The first game for the Lumberjacks is steaming toward the team like a train, but they're grinding through practices and getting ready to start the season.

The NAU football team held their last fall scrimmage Thursday at the lower practice fields, and the players looked to be in regular-season shape.

"There were some things that we cleaned up since the last scrimmage," NAU head coach Jerome Souers said. "We had fewer penalties, we only had one turnover and I was pleased about that."

Outside of an offsides penalty and a couple of false starts, the team ran through the situational full-contact scrimmage with a lot of crispness.

Souers said he was also pleased with the way both the offense and the defense executed during the drills.

He said, offensively, the blocking was on task, as it'll have to be if the Lumberjacks want to have success running the ball.

"The offensive line has improved and I think being able to run the football is something we're continuing to get better at," Souers said. "The screen game looked really good as well."

NAU has added some speed to its backfield with the addition of freshman running back Chim Nga, who busted off a couple of long runs after breaking through holes in the trenches. He'll join Zach Bauman and Giovannie Dixon as the heart of the Lumberjacks' running game.

"The young guys have not disappointed," Souers said.

"They'll have their learning curve like anybody has when they get here, and you tend to expect a few mistakes early, but they're getting better every week."

Souers added that having such intense competition at key positions between veterans and incoming players makes for an interesting dynamic among the team.

"The old guys have earned that position, but if the younger guys keep pushing, it makes everybody practice at their best and that just makes everybody better," Souers said.

On the defensive side of the ball, Souers said he was pleased with the improvement the defense has shown as a whole.

Scott McKeever and Isaac Bond had a good scrimmage as upperclassmen, and Souers said he was pleased with his secondary as well.

"We have some young corners who are really impressing us," he said.

With the first week of work coming up -- during which the team will specifically start to focus on Arizona, the Lumberjacks' first opponent -- Souers said things will really start to come together.

"We've spent the last couple of weeks working on general schemes, general situations, and now it's time to put a face to the team we're playing and narrow our focus to the things we're going to do against the University of Arizona," he said.

Souers and his staff spent last night looking at tape from the scrimmage, and he said he'll announce his starters at today's pep rally.

Bill Harris can be reached at bharris@azdailysun.com or 556-2251.