Eagles look sloppy
The Eastern Washington University football team padded up for the second straight day on Saturday and went through its first session of full-contact drills.
“And it showed,” Eagles coach Paul Wulff said after putting his Eagles through a mistake-plagued morning workout that lasted about two hours. “It was real typical, I guess, of any time you get in your first live situations.
“Obviously, we’ll get a lot better, but we’ve got a lot of things to work on.”
The No. 1 offense, with sophomore Matt Nichols under center, put together a couple of nice drives against the No. 1 defense, but, following a fumbled snap by Nichols, was forced to settle for a long field goal by Felipe Macias. Macias, a first-year junior college transfer, had been holding a sideline marker just prior to attempting his kick.
The first-string offense scored the only touchdown of the day on its second possession, when Nichols hit fullback Alexis Alexander with a four-yard pass.
Normally, the defense has an edge over the offense early in fall camp, but Wulff said that isn’t necessarily the case with his team.
“I think it’s pretty balanced right now,” he explained. “Both sides are doing some good things, and both sides are making big mistakes. There really isn’t one side of the ball that is controlling things.
“It’s going back and forth.”
Wulff had praise for his deep corps of running backs, but cautioned that it is still way too early to anoint a successor to last year’s starter Ryan Cole.
“Dale Morris has been showing some flashes,” Wulff said of the 5-foot-9, 205-pounder from Eugene, Ore., “along with (junior) Alexis Alexander, (senior) Toke Kefu and (sophomore) Jesse Hoffman.
“Those kids have all stepped up and played pretty solid, but it’s still wide open. They’ve all got to earn their position, and we’re still in that process – and probably will be into the first game or two – or seeing who gets the majority of the playing time there.”
On a more somber note, Wulff said it is unlikely that injury-plagued senior safety Gregor Smith will play this fall. The latest MRI report on the former Lakeside High School standout’s injured shoulder has not returned, but Wulff said no one was real optimistic about it going in.
“And I think Gregor has resigned himself to the fact that he probably won’t be able to play, because the shoulder keeps popping out,” Wulff added.
Offensive lineman Matt Alfred, a 6-3, 300 pound senior and pre-season All-American, is still limited to what he can do at practice because of irritation in his patella tendon.
“We’re still trying to get that calmed down,” Wulff said. “We’ve done a couple of procedures to kind of alleviate it, and he’s still a little overweight, so we’re working on that, too.”
Wulff pointed out that Alfred has had plenty of practice repetition during his career and probably won’t miss the mental part of fall camp.
“But the biggest thing is, he needs to get himself in great shape,” Wulff added, “which he isn’t right now.”
The Eagles, who practiced in just helmets, shoulder pads and shorts on Saturday afternoon, will work out in full pads again this morning at 9, and Wulff said he expects to do a lot more full-contact drills.
The first controlled scrimmage of fall camp is scheduled for Wednesday.