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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eagles lose mealticket, but cupboard not bare

An era has ended for the Eastern Washington football team, but head coach Paul Wulff expects the winning to continue.

Even without the prolific E2 Passing Attack of Erik Meyer to Eric Kimble that hooked up for 201 completions for 3,169 yards and 35 touchdowns the last three seasons, Wulff believes the pieces are in place for the Eagles to keep their string of seven straight winning seasons going.

“We wanted to turn our program into an elite program in the Big Sky Conference and we have made steady progress toward that,” he said. “Our goal is to win a Big Sky championship and then to win a national championship. For two consecutive years we’re in that club to do that. There’s no reason that can’t be a goal for us every year.”

Besides Kimble, a four-time all-league wide receiver, and Meyer, the two-time Big Sky Conference Offensive Most Valuable Player, the Eagles lose Joey Cwik, the Big Sky co-Defensive MVP.

Also gone are cornerbacks Isaiah Trufant and Jesse Hendrix, wide receivers Craig McIntyre and Raul Vijil, fullback Lars Slind and centers Kraig Sigler and Randy Meade, all who earned first- or second-team all-league recognition over the years.

The offensive and defensive lines were the question marks before the season because of youth, and those spots were hit particularly hard by injuries. Despite that, the Eagles shared a league title and went to the playoffs for the second straight year, something that hadn’t happened before.

It’s also why Wulff is optimistic.

“This team has a chance to be good because I believe our offensive line has a chance to be one of the best offensive lines ever here and our defensive line is in that same class,” he said. “It all starts up front. We return several players outside of these linemen, (but) if you can control the line of scrimmage, you can do what you want. You can run or pass and you can stop the run or stop the pass if you can provide pressure.”

The Eagles return every offensive lineman who started the last game, and there are young players coming up who have Wulff excited. He wasn’t real concerned that Meyer was sacked 49 times.

“You can’t look at that sack total,” he said. “We let Erik scramble, step away and do things. More often he made plays … (but) a lot of that is on Erik. Not in a bad way, we let that happen. These offensive linemen have the athletic ability. The big thing is they need one more year in the weight room.

“And all our tight ends are back and our running backs. We just have so much experience and there will be so much growth between now and next August, we should be a very physical football team.”

Replacing Meyer won’t be easy. Chris Peerboom, who will be a redshirt sophomore, missed a lot of valuable practice with a finger injury. Redshirts Matt Nichols and Josh Powell also made progress. All three are still young, which is why Eastern has joined the sweepstakes for senior-to-be Josh Swogger, who is leaving Washington State.

The wide receivers also leave tough shoes to fill with all-leaguers Raul Vijil and Craig McIntyre gone, but when senior Richmond Sanders went down, upcoming junior Tyler Coleman proved himself as the fourth wideout and junior Reggie Ford and Sam Togar got some valuable experience. Senior candidates are Brett Bergstrom, he of the booming kickoffs despite a knee injury that kept him off the field, and converted cornerback Charles Searcy, a speedster. Kyle Long will be back after missing the season following a summer car accident that tore up a knee. Redshirts Aaron Boyce, Brynson Brown and Tony Davis could also be impact players.

With tackles Harrison Nikoloa and Garrett Quinn on track academically, nine defensive linemen return, and it could be quite formidable. That’s critical for a defense that only had 18 sacks.

“That is a number we’re concerned with,” Wulff said. “Once they’re all back, with this experience, we’ll be one of the best defensive fronts in the league.”

Joining David Eneberg at linebacker are upcoming sophomores Shea Emery and Marcus Walker, plus redshirts Makai Borden, who could be the fastest linebacker in Wulff’s tenure, and Derek Brown.

DeNique Ford got most of the starts when senior preseason All-American Trufant missed a majority of the games and Ira Jarmon is expected to replace all-leaguer Hendrix.

Safety is a veteran lot with all four players in the three spots earning some all-league notice the last two years. With the talent of Brandon Keeler, Bryan Jarrett, Nick Denbeigh and Gregor Smith, one may be tried at cornerback to get all four on the field.

Redshirts got plenty of experience in practice against the veteran receivers. Kevin Hatch and Brett Igbinoba should add depth at cornerback; Robert Pearson, Kyle Wilkins, Aaron Cartwright and Brady Smith at safety.

Still, there is a concern because the defense lost 20- and 14-point leads in the last two playoff losses.

“We need to evaluate that again,” Wulff said. “Our last game in particular we ran into a quarterback who was extremely hot. Ultimately in the two playoff games we lost, we didn’t get enough pressure on the quarterback. There has to be some growth and maturity in the off-season so we don’t have to blitz to get to the quarterback.

“We have to continue to evaluate and make ourselves better as coaches. You can’t pinpoint one thing, because it’s never fair to point the finger at one thing. There are things defensively we have to look at… . I think (the three-safety scheme) has its place, but you can’t keep doing one thing in this business.”

Wulff is only expecting to recruit 15 to 18 new players.

Once again there will be little emphasis on junior college help during recruiting, though a cornerback could be targeted. There could also be a couple Division I transfers who are immediately eligible when they drop to I-AA.

Key spots for freshmen recruits are cornerback, defensive line and safety, where the most seniors will be.

Tight end Tim Calhoun and running back Ryan Cole are the only two returning seniors-to-be on offense, but there could be as many as eight on defense, depending on the line rotation.

The kicking game will also be addressed, but only because kicker Sheldon Weddle and punter Ryan Donckers are upcoming seniors.

“They had good years and look where they started, they started in the hospital,” Wulff said. “Both those kids, if they have good off-seasons, should be among the best in the league next year.”

Both kickers were involved in the off-season car accident.

“We feel like our recruiting is continually strong and our program is mature,” Wulff said. “As a program, looking at the last few years, it’s the best in the Big Sky with what’s returning and what we still have in our program.”

Though Wulff is hoping to tweak the schedule, right now the Eagles are set to open the season with Montana Tech at home and go to UC Davis and Idaho. Then it’s the race for the league title with nine straight league games, including Big Sky newcomer Northern Colorado.