Please join me at noon, right here, for a live chat on Eastern football. In the meantime, here are links to some recent EWU-related stories, including last night's announcement by former SMU quarterback Kyle Padron that he has been cleared to play football this fall at EWU.

We are halfway through spring drills at Eastern, and also with our eight-part series on the different unit. Here's a link to my story today on the offensive line . Tomorrow, space permitting, you can expect the same treatment on a defensive line that should be very strong.

Meanwhile, I spent Tuesday afternoon at practice, which everyone agreed was the most physical of the spring,

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FROM PULLMAN — With so little else going on right now, two days away from spring football almost feels like a week. But WSU is back at it today with its 12th practice of the spring, the first of two this week before Saturday's spring game. As usual, we'll be there. And as usual, we have some links and whatnot.

The Eagles opened spring drills Tuesday afternoon, and here's my story from Roos Field, where I will be again this afternoon (wearing snow boots, judging by what I see outside this morning). I will also be sending regular Tweets, so please follow me at @srjimallen.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Big Sky Conference is gearing up for spring ball…

On the day of their first spring practice , the Eastern Washington Eagles completed their coaching staff Tuesday with the hiring of running backs coach Kiel McDonald.

McDonald is the third new coach Eastern has hired since last season. The Eagles earlier added cornerbacks coach Cherokee Valeria and tight ends/offensive tackles coach Brian Strandley.

Eastern opens the first of 11 spring football practices Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Roos Field, and all are open to the public. For a preview of spring ball, here's my story from Sunday. I plan to attend most practices and all scrimmages, culminating in the Red-White spring game on April 28. Also, I will send tweets from practices and scrimmages, so follow me at @srjimallen on Twitter.

Filling a hole that had been vacant since the beginning of last season, Eastern Washington hired Cherokee Valeria as cornerbacks coach, the school announced Wednesday.

Valeria replaces Torey Hunter, who was hired by Idaho in August.

The NCAA has notified Eastern Washington that wide receiver Tyler Hart has been granted a sixth year of eligibility.

Expected to be a slot receiver and returner for the Eagles last season as a senior, he missed EWU’s first three games, but returned to catch a nine-yard pass versus Montana State. But he lasted only three plays against the Bobcats before he was injured again and lost for the season. Hart was also lost for the year with a broken scapula in EWU’s fourth game of the 2008 season.

As in Bowe Merin, a 6-foot-2, 190-pound quarterback from Stockton, Calif., who signed a national letter of intent Wednesday to play at Eastern Washington. Here are some video highlights of Merin from last year.

For the season in his only year as a starter at St. Mary's of Stockton, Merin was 73-of-134 for 1,158 yards, 13 TDs and seven interceptions. St. Mary’s finished the year 9-3 overall and won the Tri-City League title with a perfect 5-0 record.

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FROM PULLMAN — Set a new personal record by covering the 72 miles between Spokane and Pullman in just a shade over an hour. Just in time to put together our morning post.

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FROM PULLMAN — It's just about time to hop on a plane for Phoenix, but before we do, we have plenty of stories — both WSU-related and from around the conference — to guide you to. Read on for many words about sports.

Visiting Portland State used a strong running game to knock of Eastern Washington 43-26 and spoil the Eagles' Senior Day at Roos Field on Saturday.

You can eventually check out the game story that will appear in Sunday's S-R here. 

Portland State's Connor Kavanaugh connected with Justin Monahan on an eight-yard scoring pass from eight yards out with only two second left in the second quarter to give visiting Portland State a 22-20 halftime lead over Eastern Washington in Saturday's Big Sky Conference matchup at Roos Field.

The opening 30 minutes of Senior Day was filled with odd plays and big plays that resulted in the two teams combining for 571 yards of total offensethree lost fumbles and a PSU touchdown that deflected off the hands of at least two Eastern defenders and ended up in the hands of Monahan after Eagles defensive backs Jeff Minnerly and T.J. Lee collided in the end zone while trying to interception a Kavanaugh pass originally intended for Kalua Noa.

