Jim Allen

The Eastern Washington basketball team is unburdened by expectations this season – high, low or in between. Coach Jim Hayford has experienced them all going into his fourth season in Cheney, which began Saturday with the first of 30 practices before the opener at Reese Court on Nov. 14 against Texas Southern.

Come Saturday afternoon, Southern Utah will surely bring the heat. But on Tuesday, new Eastern Washington starting quarterback Jordan West handled the media blitz with the calm of a veteran and hardly missed a read. “I’ve just got to get the ball into the playmakers’ hands and just do my job,” said West, who will get his first collegiate start this weekend after Vernon Adams suffered a broken foot Saturday during the Eagles’ 56-53 win over Idaho State.

More than anything, it was Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams’ warrior mentality that kept him playing through pain last weekend. “That’s where his mindset was” at halftime of Saturday’s game against Idaho State, Eagles coach Beau Baldwin said Monday, a day after learning that Adams will miss three to six weeks with two broken bones in his right foot.

More than anything, it was Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams’ warrior mentality that kept him playing through pain last weekend.

If the Eastern Washington football team makes another deep run into the postseason, it will have to make part of the journey without quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. Adams will miss three to six weeks of action after breaking two bones in his right foot Saturday during the Eagles’ win over Idaho State, coach Beau Baldwin said Sunday.

Eastern Washington quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. will miss at least three weeks with a broken foot, the school announced Sunday afternoon.

His face wincing with each step, Vernon Adams Jr. stepped into the pocket one more time Saturday afternoon. This time it was a bit friendlier, formed as it was by a semicircle of media types who wanted to hear from Adams exactly what it felt like to win another football game for Eastern Washington.

Dylan Zylstra shares your concerns. So does the entire Eastern Washington defense, which for the third time in four games gave up 50-plus points and 500-plus yards Saturday in the Eagles’ 56-53 win over Idaho State.

His face wincing with each step, Vernon Adams Jr. stepped into the pocket one more time Saturday afternoon.

Football is “making strides” at Idaho State, coach Mike Kramer will tell you. Last week’s three-touchdown win over Sacramento State “was a validation of how far we’ve come,” said Kramer, now in his fourth year rebuilding one of the most downtrodden programs in the Big Sky Conference.

Earlier this week, Eastern assistant football coach Josh Fetter paid the ultimate compliment to his starting middle linebacker. “He’s tougher than nails,” Fetter said of senior Cody McCarthy – and that might be underselling it.

It’s been a season of happy returns for Idaho State safety Cody Sorensen. Last week, it was his first collegiate interception return, a momentum-turning play that helped the Bengals to a 44-24 win over Sacramento State.

Physically and emotionally, the football broadcast booth sits above the fray, and so do the men inside. Even when a loved one is sprawled on the turf and slow to move?

It’s been a season of happy returns for Idaho State safety Cody Sorensen. Last week, it was his first collegiate interception return, a momentum-turning play that helped the Bengals to a 44-24 win over Sacramento State.