Eagles get on the ball on both sides of ball
With just eight days left until its season opener Aug. 31 against Montana-Western, Eastern Washington University’s football team raced through a strictly controlled scrimmage at Woodward Field on Wednesday afternoon.
The 45-minute workout featured a full crew of officials and encouraging showings by the No. 1 offensive and defensive units. Afterward, everyone involved agreed that the effort and execution – on both sides of the football – were much better than it was on Saturday, when the Eagles held their first full-contact drills.
“I thought our No. 1 defense looked real crisp out there,” senior cornerback Ira Jarmon said. “We were three-and-out every time, so we can make some hay out of that.”
“I thought our first unit played pretty well, which is expected,” added senior safety Bryan Jarrett. “The other guys made a couple of mental errors here and there, but, overall, you have to be pleased with three-and-outs and a couple of sacks.
“Today was a lot better than last week – a lot less mental errors.”
Eastern’s first-string defenders, operating against the No. 2 offense, allowed only 29 yards on 14 plays and picked up a couple of sacks. They did not allow a first down.
The No. 1 offense, behind the precise passing of sophomore quarterback Matt Nichols, had its way against the second-string defense, rolling up 181 yards on 21 plays.
Nichols, who completed 10 of 13 passes for 120 yards, engineered scoring drives of 65, 70 and 46 yards and capped the first one with a 38-yard TD pass to junior tailback Alexis Alexander.
“I thought the scrimmage went pretty good,” Alexander said. “We’re about 10 or 11 days into camp right now and everybody’s pretty sore, so you’ve got to take that into account. But our offense moved the ball pretty well, and we actually didn’t use some of our normal, everyday weapons. We stayed pretty basic and still managed to have some success.”
Alexander, a 5-foot-10, 230-pounder, who was a second-team All-Big Sky Conference pick as a fullback last fall, shared time at the tailback spot with junior Dale Morris and caught four passes for 60 yards.
“It’s something we thought about over the summer,” Eagles coach Paul Wulff said of Alexander’s position change. “He’s a guy we have to get the ball to. He’s good enough to catch it and he’s good enough to run it, so as long as he keeps producing and playing at a high level, he’s going to get the ball and make sure he helps this football team, which he surely does.
“He’s a tough guy to tackle.”
Notes
Senior safety Gregor Smith will not play this season because of lingering problems with his right shoulder. To beef up the secondary, Wulff has moved sophomore Jesse Hoffman, a promising running back, to safety. According to Wulff, the school will look into the possibility of obtaining a sixth year of eligibility for the often-injured Smith. … With junior Julian Stewart unable to make it academically, redshirt freshman Brice Leahy, a 6-6, 285-pounder from Gig Harbor, Wash., has taken over as the starter at left tackle on the offensive line. Senior Rocky Hanni, who was manning the position earlier in camp, has moved back to left guard. … Running backs Toke Kefu and A.J. Jimmerson both missed the scrimmage with minor hamstring injuries. … The Eagles, after 10 straight days of practice, will take today off before resuming fall camp with two practices on Friday. … Felipe Macias, who booted a 38-yard field goal to cap one scoring drive, has emerged as the front-runner to take over Eastern’s place-kicking duties.