Reilly Hennessey gets starting nod at QB for Eastern

Redshirt freshman Reilly Hennessey will start at quarterback for Eastern Washington when the Eagles face Portland State on Saturday in the final regular-season game of the season, coach Beau Baldwin said Tuesday.

Hennessey started in the Eagles’ 57-16 loss Saturday at Montana, but alternated with former starter Jordan West while third-stringer Gage Gubrud also saw action.

That won’t be the case this week, said Baldwin, who added that West or Gubrud could see action “in certain packages.”

“Reilly will be the starter and we’ll take it from there,” Baldwin said before the Eagles practiced in their fieldhouse during Tuesday’s windstorm.

The stakes are high: 18th-ranked Eastern (6-4 overall and 5-2 in the Big Sky Conference) must defeat the 8-2 Vikings in order to have any chance to qualify for the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

Baldwin said the quarterback change isn’t based on Saturday’s game or the Eagles’ 52-30 loss to Northern Arizona, but rather “the culmination of 10 games.”

“Jordan was a huge part of why we were able to win six games, but he had hit a point where he wasn’t playing as well in the last few weeks as Reilly,” Baldwin said.

West, a redshirt junior, led the nation in passing efficiency through September, but his stats fell dramatically in recent weeks. Against Montana, he completed 7 of 19 passes for 119 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

Along with the Eagles’ inability to break big plays in the running game – their longest run from scrimmage in Big Sky play is 21 yards – West’s slump has hurt the Eagles’ ability to convert on third down.

In their last three games, the Eagles are 12-for-40 (30 percent) on third down.

Blaming that on overall team execution, Baldwin said practices “have lacked crispness, and that has carried over into Saturdays.”

Another factor, Baldwin said, is that Hennessey has outperformed West during practices. He likened the situation to 2012, when then-freshman Vernon Adams Jr. supplanted starter Kyle Padron for the same reason.

“It’s because that what gives Eastern Washington the best chance to win,” Baldwin said.