tarrin Mitchell had a number of beautiful breakups and the battles all evening between Iheanacho and sophomore Davelle Fox were a treat to watch. Even while the offense seemed to get the better of the defense (especially early on), turnovers were a theme of the night. Regardless of who was under center, opportunities for the defense came when enough plays were run by Gary Crowton's unit. Even some of the younger guys, like freshman Javon McInnis, who made a nice interception on a deflection over the middle, got in on the action.

If the dangerous throws are a bit concerning on the offensive side of the ball, the fact that they were frequently capitalized on by the defense should be equally encouraging. This defense will probably give up a fair number of yards this season, but if they can take the ball away like they did on Sunday night, a lot of that can be mitigated.

The battle to start at weak-side linebacker will be one to watch -

In general, the linebacker position is going to be a young one for SFA. Spencer Choka, one of two sophomores who are presumed starters, has had a very impressive camp through the opening weekend. The other, Teddy Britton, has also come along nicely. In Byrd's base 3-3-5 defense, a third linebacker to be named, the Will, is also going to be a big job. It remains one of the positions on this team not yet settled.

Ryan Woods is a versatile backup who could probably play all three positions if called upon but the starting job right now seems to be a fight between sophomore Anthony Jacobs and junior transfer Terrance Potts.

It is one of the most immature position groups on the team from an experience standpoint but one of the most important to the success of this first-year defense in Nacogdoches. There's a lot of talent between the top five or six linebackers, but who demonstrates enough development to see the field remains to be seen.