Coach Kicks One By Recruiting Ineligible Player

After watching Tom Zurfluh struggle through a season in which he served as punter and placekicker, Eastern Washington football coach Mike Kramer made finding someone to lessen Zurfluh’s load a top recruiting priority.

In his zest to sign placekicker Josh Atwood of Walla Walla Community College, however, Kramer whiffed.

“In my zeal to recruit him,” Kramer said, “I recruited him too soon, and he’s ineligible this season. It’s my fault.”

Atwood didn’t have the required 36 transfer credits when EWU signed him. The bottom line: a 1995 scholarship will be wasted on a kicker who cannot play until next season. Atwood, who played one season at Walla Walla, will redshirt this season.

How could such an error occur?

“We had signed (receiver) Jeff Ogden out of junior college the same way,” Kramer said, “but the junior college that Jeff came from did not play football, so he was eligible right away.”

Zurfluh, meanwhile, is stuck with placekicking duties for another year.

By the rules

Thanks to stricter rules interpretations by the NCAA, Eagles wide receiver Jerrold Jackson will no longer have a prayer. After touchdowns, at least.

The NCAA has informed coaches and players, through a 20-minute videotape featuring about 30 plays, that rules designed to deter unsportsmanlike conduct will be enforced even more strictly.

Under rule 9-2-1-a, which prohibits “any delayed, excessive or prolonged act by which a player attempts to focus attention on himself,” players will be assessed 15-yard penalties for many common celebratory displays. That includes the practice of kneeling in prayer after touchdowns.

Also among the forbidden displays: high-stepping, striking contrived poses , removing one’s helmet after a big play and using the fingers as six-shooters.

One of the plays featured on the tape was borrowed from last year’s EWU-Idaho game. The play involved a 100-yard kickoff return by Vandals star Montrell Williams, who taunted Eagles defenders by waving the ball in their faces during the runback, then shed his helmet during a post-touchdown display.

Were Williams to repeat his display this season, he could be hit with three 15-yard penalties - the first for waving the ball, the second for shedding his helmet and the third for the ensuing celebration. Officials did flag Williams for waving the ball.

One particularly common practice - flipping the ball into the air after running into the end zone - can also be met with a 15-yarder. The rules committee wants players to hand the ball to an official, no questions asked.

Eagles no more

Kevin Cupp, Josh Brasuell, Bill Swanson and Bob Conn are no longer with the team.

Cupp, a 1993 Liberty High School graduate and a promising offensive tackle, flunked out of school, according to second-year offensive line coach Paul Wulff.

Brasuell was a projected starter at left defensive tackle, but quit the team Tuesday, as did Swanson, a backup on the defensive line.

“Brasuell said something about not having fun any more,” Kramer said. “It’s the effect his actions have on his teammates that concerns me.”

Lights, camera … camera?

EWU lost the video camera used to film practices when it was dropped from a 50-foot-high scaffold late Tuesday. “I don’t even want to see it,” snapped Kramer, who looked away when approached by the guilty cameraman.

, DataTimes