EWU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was sacked on five of his first seven pass attempts, but ended up throwing for 292 first-half yards and three touchdowns.  Nick Edwards caught two of Mitchell's scoring pass,and Greg Herd hauled in the other.

Eastern's first-half rushing total was a minus-12 yards, while PSU picked up 187 yards on the ground.

Senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell had another big day on Saturday, throwing for 400 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern Washington University treated a sellout homecoming crowd at Roos Field to a lopsided 48-27 win over visiting Northern Colorado.

You can read the game story that will appear in Sunday morning's S-R here, and you read the post-game report posted by EWU's sports informationd department here.

Eastern Washington quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell threw for 242 yards and one touchdown and rushed for another score in leading the Eagles to a 24-10 halftime lead in Saturday's homecoming matchup against Big Sky rival Northern Colorado at Roos Field.

Mitchell completed 17 of 23 passes, connecting with Nicholas Edwards on a 19-yard scoring pass, and ran 1 yard for another TD.

Winless UNC got 163 first-half passing yards from Seth Labato, but netted only one yard on 10 rushing attempts.  Eastern also had trouble moving the ball on the ground, gaining just 17 yards on 23 rushing tries.

Eastern got its other points on an 8-yard TD run by freshman running back Quincy Forte and a 43-yard field goal by Mike Jarrett.

Eastern Washington will try to build on its modest two-game winning streak on Saturday, when the Eagles welcome Big Sky Conference rival Northern Colorado to Roos Field for a 4 p.m. Homecoming matchup.

With wide receiver Brandon Kaufman out for the year with a broken hand, look for junior Nicholas Edwards to continue getting even more attention from EWU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and UNC's defense.

You can get an early look at the feature story on Edwards that will run in Friday morning's S-R here, and you can check out the game notes supplied by Eastern's sports information department here. In addition, I've inclluded this link to the weekly Big Sky notes supplied by the league office.

Senior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell completed 13 of 16 first-half passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern Washington rolled to a 24-7 halftime lead against Big Sky Conference rival Weber State at Roos Field Saturday afternoon.

Mitchell connected with Nicholas Edwards on scoring passes of 22 and five yards, with the second coming just 19 seconds prior to intermission. His other touchdown pass went to Greg Herd, who took a short throw over the middle and turned it into a 51-yard scoring play.

Mitchell was operating without one of his favorite targets, Brandon Kaufman, who did not suit up because of a broken bone in his left hand. One of Eastern's starting cornerbacks, senior Alden Gibbs, was also on the sidelines in street clothes because of a thumb injury.

Mike Jarrett kicked a 46-yard field goal for the Eagles, outgained WSU 267-99 in the opening half and also rolled up a 17-7 edge in first downs. 

Long-time EWU assistant coach Chris Hansen is no longer on the Eagles coaching staff, according to several sources.  And why he decided to leave remains a mystery to most, because no one at Eastern is comment on what is being called a “personnel issue.”

You can read the story on Hansen's departure that ran in Thursday morning's S-R here, and you can check out the Big Sky Notebook that includes Eagles defensive coordinator John Graham's take on Saturday opponent, Weber State.

Eastern Washington's injury ravaged football team lost another key component from last year's national championship team Tuesday, when it was announced the senior linebacker Zach Johnson will undergo knee surgery and miss the rest of the 2011 season.

You can read more about Johnson and how the Eagles plan to move on without their top tackler on this post from the EWU sports information department.  And don't foreget to leave any thoughts you might have on how crippling this latest loss will be to EWU's nose-diving postseason playoff hopes.

Sophomore quarterback DeNarius McGhee threw for one touchdown, ran for another and accounted for 233 yards of total offense in leading 4th-ranked Montana State to a 36-21 Big Sky Conference win over Eastern Washington at Roos Field on Saturday.

You can read the game story that will appear in Sunday's S-R here, and you can check out what EWU's sports information department posted about the game here.