NAU’s Chris Ball on returning to Tucson, his relationship with Jedd Fisch and recruiting Will Plummer | National Sports

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When Chris Ball returns to the Arizona Stadium sidelines for Saturday’s NAU versus UA competition, his longtime friend won’t be on the other side.

Ball was a former roommate of ex-Arizona head coach Kevin Sumlin during his days as an assistant in Washington state. The two came together in 2019, with Arizona winning 61:45.

Both programs have followed different paths since then. Arizona went through a coaching change, bringing in Jedd Fisch after playing an abbreviated Pac-12 schedule in 2020. The NAU graduated from star quarterback Case Cookus, moved their season from fall to spring, and finished 3-2.

Both programs have one thing in common: Neither team clinched a victory in 2021. In fact, Arizona hasn’t won a game since October 5, 2019.

Ball joined Star’s Justin Spears earlier this week on ESPN Tucson to talk about the lumberjacks, his relationship with fish, and what “It’s Personal” means for NAU this week.

How excited are you to be returning to Tucson for the first time since the 2019 season?

A: “Very excited. It’s just great to be back to normal with fans in the stands and to travel normally. It’s really nice to get back to what college football is about; the pageantry and the excitement, a normal one To have an environment and atmosphere that suits it. “

What did you learn about your team in the first two games of the season?

A: “We are very young. About 60% of our team is either a newbie or a newbie to Redshirt, that’s about 70 players. What we struggle with are the adversity during games, the flow of the game, surviving the storm, the ability to adapt and keep playing without making mistakes and being distracted by those mistakes. So those things were blatant and we need to narrow down our game plan to accommodate our players a little better. We made a little too many offensive, defensive and special teams so we narrowed it down. We practiced well and our Friday exercises were very sharp. But we come into play and adversity happens and we don’t handle it very well. … It’s exciting to play Arizona. We look forward to this game every other year when we play them or Arizona State. It’s great for our kids and it’s great for their families to be able to see them without having to travel. We’re excited because it’s a great opportunity for us and it should be fun. “

What’s your exploration report for Arizona? And do you have a relationship with fish?

A: “Yeah, we did camps together over the summer, so we saw him and hung out with him about three or four times this summer. He’s a great, great guy and he’s about to set up his own culture, develop the program, and he’ll put it into practice. He’s got a great plan, he’s done a great job of recruiting people from the state, which I think is important. He has to change a culture, and that’s hard to do these days. It’s really, really hard to change a culture because there are so many outside influences, with cell phones, media. The exposure you get these days, there are so many outside influences that it’s hard to change a culture. He plays a lot of kids on both sides of the ball, but he brings in his culture, his offense, his defense, his specialty teams, and I think from week one to week two he has improved. Even if the score doesn’t say so, they got better and trained very well. … He has a plan and it takes a while to get the plan off the ground, but it is going in the right direction. “

Is this game personal to most of your Arizona-heavy squads?

A: “Yes. We talked about it yesterday, ‘You think you’re an FBS football player? Well, this is a great opportunity for you to prove everyone wrong.’ Everyone giggled kind of, but everyone said, ‘Yeah, this is my chance.’ They love it, and a lot of them grew up in this state. Arizona or Arizona State, being able to play against them is a little more important and we have 70 Arizona state players on our roster so it’s really one really big deal to go there and play against them. “

Will Plummer will start as quarterback for Arizona. Did you try to get him to head the NAU?

A: “Yes we have got that. We tried, but then they offered it. He’s very talented and just such a great, great kid. He’s a great young man and I’m happy for him. He worked extremely hard. I saw him this summer helping out at camps and spending time with him, but what a phenomenal young man. He will seize this opportunity and use it. He looked really good in the second half against San Diego State and moved the ball great. He’s a tough guy and took a beating, but he jumped up straight away and did a really good job. He deserves it and I am sure that he will take this opportunity. “

Contact sports producer Justin Spears at 573-4312 or jspears@tucson.com. On Twitter: @JustinESports

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