EWU has plenty to clean up before opener

All things considered, the sloppy play that plagued much of Eastern Washington University’s final football scrimmage of fall camp was something Beau Baldwin can live with – for now.

But the Eagles’ first-year head coach made it clear following Friday’s tightly controlled 67-play workout on the artificial turf at Gonzaga Prep High School that he expects a lot of things to be cleaned up before Eastern’s Aug. 30 season opener against Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas.

“You had a lot of young guys playing out there today,” said Baldwin, who held a number of his starters out so they could rest minor injuries ranging from shin splints to strained groin muscles. “I thought they played hard and competed hard, but I think it was a little sloppy – too many penalties and the ball hitting the ground a couple of times.

“But it’s stuff we’ll clean up, and it’s also guys being thrown into the fire a little bit. The key is to teach them so they can come back, correct things and get better the next time.”

Baldwin and his staff used the scrimmage to work primarily on specific situations, and his second- and third-stringers were involved in the majority of plays.

Starting quarterback Matt Nichols, a junior, played only one full series, completing 4 of 6 passes for 13 yards. Nichols’ backup, senior Alex Smart, took the majority of snaps as the Eagles’ No. 2 offensive worked on goal-line situations and its 2-minute drill, and connected on 10 of 17 pass attempts for 87 yards.

Freshmen Scott Burgett and Jeff Minnerly, a former Ferris High School standout, also saw some time under center, and senior Alexis Alexander did most of the heavy lifting at running back, breaking loose for a couple of nice gains and rushing for 54 yards on just five carries.

But it was the players who watched from the sidelines who were probably the most notable on this day.

Starting senior defensive end Jason Belford spent his afternoon playing the role of water boy, while sophomore J.C. Sheritt and redshirt freshman Zach Johnson – who are listed 1-2 on the depth chart at strong-side linebacker – helped man the yardage chains and down marker.

Baldwin said some of his regulars were given the day off to rest their weary minds and bodies.

“It’s always a fine line between how much you play those guys,” he said. “I don’t want to pull back too much, but I want to try to be smart about it. Those guys have gotten a ton of reps in practice, and they’re still getting reps … and I want to be smart about (limiting their scrimmage time) as long as they’ve taken care of a lot of those game-type situations during practice.”

Several key offensive players, including starting wide receivers Aaron Boyce, Tony Davis and Brynsen Brown, were also held out of the scrimmage, which contributed to some of the inconsistencies on that side of the football. But junior tight end Nathan Overbay, who ran with both the first- and second-string offensive units, didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s a good call on the part of the coaches to hold them out for as long as they did,” Overbay said. “Consistency was a problem today, but it was nothing that concerned me because we’ve got enough veterans who know what to do to be successful. And it’s good to know those are the guys you’re gong to be with in the end.”

Baldwin will give his players a day off today before resuming weightlifting on Sunday and game-week preparations for Texas Tech on Monday.