Eagles eager to get after UW

Eastern Washington’s defending NCAA Division I championship football team will open its 2011 season against the University of Washington at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Husky Stadium in Seattle.

“We’re ready. I wish we could play right now,” Bo Levi Mitchell, the Eagles senior quarterback, said earlier this week.  And Mitchell’s teammates echoed those sentiments.

You can take a look at the S-R  feature story on the improvement Mitchell has made since transferring from Southern Methodist in the spring of 2010 here , and you can get more details on the EWU-UW season opener from this post on the Eagles athletic department website and this story the Huskies sports information department issued.

I’ve included additional links to related articles below, and be sure to check back for a look at the feature story on EWU’s senior cornerback Alden Gibbs, a former Eagles basketball player, who will make his first collegiate start against the Huskies.

Sophomore quarterback Keith Price, an understudy to Jake Locker last fall, will make just his second collegiate start for UW against Eastern on Saturday.  This Seattle Times did this piece on Price, and this story on the late start Husky linebacker Cort Dennison got on his football career.

UW running back Chris Polk practiced in full pads — but in a no-contact red jersey — on Wednesday for the first time since undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery last month. His status for Saturday’s game remains uncertain, however, and you can read more here .

For more info on other Big Sky Conference teams that open their seasons this week, click here , and you can listen to what league coaches had to say earlier this week during a teleconference call with members of the media here .