Two emerge for Eagles
Spring football is but one block in building a football team and one of the few times individuals mean more than team.
That’s because the spring drills are between winter and summer workouts, when it is up to individual players to do the things needed to get better. And, games are months away. So the spring allows coaches to gauge that progress.
Two of the more interesting stories to emerge from Eastern Washington’s spring are quarterback Alex Smart and defensive tackle Lance Witherspoon.
And they continued to stand out as the Eagles finished the third week of spring practice with a Saturday morning scrimmage at Woodward Field.
Smart’s future was grim a year ago, when his scholarship was reduced, he was moved to tight end and he was bulking up to 240 pounds.
After one game last fall – and one injury at quarterback – Smart was returned to his natural position and at this moment he is providing strong competition for good friend and starter Matt Nichols as well as returning to full scholarship status.
“I don’t think it set me back (but) when I came back I was rusty,” Smart said. “I think mentally I grew up a lot.”
He dropped his tight end bulk and has developed a much better touch. But the difference, he emphasized, is mental.
“Before I was really anxious,” the redshirt junior from Mt. Si High School in North Bend said. “Now I’m just relaxing and throwing the ball.”
Smart engineered one touchdown drive Saturday, capped by Jesse Hoffman’s short run. The big play was a strike to Shane Eller that was turned into a 60-yard gain.
Smart finished 3 of 5 for 101 yards, a week after hitting 12 of 13 passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns.
“You can’t hit 12 of 13 every time,” Smart said. “My confidence is way better. I can say without a doubt I can be a Big Sky Conference quarterback. Last year I didn’t know if I would ever play quarterback again.”
He said he had no one to blame but himself.
“I didn’t want to switch but I wasn’t playing well,” he said. “After 2 1/2 years in the program I should have been able to perform, I made way too many mental errors. I think that time at tight end, getting away from quarterback, is almost like a restart for me.”
Nichols also directed a touchdown drive that finished with a Toke Kefu’s short touchdown run and in red-zone situations hit Tony Davis for a 20-yard score and wide open tight end Tom McAndrews for a 17-yard score. He finished 7 of 11 for 93 yards.
Redshirt freshman Jason Harris was 2 for 2 for 30 yards but his drive ended with a fumble.
Witherspoon was never highly touted, he wasn’t even recruited out of Federal Way. In fact, he wasn’t even an invited walk-on.
But he wasn’t going to be denied.
“Once I did research on the school, found out where it was and what type of environment it provided, I knew I wanted to go to the university because of the film program,” he said.
Witherspoon, who saw limited time as a redshirt freshman, was starting the second half of last season and he is picking up this spring where he left off.
Witherspoon, who is wearing the black jersey of a defensive leader, along with safeties Bryan Jarrett and Brady Smith and end Greg Peach, said that is true of the whole defense
“We’re progressing,” Witherspoon said. “We’re getting better every day. We’re coming out with intensity. Mostly we’re becoming a unit.’
Shawn Powell led the defense with two sacks on Saturday. Peach and Jason Belford also had sacks and there was one turnover. Cornerback Lonnie Hosley and linebacker Jared Kuhl had five tackles apiece.