(STATS) - Northern Arizona quarterback Case Cookus is making a case to be the FCS comeback player of the year … again.

For the second time in his career, Cookus is excelling one year after suffering a season-ending injury.

The redshirt senior is one of six players in the FCS to have over 1,000 passing yards (1,020) in his first three games this season, adding eight touchdown passes in Northern Arizona's 2-1 start.

On Saturday, the Lumberjacks will play in one of the week's more anticipated games at No. 12 Illinois State (2-1) in the Big Sky-MVFC Challenge. Two years ago, Cookus passed for 380 yards and three touchdowns as they beat the Redbirds in the inaugural year of the series.

"The quarterback throws to people open - he's very accurate, he's really good," Illinois State coach Brock Spack said. "We've seen an NFL quarterback; this is one. He's the best guy I've seen since (Jimmy) Garoppolo at this level."

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Cookus set an FCS freshman record with 37 touchdown passes in 2015 on the way to receiving the STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award.

A year later, Cookus suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the fourth game of his sophomore campaign. He came back in 2017 to pass for a career-high 3,413 yards as well as 22 touchdowns in powering the Lumberjacks to an FCS playoff appearance.

Bad luck came again in the second game of the 2018 season when Cookus broke the collarbone in his right throwing shoulder.

Less than three weeks away from turning 24, the native of Thousand Oaks, California, appears fine-tuned in his return this season. He enters Saturday's game just 18 passing yards shy of 9,000 in his 32-game career, having thrown for 82 touchdowns - 12 shy of the school record - and just 16 interceptions in 1,047 attempts. His 157.79 career passing efficiency is second-best among active FCS signal callers.