Eastern plans to run with the Huskies

SEATTLE – As they took the field on a sunny Friday afternoon at Husky Stadium, the Eastern Washington football players paused to appreciate the scenery – and a few intangibles – for Saturday’s big nonconference game at Washington. Motivation was all around them during the walkthrough: for some, it was the seats they filled as purple-clad youngsters; for others, the big-time stage they were denied as high school recruits; and for a few veterans, the end zone where another Eastern team lost heartbreakingly three years ago. Three years later, nothing has changed. The Huskies are bigger, faster and favored – and Eastern will counter by doing what it does best – which isn’t necessarily throwing the ball on every down. That’s what the Eagles did in a 30-27 defeat here in 2011, and it’s what most armchair experts figure to see today. But this year’s game has a different feel. While that team came into Seattle with a newly minted national championship, this year’s Eagles own something more tangible: a ground game. In 2011, the Eagles were essentially starting over at running back, with Mario Brown their only experienced ballcarrier on a team that ended up as the most pass-heavy team in the Football Championship Subdivision. Three years later, the Eagles not only have a mobile quarterback in Vernon Adams, who can spread the field and create running lanes, but also a deep group of backs to fill them. Brown, Quincy Forte and Jalen Moore all figure to see action. “I think the running game is stronger, but there’s little room for error,” Brown said as he walked onto the turf. So what’s in the playbook for today? “It just depends,” Eastern coach Beau Baldwin said. “I didn’t necessarily go into that game in 2011 knowing I was going to throw it 70 times … you get into a game and you feel it as a play-caller, and you want to see what they’re doing.” Which is anyone’s guess. Baldwin cautions that “Vernon’s going to have to be very patient, because they (the UW defensive coaches) will have a very good plan. But Vernon has that ability, when it does break down, to make something positive,” Baldwin said. Like Eastern’s secondary, the Huskies’ is a mixed bag of youth and experience. Junior cornberback Marcus Peters is on the watch list for the Jim Thorpe Award, while safeties Kevin King and Budda Baker are quick but inexperienced – and probably a prime target along the side of the field patrolled by redshirt freshman corner Jermaine Kelly. Nevertheless, Eastern receiver Cory Mitchell calls it “the best secondary we’ve seen and a good marking level as far as our own receiving corps.” On the line, the Eagles will confront a defensive front seven that’s considered among the best in the Pac-12. End Hau’oli Kikaha and 339-pound tackle Danny Shelton are preseason Bednarik and Nagurski award candidates; so is linebacker Shaq Thompson. “We know it starts with us up front,” said Eastern center Jase Butorac, who faced both Hudson and Shelton during his prep days at Skyline of Sammamish. “They’re very active and they like to fight with their hands,” left tackle Clay DeBord said. “It should be a good challenge.” Notes Even as many of his players snapped pictures of the 70,138-seat stadium, Baldwin saw no sense of awe in his players, and for good reason: In three previous games against Pac-12 teams, the Eagles were 1-2 while getting outscored 100-96. “You can tap into that (motivationally),” Baldwin said. “Whether we won or lost, we never felt out of place in those games,” Baldwin said. … Many Eastern players have ties to the Huskies program, none more than junior safety Todd Raynes, who grew up in Kenmore in a family that’s held UW season tickets for 30 years. “It’s always been a dream to play at Husky Stadium, so I’m pretty excited,” Raynes said. … Washington defensive backs coach Jimmy Lake is a 2000 graduate of EWU, where he was an All-Big Sky safety. Lake began his coaching career as an undergraduate assistant at EWU and then spent four seasons as an assistant there before joining the UW staff for one season in 2004. Lake was on UW head coach Chris Petersen’s staff at Boise State.