Blankenship has had Meyer-like start

Maybe, if Josh Blankenship had been hurt three years ago instead of winging his way to Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year honors, this is how the Erik Meyer story would have begun.

It would be about a redshirt freshman quarterback getting thrown to the wolves of I-AA football and performing admirably, then coming back with a superlative sophomore season with the promise of a great career.

That’s what’s happening at Northern Iowa, where sophomore quarterback Eric Sanders leads the seventh-ranked Panthers (8-3) against Meyer and 15th-ranked Eastern Washington (7-4) in the first-round of the I-AA playoffs Saturday night in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

If this was the Meyer story, the ending would be near and the great career a reality.

Sanders still has a ways to go, but so far, so good.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder from Oelwein, Iowa, has put up numbers eerily similar to those that Eastern’s Payton Award finalist had as a sophomore, although he missed two midseason games with an ankle injury.

Sanders has completed 126 of 185 passes (68 percent) for 1,816 yards and 16 touchdowns with just four interceptions. Back in the day, Meyer completed 176 of 281 (63 percent) for 2,301 yards and 20 touchdowns with just three interceptions in 11 games.

“He’s a quality kid and very intelligent,” Panthers coach Mark Farley said. “He manages the offense the way it needs to be done. He’s very productive, his efficiency is high.”

In fact, his efficiency rating of 174.68 is well above the 152.8 Meyer had as a sophomore and even the 171.4 Meyer had last year to lead the nation.

But then again, Meyer saw very limited action as a redshirt freshmen before putting together a three-year career as the EWU starter that is among the best in league and I-AA history.

Sanders was pressed into action when UNI lost starting quarterback Tom Petrie, a three-year starter, with a broken clavicle in the fourth game last year.

“The first action I ever saw was on the road in the fourth quarter against Southern Illinois, the No. 1 team in the nation,” Sanders said. “Our coaches tell us you have to prepare like you’re going to be the starter but you don’t expect it. … It was a blur, I can hardly remember it.”

Sanders hit just 5 of 13 passes for 56 yards with an interception as SIU, the team Eastern beat in the opening round last year, stormed from 20 points down to win 40-36.

But after that, Sanders led the Panthers to wins in five of their last seven games for a 7-4 record. His final numbers were 95 of 150 passing for 1,307 yards and 15 touchdowns with five interceptions.

“I think it motivated us well for this year,” he said of the strong finish. “We were pretty hungry coming in. We knew we couldn’t have any letdowns so we didn’t have a big hole to climb out of.”

The Panthers had a respectable 45-21 loss at Iowa in the third game of the season, but in the fifth game they fell to Missouri State 24-21 as Sanders went down early with the injury.

Before Sanders came back they lost 38-3 to Illinois State. To make the playoffs they had to beat three straight ranked teams, Youngstown State, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois, to earn the Gateway Conference’s automatic berth.

With that impressive two-year resume, it’s surprising to learn Sanders is a walk-on.

“I didn’t have many offers,” he said. “I played four sports and I didn’t specialize in any one of them

He threw for a state record 2,916 yards as a senior with 32 touchdowns and added 748 yards and 16 touchdowns rushing to earn all-state honors. But he also averaged 22 points and six assists as an all-state basketball player. Then it was a .532 batting average with 38 runs and 25 RBI with only five strikeouts in 77 bats to be the all-state shortstop.

For good measure he finished high in the state golf tournament.

“He’s not too bad, we like him,” Farley said. “He was recruited to the end but we chose another quarterback. He said he wanted to compete and lo and behold. … All he wanted was an opportunity, and he felt he could get that here.”

Some may not remember, but Meyer wasn’t highly recruited because he didn’t start until his senior year, and he showed more promise as a baseball player.

“I thought I would play basketball in college,” Sanders said. “My senior year in football the coach came up with new (spread) offense. I really liked it. I decided I wanted to play football so I came to Northern Iowa. It worked out.”

“He’s just a good Iowa football player,” Farley said. “I can’t say he is a phenomenal athlete with a phenomenal arm. He’s a good athlete with good speed. He’s what Northern Iowa represents. We have a lot of good solid football players, we’re not blessed with what would be called phenomenal football players. They put a lot of heart in it, that’s why we’re successful.”