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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EWU spring football: Red-White Game will be scrimmage format

EWU coach Beau Baldwin knows there is still plenty for his Eagles to fine-tune. (Tyler Tjomsland)

If the offense has its way, Eastern Washington football fans will see plenty of long drives at today’s Red-White Spring Game.

The defense hopes the lessons of the past three weeks will stick – and that it will stick a few ballcarriers this afternoon at Roos Field.

Either way, it’s as close to the real thing fans will see until the season opener at Oregon on Sept. 5. It will be a scrimmage-based affair, but with special teams thrown into the mix.

“We’ll add a couple of special team elements … live drills with kickoff coverage and kickoff return, a few things that maybe we haven’t always done,” coach Beau Baldwin said. “All we did (at last week’s scrimmage) was field goals.”

Without depth at many positions to split his squad into teams, Baldwin said today’s game will consist of offensive units going against defensive squads, much like the previous two weeks. The defense dominated the first week, but the offense responded to roll up 550 yards last Saturday.

“There is still plenty to fine-tune and we get to keep working on the fundamentals,” Baldwin said.

Today’s game has several attractions:

• One last chance to view the four-way competition at quarterback, involving Jordan West, Conner Richardson, Reilly Hennessey and Gage Gubrud. “They’re all coming along, and they’re all different in their own way,” quarterbacks coach Zak Hill said. In another twist, quarterbacks are fair game for would-be tacklers.

• The defense’s progress in the new 4-2-5, or nickel, formation adopted over the winter under new coordinator Jeff Schmedding. “I think we’ve already installed everything, now we have to keep improving and getting better at the little things. I’m excited,” defensive tackle Matthew Sommer said.

Notes

The game is free and open to the public, and precedes the 34th Annual Killin Dinner, Dance and Auction. … Spring ball won’t end with today’s game. The Eagles will practice twice next week, on Tuesday and Thursday.

Thirteen players will miss the spring game because of injury. They include offensive linemen Clay DeBord (shoulder) and Thomas Gomez (ankle); defensive linemen Samson Ebukam (shoulder), Jakob Stoll (concussion), Jay-Tee Tiuli (ankle) Keenan Williams (shoulder) and Albert Havili (knee); defensive backs Moe Roberts (wrist), D’londo Tucker (knee) and Victor Gamboa (shoulder); linebackers Miquiyah Zamora (hamstring) and Jake Gall (knee); and kicker Roldan Alcobendas (knee).