Eagles scrimmage, Meyer rests shins
The fourth-ranked Eastern Washington University football team saw a game situation it hopes to never see again in its Friday morning scrimmage, but the Eagles handled it well.
As the No. 1 offense lined up to face the No. 1 defense, backup quarterback Chris Peerboom was under center.
The redshirt sophomore from Beaverton, Ore., proceeded to convert a third down with a short pass to Raul Vijil, convert a fourth down with a swing pass to running back Ryan Cole and hit Cole again for another first down.
That set up a confidence-building 45-yard field goal by Sheldon Weddle.
“I liked it. I thought it was a real game situation,” Peerboom said. “Coming out I was assuming Erik (Meyer) was going to play and then he went down so it was like a game situation. Being a backup, there could be times I need to come in and do my job and not have the offense slip at all.”
Coaches elected to sit Meyer, their record-breaking All-American, for the 45-play scrimmage to rest his shin splints.
Later, Peerboom hit Craig McIntyre with an 18-yard scoring pass, set up by a perfectly thrown 38-yard completion to McIntyre. Both plays were well defended.
“He did well,” Eagles head coach Paul Wulff said. “He moved the offense and made some nice throws. We feel very confident in him. If we played tomorrow and he was our starting quarterback, we would feel confident in him to move our offense and score points.”
The Eagles don’t play until next Saturday at San Jose State and Meyer will be ready to go, but Peerboom’s performance was a boost to the team. He completed 7 of 11 passes for 97 yards, a C-plus in his self-evaluation.
“I think I did some good things but I had a couple of poor throws, a couple of bad decisions,” he said. “We had some penalties where it’s probably everybody, but as a quarterback you have to put that on your shoulders. A couple of times we came up to the line late and didn’t have enough time on the play clock. There were good things, but it definitely wasn’t perfect.”
The offense finished with 200 yards, 159 passing by four quarterbacks and 63 rushing on 16 carries split between five backs.
The offensive line featured a number of different looks beyond the scheduled starters – tackles Rocky Hanni and Zach Wasielewski, guards Matt Alfred and Chris Carlsen and center Kraig Sigler.
“We’re moving some kids around, trying to find the right fit,” Wulff said. “I feel we have seven kids that deserve and have the opportunity to start.”
The backups that will rotate in are tackle Chris Perkins and center Randy Meade.
The defense had five quick-whistle sacks, two by Kose Kuaena, for 24 yards in losses. Senior safety Muhammad Shamsid-Deen had five tackles.
“I thought it was a pretty good scrimmage,” Wulff said. “We had a few missed tackles, not a lot. … That’s the great thing about scrimmages, it helps you get those things fixed and exposes the things you need to work on. I thought the kicking game looked better, punting and field goal. I was pleased to see that.
“Overall, our kids seemed to execute pretty well.”
That brought training camp to end on a high note.
“Since I’ve been here, I think the starting offense and starting defense have looked the best at this point in the year,” Peerboom said. “I think most of that has to do with we have a veteran team, we have a lot of guys back.”
Wulff agreed.
“I think it was one of the best training camps we’ve had,” he said. “I think the kids came out almost every single day ready to play and go to work.”
Notes
Safety Gregor Smith (shoulder) and wide receiver Eric Kimble (hamstring) were the other starters to sit out. Tyler Coleman started for Kimble, and Muhamma Shamsid-Deen played safety. … JC transfer Charles Searcy has been cleared and played cornerback on the second team. … Freshman tight end Nathan Overbay sat out because of NCAA Clearing House questions. … Backup wide receiver Brett Bergstrom did the punting. He’ll handle punts from the middle of the field while Sheldon Weddle will take the sky kicks.