Ewu Squad Starts Practice This Week

Eastern Washington University’s football squad begins practices under first-year head coach Mike Kramer as nearly 90 players report to campus this week.

A total of 28 newcomers reported on Thursday, with 58 returning players coming to Cheney this weekend. The returning players include 32 letterwinners from last year’s 7-3 Eastern squad that finished the year ranked 20th in the nation. Seven starters on both offense and defense return to a team picked to finish anywhere from third to fifth in the Big Sky Conference.

Two-a-day practices begin Monday. Eastern will practice at 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. each day for two weeks, then practice once a day in the week leading up to the Eagles’ opener Sept. 10 at home against Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Scrimmages are scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sept. 2 under the lights at 7 p.m. Both scrimmages take place at Woodward Stadium in Cheney.

“If everything falls into place, we’re going to have a very good team and challenge for national honors,” Kramer said. “The main thing for us is to stay healthy and allow our young players to develop. We certainly have the core to be successful.”