Ready to ‘get out there and play’

Kevin Hatch is back at work and ready to go. Confidence and excitement fill him in equal measures as he looks forward to the 2009 college football season.

The senior free safety from Freeman High School is the elder statesman in the Eastern Washington University defensive backfield. Hatch started every game a year ago and has 24 starts under his belt over the past three seasons.

Eastern Washington opens the season Sept. 5 at home against Western Oregon, with a televised game Sept. 12 against California at Berkely.

“I am excited,” he admitted. “We’ve all been working hard over the summer, and I think everyone is ready to actually put on the pads and get out there.”

The excitement level in Cheney is amplified this year. A year ago, the first season under coach Beau Baldwin, the Eagles were 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference, including a victory over regular season champion Weber State – a win highlighted by Hatch’s 73-yard interception return for a touchdown.

“It takes a while to get used to a new system,” Hatch said. “It’s like learning a brand new language. You do a lot of the same things, but the terminology is different.

“I think last year we spent a lot of time thinking about what we were doing instead of just going out and playing the way we can. The last few games, it all started to come together. That’s what has me excited. I’m ready to get out there and play.”

Hatch finished last season with 60 tackles and has 150 career tackles – 50 shy of cracking the school’s top-25 all-time list.

“I definitely want to get to 200 career tackles,” he said. “And I want to improve my interception numbers, too. But for the most part, we’ll sit down as a team and put together our goals. We talk that over with the coaching staff, and then we post our goals in each of our lockers.”

Eastern’s defense, under first-year coordinator John Graham, was impressive in the second half of last season. The Eagles held five consecutive opponents to 19 points or less, the first time the school has done that since joining the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1984. The unit capped the season by holding Weber State’s high-powered offense to just 26 points in the team’s 33-26 victory.

Six returning lettermen return in the EWU defensive backfield and the incoming freshman class should add depth.

“I helped recruit Bo Schuetzle (freshman from Shadle Park) last year, and I’ve been talking with him and helping him get ready,” Hatch said. “It feels good to have helped recruit a guy like that, someone who could come in and have an impact as a freshman.”

Baldwin wants to see plenty of competition.

“We don’t have a large number of defensive backs, but it was a position we recruited heavily,” Baldwin said in the school’s preseason prospectus. “We signed a number of defensive backs, so there could be young players in the lineup, but a lot of that depends on where the veteran players are. We’re hoping that’s a very competitive position during fall camp and that some players who haven’t played much in prior years are able to step up for us.”

“We all get along really well as a team,” Hatch said. “Last year we would all get together, usually after practice, and work together because we knew we all needed extra work.

“Having a new coaching staff puts everyone in the same situation – it’s not about who’s a senior and who isn’t. When you’re all starting over and learning a new system, you’re all working together.”

That team camaraderie is buoyed by a strong contingent of Spokane-area athletes on the team.

“I think it helps that a lot of us know one another, but that’s not all,” Hatch said. “A lot of us have played with and against one another for a long time, and that’s always a plus. I think the big thing is that we’re all committed to helping this team win.”

Two more Spokane Valley players figure to be in the mix this season.

East Valley’s Tyler Jolley is listed on the pre-season depth chart as the starting nose guard as well as the team’s long snapper. A year ago the 6-foot-3, 285-pounder played in nine games, starting four, and amassed 27 tackles, a sack and batted down three passes.

Jolley figures to be an important cog on what should be a strong defense against the run.

University graduate Clint Moquist, a 6-3, 255 junior, is looking to find playing time at center. Moquist redshirted in 2006 and, after shifting from tight end to the offensive line, has played sparingly over the past two seasons.