Baldwin sees more work ahead for Eagles

Even if spring football drills were extended into August, it probably wouldn’t ease the anxiety most coaches feel once the drills come to an end.

It should come as no surprise that first-year Eastern Washington University head coach Beau Baldwin wonders if his Eagles accomplished enough in the 15 practices they were able to work in this spring.

“You always have more work to do, so you always feel like it wasn’t enough,” Baldwin admitted when asked for his general assessment of how Eastern’s weather-plagued drills – which ended on Thursday – played out. “You always feel like there’s more you could have gotten done. But I think, overall, the progression we made from start to finish was really good on both offense and defense.”

The Eagles capped their spring workouts with a feel-good story. Junior defensive back Ryan Kelley worked out in full pads for the first and only time on Thursday after recovering from a near-fatal bout with bacterial meningitis.

“It was great to see him out there,” Baldwin said of Kelly, a first-year transfer who earned a spot in the starting lineup last fall.

Now it’s time for everyone involved with the program to take that next step in their continuing efforts to keep the Eagles on the national radar. Last year, the 9-4 Eagles’ season ended with a loss to eventual national champion Appalachian State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

For Baldwin and his staff, the next step involves increasing recruiting efforts.

“We’re going to get back on the road and talk to (high school and junior college) coaches,” Baldwin said. “We can’t sit down with the kids or anything, but we need to gather information on them and put a good list (of prospective recruits) together for next year.”

For Baldwin’s returning players, the next step means getting back into the weight room and continuing their off-season conditioning routines.

“For the players, that off-season program is the final push,” Baldwin said. “So they’re going to be working their tails off, as far as lifting and conditioning are concerned.”

Baldwin claims there were no major surprises during spring drills – but then, the former Eagles offensive coordinator under Paul Wulff had only been away for a year.

“We had some young kids who stepped up and did a lot of good things, but nothing just hit me in the face as a surprise,” he said. “I found out, though, that I do like the attitude and makeup of this team. There will be a number of young players that will be growing into their roles next falls, but that’s the case every year.

“And I’m excited to see what they’re able to do in game situations next year.”

Come fall, Baldwin added, one of the priorities will be to make sure those young players keep progressing, and that the team comes together to create its own identity.

The running game, which was nearly nonexistent during the spring, will also get some heightened attention.

“The running game always seems to take a little longer to establish – just getting the continuity down and playing together up front,” Baldwin said. “We really didn’t get into the heavy sets or goal-line situation this spring, so those are definitely things we want to hit on early in the fall.”

The defensive emphasis will be on continuing to learn the new sets and terminology installed this spring by defensive coordinator John Graham. Graham was one of four assistants to follow Baldwin from Central Washington University when he took the job at EWU.

“We need to get our defense even more familiar with the terminology and where they need to line up,” Baldwin said. “We want them to get to a point where there’s no more thinking, just playing and reacting.”

That might sound like a lot to accomplish in preseason camp in the fall.

“But we still have twice as many practices in the fall as we had this spring before we play our first game,” Baldwin said. “So, there’s still plenty of time to get a lot better.

“But, then, we need it.”