NORFOLK, Va. – The coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of not just all collegiate spring sports seasons, but also all off-season practices and team workouts. That includes spring football practice and intrasquad scrimmages.

Instead of using those 15 spring practice sessions as an opportunity to evaluate the progress of his returning players and have a first look at a few new recruits who enrolled, NSU head football coach Latrell Scott and his staff are left to video conference with their players, making sure they are keeping in shape and staying on top of their classwork remotely. NSU's spring practice was scheduled to run from March 16 to April 17.

In lieu of reports from spring practice, NSUSpartans.com will instead give a breakdown of each position grouping for Spartan football in the coming months.

First up: A look at the wide receivers and tight ends, a group which played a pivotal role in the Spartans' averaging a school Division I record 28.9 points per game in 2019.

"I love the nucleus we have coming back," Scott said. "I think our wideouts did a tremendous job last year. We have big play potential, which gave us the ability to hit a lot of home runs. They played well in the run-game, too, giving us perimeter blocking down field to break some long runs."

The Spartans return nine players to the wide receiver room for the fall, including the three primary starters in seniors Justin Smith and Marcque Ellington and sophomore Da'Kendall James. None had much starting experience heading into the 2019 season, but with three starters leaving from the 2018 season, the trio of Smith, Ellington and James stepped into big roles and came through last year.

Smith led the team in receiving yards (639) and touchdown catches (6) in 2019. His 53.2 receiving yards ranked eighth in the MEAC. Smith also posted two 100-yard games in MEAC play.

"Justin can play multiple positions in our offense, so we want to continue to move him around," Scott said. "We just want to see him bring that consistency every day. I think he's one of the tougher one-on-one matchups in the conference."

James led the team in receptions (37) and ranked ninth in the conference in both catches and yards (557, 46.4 ypg) while finishing with four touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. Both Smith and James had two TD receptions of 50 yards or longer during the 2019 season.

"D.K. is a legitimate deep threat, but he has also good size and can run around people," Scott said. "For his first year, he did a great job. The big thing for him is going to be continuing to learn the nuances of the offense so he's comfortable. A year of maturation will help him."

Ellington had 25 receptions for 305 yards and two scores a year ago. NSU's tallest receiver at 6-5, Ellington was increasingly more productive as the year progressed, tallying 21 of his receptions during MEAC play.

"Marcque is the glue guy of the group," Scott said. "He's very physical in the run game and is a very capable red zone and third-down target for us."

NSU is also expected to return six others at the wide receiver position. Junior Zane Killgo, sophomores Tremayne Talbert, Vincent Jarvis, Quentin Greene and Malachi Smithen, and redshirt freshman Da'Quan Felton are also back in the fold. Talbert (6 catches, 63 yards, 1 TD) was the lone member of that group to catch a pass in 2019. Felton redshirted.

"We're looking for that next group to take the next step and contribute in games this year," Scott said. "There's a lot of potential in that group."

NSU's lone new recruit at the wideout position is freshman Kevin Gayles from Richmond. Gayles is a three-star recruit from Richmond who caught seven touchdown passes as a prep senior and has a bright future, according to Scott.

Making NSU's passing game even more potent: The Spartans return all four tight ends from their 2019 roster. The group is led by seniors Shawn McFarland and Anthony Williams. McFarland was a first-team All-MEAC performer in his first year with the Spartans last year. He caught 15 passes for 169 yards and a touchdown last season. He also was a key blocker for NSU's rejuvenated ground game and was a special teams standout.

Williams combined with McFarland to form perhaps the best 1-2 punch at that position in the MEAC. Williams caught 14 passes, three for touchdowns.

Rettzo (12 games) and Burgess (six games) are a pair of rising redshirt sophomores who saw extensive playing time on special teams last year. NSU also welcomes in freshman Christian Turner from Fork Union Military Academy.

"We may call Shawn the starter there but he and (Williams) are really 1A and 1B. They both played well last season and helped us win games," Scott said. "We need either Rettzo or Burgess to step up and we were looking forward to using the spring to find that third tight end that would allow us to get into some bigger sets."