Edge’s injury disrupts practice
Eastern Washington University’s first spring football scrimmage started off Saturday afternoon with loud, energetic and high-spirited play on both sides of the football.
It ended prematurely, however, in near silence and under a gathering cloud of concern after defensive back Will Edge suffered a serious injury to his left leg and was transported by ambulance to Sacred Heart Medical Center.
“That was really a tough thing to have happen,” said EWU coach Beau Baldwin, who called off the scrimmage following the injury and then went directly to the hospital to be with Edge, a junior-to-be who was a backup cornerback and special-teams player last fall.
The gravity of Edge’s injury was not immediately known, but trainers immediately applied an air cast to his left leg while he was lying face down on the practice field.
“We’ll have to wait and see what the doctors say,” Baldwin said while waiting for Edge to be placed in the ambulance. “It doesn’t look good.”
Prior to Edge’s injury, the scrimmage played out much to Baldwin’s satisfaction.
The hitting was crisp and the enthusiasm high during a situational and tightly controlled 35-play session that was dominated early by the defense and late by the offense.
Of particular interest to Baldwin was the play of his defensive line and young, untested corps of running backs. The Eagles must replace three starters up front on defense, along with their top four running backs from last year’s 6-5 team that closed the 2008 season with three straight wins.
Four ballcarriers combined for 40 yards on 18 carries during the abbreviated scrimmage, but the most intriguing was Taiwan Jones, who came back from an early-season injury to start four games at cornerback as a freshman last fall.
Jones, a former two-way standout for Deer Valley High School in Antioch, Calif., showed some splendid speed and quick cut-back ability on this first carry of the scrimmage, but he ended up taking a punishing high-low hit that brought some groans from the sidelines.
The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder quickly jumped to his feet and seemed excited about getting a chance to carry the ball again.
“It feels good,” he said of his position change. “I like contact, and that’s what I was trying to prove today. I didn’t try to bounce to the outside, because I’m trying to show I can run inside, too. … I think I made that a little clearer today.”
The other three who alternated at running back were Darrell Beaumonte, Tyler Hart and Grant Williams, who will all be sophomores next fall.
“I thought they all did well,” Baldwin said. “For Taiwan Jones, it’s only his fourth day on the job, so it’s still a work in progress. Tyler Hart, I think, had a good offseason. He was on his way, had he not been injured (broken scapula) last season, to having a very productive freshman year. And Beaumonte has consistently run hard and well whenever he’s gotten the opportunity.”
Williams will probably move to fullback next fall, but he’s getting some carries this spring from the running back position.
“Right now, we’re not running much two-back, so I just want to get him in there carrying the ball and getting used to sticking in there,” Baldwin said.
Eastern’s defensive line was brilliant in the early going and played a major role in limiting the offense to a string of three-and-outs to open the scrimmage.
“I think they’re doing a great job,” Baldwin said of the eight players competing for the four spots on the defensive front. “You have great leadership from some of the older guys who haven’t gotten to play many snaps – guys like (Tyler) Jolley, (Josh) Jacobson and (Jacob) Kragt. They have an opportunity to play more football than they ever have, and they’re doing a great job of leading the group and playing hard.”
The Eagles will resume spring drills next week and will be in full pads Wednesday, when Baldwin plans to run 20 or 30 plays in a scrimmage-like situation.