Six players vie to be Eastern Washington’s place-kicker

This is the last of an eight-part series on spring football at Eastern Washington. Today: special teams

As the Eastern Washington players trot onto the practice field every day, they’re dodging footballs at almost every step.

It’s an occupational hazard, increased this spring by the fact that coach Beau Baldwin and his staff are evaluating six kickers.

“It’s been a blast,” Baldwin said. “They’re all competing well.”

It’s the deepest position on the roster, though that’s certain to change before the season opener at Oregon on Sept, 5.

The incumbent is Tyler McNannay, a redshirt senior from Colfax who knows how fluky things can get. McNannay earned the No. 2 spot last fall, then took over when Roldan Alcobendas suffered an ACL injury in the fourth game of the season.

“You just have to work hard every day and take what comes to you,” said McNannay, who made all 11 of his field-goal attempts last year and hit 43 of 48 extra-point tries.

“The competition this spring is good and it’s making us all better,” McNannay said.

Alcobendas is still with the team but unable to participate in spring ball as he continues to recover from the injury.

“I’m anxious to get out there, but I’m not pushing it,” said Alcobendas, a redshirt sophomore.

The other kickers are Trevor Merritt, a redshirt junior, and redshirt freshmen Jayson Schwartz, Brandyn Bangund and Tyler Gyllenhammer.

Despite their numbers, the kickers are getting plenty of scrutiny: Baldwin is helping supervise and everyone is getting their kicks in live situations during scrimmages.

All the coaches are participating after former special teams coach Jeff Schmedding was promoted to offensive coordinator.

“Maybe a year from now I may morph to one guy, but we will all have a role anyway – we’re all involved in special teams,” Baldwin said.

The Eagles also are grooming starters at punter and long snapper to replace Jake Miller and Cory Alcantar, respectively. McNannay, Schwartz and Gyllenhammer are competing at punter, while redshirt freshmen Curtis Billen and Chad Larson are vying to replace Alcantar.

The other specialty units are also getting plenty of attention but mostly during practice.

That will change at Saturday’s Red-White Spring Game, when the Eagles will run kickoffs, giving the staff another chance to revisit the depth chart before fall camp.

“All these reps count, and special teams are a big part of that,” Baldwin said.

The Eagles are coming off a strong year in kickoff returns, ranking 26th in the Football Championship Subdivision.

Return man Shaq Hill will be back for his senior year. Last season, he helped the Eagles rank 15th in FCS with a 22.8-yard average.

There will be no punting at the spring game. The Eagles excelled last year, blocking four kicks and averaging 11.8 yards per return. Cooper Kupp’s 16.2-yard return average would have ranked fourth in FCS had he returned enough kicks to qualify.