Back in the fall of 2015 Northern Arizona head coach Eric Heins announced that he would be redshirting multiple varsity athletes in order to preserve eligibility for the 2016 season and beyond.

“Both those guys (Zienasellassie and Weitz) are going to be in school for five years and it will be great to have those guys back for the team and also get some young guys some experience this year. And then bring them back next year to go for another top-four finish,” Heins told Jonathan Gault of LetsRun.

At the time, the move made sense. But three years later, this move has made an even larger impact on NAU’s legacy. In fact, Heins maybe should’ve redshirted even more athletes given 20/20 hindsight.

NAU’s 2015 Roster:

SR Futsum Zienasellassie (Redshirted)

SR Nathan Weitz (Redshirted)

JR Andy Trouard (Redshirted)

SO Cory Glines

FR Tyler Day

FR Peter Lomong

FR Geordie Beamish (Redshirted)

If Heins raced Zienasellassie, Weitz, Trouard, and Beamish in 2015 here is how results would’ve played out the past three seasons...

2016 Season:

Stanford would have won the title and NAU would have finished fourth without Futsum and Weitz.

2017 Season:

NAU would have only beaten Portland by 30 points without redshirt senior Andy Trouard on the roster.

2018 Season:

No Change

2019 Season:

Geordie Beamish, the 22nd returning scorer would be out of eligibility.

Now imagine if Coach Heins also redshirted freshmen Tyler Day and Peter Lomong in 2015?

The 2019 NAU men would be eyeing a four-peat with FIVE returning All-Americans and Brodey Hasty!