Third-year Eastern Washington running backs coach Kevin Maurice was forthright Tuesday when discussing his group of experience-rich ballcarriers.

Eastern Washington is ranked No. 3 in the American Football Coaches Association FCS Top 25 poll. Earlier this month, EWU checked in at No. 4 in the STATS preseason media poll.

Eastern Washington’s Gunner Talkington, true freshmen Trey Turner and Kellen Kranc and redshirt freshman Simon Burkett are each battling for the outright No. 2 quarterback job behind Eric Barriere, a preseason Walter Payton Award candidate. Two weeks into practice, it appears to be a two-way race between Talkington and Turner, with the former appearing to have the edge due to experience.

Former Eastern Washington star defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli hopes, at the very least, to earn a spot on the Seahawks practice roster and gain a foothold in the NFL. The Seahawks will cut their roster from 90 players to 53 by the end of this month.

Quick screen passes regularly spun off the fingertips of quarterback Vernon Adams at Eastern Washington and Oregon, but this one needed some extra zip. Adams, who starred his first three years in Cheney before a solid graduate-transfer season with the Ducks in 2015, recalled the first time he threw a lateral pass in the Canadian Football League.

Consider it the perfect marriage. Eastern Washington’s group of big, strong and experienced receivers and a first-year receivers coach from the Missouri Valley Conference, a collection of tradition-rich FCS programs that prides itself on physicality.

When Eastern Washington set the program’s single-season rushing record a year ago, it was behind one of the savviest offensive lines in the Football Championship Subdivision.

If Eastern Washington had stayed relatively healthy during its 2018 run to the Football Championship Subdivision national title game, there would be more questions this month than answers.

Eastern Washington quarterback Eric Barriere lined up behind center Monday, his black position jersey compounding the near triple-digit heat.

Defending Big Sky Conference champion and FCS national runner-up Eastern Washington has its first official practice Sunday.

Barriere didn’t start until Week 6 last season after former EWU quarterback Gage Gubrud went down with a season-ending toe injury.