The 2019 season began just as the extended 2018 season ended on Jan. 5 at the NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas.
Following the all-important winter conditioning and strength training workouts which concluded in mid-March, the Eastern Washington University football team now hits the field again as it opens spring practices on Tuesday, April 2, at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
A total of 48 returning letterwinners will be on hand this spring and next fall when head coach Aaron Best begins his third season at the helm. The Eagles are expected to return nine total starters – five on offense and four on defense – with 23 letterwinners back on offense, 24 on defense and a kicker.
Despite missing nine players near the end of the season who had begun the season as starters – six on defense and three on offense -- the Eagles finished 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference to share the league title with Weber State and UC Davis. The Eagles won their last four games of the regular season, then won on three home games in the NCAA Football Championship Playoffs before falling to North Dakota State 38-24 in the title game in Frisco.
“Our returning players will be hungry to get back to that stage, and we’re going to get after it,” said Eastern head coach Aaron Best..
The veteran-laden team in 2018 will see significant changes in 2019 – from both a player and coach standpoint. Besides the returning letterwinners, Eastern will also have a large group of as many as 21 redshirt freshmen on hand this spring competing for repetitions. Eight of those players saw action in 2018 as part of the new NCAA rule allowing freshman to play in as many as four games and still redshirt. Dean Sise, a transfer from Navy, also redshirted in 2018 and will be a sophomore for the Eagles next fall.
The success of 2018 resulted in four coaches moving on, and four new coaches will officially step foot on “The Inferno” on April 2. Replacements include new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ian Shoemaker, defensive passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach Allen Brown, wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Pat McCann and safeties coach Byron Mills. In addition, Eti Ena was promoted to defensive coordinator.
The Eagles will have back four full-time starters on defense (DT Dylan Ledbetter, DE Jim Townsend, LB Chris Ojoh, S Dehonta Hayes), plus three others who received starts and significant playing time (S Tyson Prunty, S Calin Criner, Rover Kendrick Johnson). Offensively, five starters return (QB Eric Berriere, WR Andrew Boston, C Spencer Blackburn, G Kaleb Levao, T Chris Schlichting).
After having only 12 seniors in 2016 and 14 in 2017, Eastern had 27 on its 2018 roster. However, two of those 27 -- All-Big Sky offensive linemen Spencer Blackburn and Kaleb Levao -- were granted a sixth year by the NCAA to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries. Both will enter the 2019 season with 39 games worth of experience, and Blackburn has started 37-straight games and Levao has started 18.
Thus, Eastern’s 25 lost seniors included 18 four-year letterwinners and another five who earned three. Combined, those 25 players had a total of 1,006 games played and 441 starts. Injuries to numerous Eagles helped give so many players opportunities to play and start.
“It’s who we are and how we do things,” said best of his team’s next-man-up mentality. “Eric Barriere was a backup and one of seven backups who had to step into starting roles in the playoffs (a total of nine for the semifinals versus Maine). It’s incredible – we like to make it hard, but iron sharpens iron. I was proud of this bunch and can’t say enough about them.”
A total of 23 All-Big Sky Conference honors were won by Eastern players in the 2018 season, including five on the first team. Six Eagles went on to win FCS All-America honors, with senior Roldan Alcobendas winning the Fred Mitchell Award as the top placekicker in the nation. Blackburn won second team All-America honors, while Barriere was honored as a sophomore All-American and Boston and defensive end Mitchell Johnson earned freshman All-America accolades.
Reader Comments(0)