By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
Of the many battles taking place over the course of preseason football camp for Eastern Washington University, who would emerge to quarterback the Eagles sure had most of the attention.
The battle continued last Thursday in the team's final scrimmage, one week prior to the Eagles' opener Thursday night in Moscow against the Western Athletic Conference's Idaho Vandals in a non-league contest.
If the decision as to who would start for the Eagles at the Kibbie Dome was made purely on statistics, Southern Methodist University transfer Kyle Padron earned that on his 13-of-19 completions for 125 yards in the 55-play scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman Vernon Adams completed all three of his passes for 86 yards and a pair of TD passes, and junior Anthony Vitto finished 7-of-9 for 66 yards.
While at the conclusion of the scrimmage Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin had not made a decision – or at least shown his cards in the matter – it would be easy to understand why because both Padron and Adams had their moments to shine.
“Vernon took a great shot when it presented itself early, a big touchdown to Shaquille Hill,” Baldwin said.
“I liked my matchup with Shaq in the corner over there,” Adams said of the touchdown bomb he threw to an in-stride Hill. “I told him I'm going up top, beat him with your speed; he runs like a 4.3 (40 yards) I knew he was going to win.”
Baldwin said he could see a comfort level with both of his starting quarterback candidates.
“Kyle, really if you look back on his entire scrimmage, he made one throw where he overthrew a tight end down the seam (for an interception), but other than that even his other pick was in a good spot.
Outside of progress in position battles, as a team Baldwin assessed the three weeks of battling one another in one and two-a-day drills.
“We need to win the turnover battle, win on third down, win in the red zone; we've been working a lot of those situations all camp so we're in a good spot in terms of where we're at.”
Padron led the offense on an eight-play, 70-yard drive to open the scrimmage, as he completed all four of his passes for 45 yards. Sophomore Quincy Forte had the other 25 on the ground, including a 6-yard touchdown run.
Adams then followed with the 51-yard strike to Hill, a redshirt freshman who finished with four receptions for 78 yards. Adams also had a 13-yard TD pass to junior Daniel Johnson later in the scrimmage.
“My mind was focused today, I just came out and had fun,” Adams said when asked what the difference was between a shaky performance in Eastern's Aug. 18 scrimmage.
Vitto directed the offense on a pair of drives, one ending with a 40-yard field goal by senior Jimmy Pavel, and the second concluding when Pavel just missed on a 41-yard attempt.
“Anthony (Vitto), he's in such a tough spot, but when he gets in there he operates,” Baldwin said. “So I feel real good about all three guys and where they're progressing.”
True freshman Cooper Kupp was the leading receiver for the second-straight scrimmage, catching five passes for 60 yards.
Redshirt freshman safety Todd Raynes led the defense with an interception, a pass broken up and three tackles, and junior Jakob Pugsley had a pair of sacks and three other tackles. Senior linebacker Rusty Haehl and junior cornerback Ronald Baines each had four tackles.
“The defense in two scrimmages has created a lot of turnovers which has been fun to see,” Baldwin said.
Following the opener at Idaho, Eastern makes a return trip to the Palouse to meet Washington State Sept. 8. The Eagles take Sept. 15 off before opening Big Sky Conference play at Weber State Sept. 22 before opening its five-game home schedule Sept. 29 versus Montana.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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