Entering his 14th season at NAU, Tuesday night's practice at the Skydome was just a bit extra special for Jerome Souers.

Amid a sea of cushioned blue chairs, new suites and new workout facilities, the head coach of the Lumberjack football team was ecstatic to begin fall practice inside the revamped stadium.

"We're really excited about the upgrades in the dome," Souers said. "From the living conditions of the locker room, the training room, the equipment room -- it feels different."

It's a boost to the spirits of everyone who works for the NAU program, Souers said. There's a sense of renewed optimism among the staff and the athletes as they begin the 2011 season.

"These guys work hard and go into a clean locker room that's brand new, that is actually air conditioned, it's a comfortable place to be," Souers said. "We want a first-class effort out of these guys; we have a first-class facility."

It certainly gives off a different aura and the Jacks are excited to see how it works out in a game atmosphere. NAU is scheduled to unveil the renovated Skydome in time for the home opener on Sept. 10, but there's still work to be done. Both suites and the press box are still under construction, as is the concourse level, which houses several offices.

"When it finally gets completed, it'll be nice," defensive end Isaac Bond said. "(I'll) look and see all this brand-new stuff instead of everything being old and raggedy."

Not to mention smelling better. The air-conditioned locker room should help alleviate halftime and post-game odor.

"The locker room's a lot more spacious and you can move around," running back Zach Bauman said. "New feel, new smell, everything's great."

Souers said there will be a continued focus on fundamentals throughout the first week of practice. The veterans and the 33 newcomers were in separate groups on Tuesday as the coaching staff hopes to see increased reps for everyone while the two squads are split between conditioning and drills.

That kept the returners from having to remember too many names on the first day, which is a good things considering there are a lot to remember this season.

"I usually don't start remembering names until a week in," Bond said. "I'm very bad with names."

Souers said the renewed focus on fundamentals stems from several of the Jacks' losses where a missed block, missed tackle or fumble affected the outcome of the game.

"(Those are) things that are all correctable, things that we should have taken care of," Souers said. "Our attention to detail has never been more focused."

Those things need to be worked on before they start going over the scheme and set plays. The Jacks never practiced as an offensive or defensive unit and worked mostly on positional drills on Tuesday. Souers expects the gameplan to become more simple during the 2011 season and will focus on what they do best. Given there's six quarterbacks in fall camp -- with the starter to be determined -- and Bauman eclipsing 1,000 rushing yards during his freshman season, the Jacks strength figures to be running the ball.

"We're not in a rush to see how many plays we can get in; we're not in a rush to get into the offense and defense just yet," Souers said.

NAME GAME, NUMBER CHANGE

Bauman is one of four Zachs (or Zack) on the roster this year, along with freshman safety Zack Finch, freshman defensive lineman Zach Abdorrahimzadeh and freshman linebacker Zack Williams.

It's something Bauman's accustomed to, having grown up around people that shared his first name.

"It's normal to me now," Bauman said.

The sophomore running back also changed his number to 34 (from 35) last year. It's been on his jersey for most of football career, expect his freshman year when it was worn by senior linebacker Reid Worthington.

"Ever since I was 6 (years old), I've been 34," Bauman said. "I was deciding to either go 34 because of Walter Payton -- my dad showed me a lot of tape of him when I was younger -- or I was going to change to 4 because that's what my dad wore, but I decided to go back to 34 because that's what I've been my whole life."

Jacob May can be reached at jmay@azdailysun.com or 556-2257. Follow him on Twitter @JacobBMay.