Names Change, Goal Doesn’T Despite Large Turnover, Defending Big Sky Champion Eastern Expected To Challenge Again

Everywhere Mike Kramer turns - to the newspaper, the television, even his own Eastern Washington University press guide - he is faced with screaming reminders that his Eagles are defending Big Sky Conference champions.

Everywhere, that is, but on his own practice field.

There, when he turns, he is faced with reality.

The guy wearing uniform No. 92 is no longer three-year starter and All-American linebacker Derek Strey. It’s a 200-pound freshman named Jake Kerns.

No. 14 is freshman wide receiver Travis Elliott, not Harry Leons, the most efficient passer ever to play at Eastern and the most valuable offensive player in the Big Sky last season. And No. 99 belongs to redshirt freshman tight end Kyle Delorme, not Chris Scott, the league’s defensive MVP in 1997.

No matter how far he turns, Kramer can’t find All-American offensive tackle Jim Buzzard, all-conference defensive end Steve Mattson, all-conference wideout Jeff Ogden or running back Rex Prescott, who rushed for more yards than any back in Eastern’s history.

All told, he’s missing 15 of the 22 starters who were the guts of the ‘97 team that gave Eastern it’s first outright Big Sky Conference football title, an unprecedented 12-2 record and a wild, wonderful ride to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.

“Looking around, I wouldn’t say we can classify ourselves as the defending Big Sky champions,” Kramer admitted Monday during the first day of two-a-day fall practices, “other than the fact we were all there.”

But Kramer said it was immensely important for the young players on this year’s team to have witnessed last year’s seniors taking his program to the next level.

“The main thing with these kids now is their level of expectations,” he said following Monday’s second practice, a high-spirited and efficient 2-hour workout in shorts, helmets and shoulder pads. “What they consider to be successful is a little bit different than that previous group. The bar has been raised and all of these kids want to get on a plane deep in December and fly to Chattanooga (the site of this year’s I-AA title game).

“They know it’s within their grasp, because they’ve been to the table. So I’m excited for them - and also very impressed with their level of enthusiasm.”

Brad Packer, a 6-foot, 216-pound sophomore, was a little-used linebacker who played mainly on special team last fall. But he said he and some other backups, still unfamiliar to many Eagles fans, learned plenty just from being along on the ride.

“We learned by watching those other guys,” said Packer, who is listed as the starting weakside linebacker. “Whatever happens in a game, they’ve shown us how to handle it. We’ve got the torch to carry now, which puts a little bit of pressure on us. But I think we’ll respond to it pretty well.”

So does Kramer.

“I’m really excited and confident that we’re going to be pretty darn good again,” he said.

“It’s our turn now,” added Greg Belzer, a 6-1, 233-pound sophomore, who has replaced Strey at middle linebacker. “(The departed seniors) had their time and they made well of it - got us to the semifinals.

“We have some big shoes to fill, but we know what we have to do and I think we will.”

The Eagles will practice twice a day for the next two weeks in preparation for their Sept. 5 opener against Idaho in Moscow. Scrimmages have been set for Saturday and the following Friday at Woodward Stadium. Both will start at 6:05 p.m.

The first workout in pads will be Wednesday morning at 9:15.

Garske’s the man

Amid speculation that a quarterback controversy could be brewing in the three-player battle to replace Leons under center, Kramer reiterated Monday that junior Griffin Garske “is the man.”

Unless …

“He has the reins right now,” Kramer said of the 6-foot-4, cannon-armed Garske, who prepped at Mead and started several games as a redshirt freshman when Leons injured a knee midway through the 1996 season. “What he’s got to do is avoid catastrophe.”

With a huge, experienced and talented offensive line, the Eagles won’t need Superman at quarterback - and that fact, Kramer said, puts junior transfer Lance Hattemer and redshirt freshman Scott Mitchell in the middle of the starting picture, as well.

“Those other guys are still breathing down Griffin’s neck,” Kramer said, “and there’s no reason for them to think they can’t be the starter.

“But I don’t know if it’s a controversy as much as it is a chance for them all to development. Time will tell.”

Honeymoon hell

Sophomore linebacker Brad Packer was married Saturday in his hometown of Vancouver. He and his wife, Michelle, are “honeymooning” in Cheney.

“Actually, we had an 8-hour stay in a hotel Saturday night, but that was about it,” Packer said. “Then Sunday we got up and drove here.”

He added he has promised to take his wife on a more romantic getaway at a later date.

“I’ve got to check my pocketbook first, though,” Packer added. “It might be a while. I promised - now I just need to keep extending it.”

Andy and Merv, where are you?

Good grief! The Eagles are loaded with good Griffs.

In addition to starting quarterback Garske, Eastern’s roster also includes a pair of promising freshman running backs - Anthony Griffin and Jovan Griffith.

New ‘slant’ on Eagles

A production crew from Lexington, Ky., will be in Cheney on Friday and Saturday to videotape a feature on the Eagles for the Fox Sports college football show, “The Slant.”

The 30-minute show, which will air on Fox Sports Northwest and other Fox affiliates beginning in September, will be hosted by Tim Beggy. The segment being taped at Eastern will feature interviews with Eagles players and coaches and a look at head coach Mike Kramer and his hobbies of mountain climbing and bicycling.

TITLE DEFENSE The Eagles, defending Big Sky champions, open their season with a non-league game at Idaho on Sept. 5.