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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

EWU football: Eagles gauge talent during scrimmage in wind

Eastern Washington’s final scrimmage had that game-day feel, especially if you like the feel of dust in your teeth.

“You can only do so much with the wind howling,” Eagles coach Beau Baldwin said Saturday morning after a 41-play session that saw everything from smoke to rain to 30-mile-per-hour gusts.

“Sometimes there are things that are out of your control. We moved a couple of practices and we’ll always put safety first. We just deal with it,” said Baldwin, who added that he’d planned to run no more than 60 plays regardless of conditions.

That said, Baldwin said the Eagles accomplished their major goals ahead of next week’s season opener at Oregon. That included fine-tuning special teams, sorting out the depth chart at several positions, giving a few veterans some extra reps, and having one more look at the true freshmen before deciding which redshirts to burn.

Also, the scrimmage allowed the Eagles to get more accustomed to the hurry-up offenses they’ll face this year – most notably the Ducks.

“There was an element of building depth and there were some final decisions in deciding our 70-man roster,” said Baldwin, who kept many presumptive starters on the sideline. “And we also used it for needed reps – (running back) Jalen Moore needed some carries. It was a combination of needed reps by veterans and other players we are evaluating.”

That included backup quarterbacks Reilly Hennessey and Gage Gubrud, who got more reps while starter Jordan West heals from back spasms that have kept him out of practice for several days.

Gubrud led the offense to a pair of scoring drives – eight plays for 32 yards that ended with a 43-yard field goal by Tyler McNannay and 10 plays for 66 yards that ended with a 26-yard field goal by Brandyn Bangsund. Gubrud was 6 for 11 for 56 yards, while Hennessey was 5 for 9 for 30 yards. He also suffered an interception after a pass was deflected by a defensive lineman.

Baldwin said that Hennessey is second on the depth chart going into the season, but stressed that things could change throughout the season.

Baldwin said that West’s injury is minor and that he was held out as a precautionary measure.

As winds and dust picked up, the defense dominated, holding the offense to 203 yards.

Moore, listed as a co-starter with Jabari Wilson on Eastern’s depth chart, carried eight times for 81 yards, with a long of 18.

Eastern rushed for a total of 115 yards, a week after finishing with a net of just 32 yards on 33 carries in EWU’s first scrimmage of preseason practices.

True freshman defensive end Keenan Williams had a sack, as did cornerback Asan Neil-Evergin. Sophomore John Kreifels intercepted a pass.

Notes

The Eagles will resume practice on Monday in preparation for the seventh-ranked Ducks. They will practice through Thursday, then board a charter flight Friday morning for Eugene. … Single-game tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. Adult tickets start at $20 while tickets for kids ages 3-12 and senior citizens (65 and up) start at $10. The Eagles have five home games at Roos Field this season, highlighted by a nonconference game against Montana State on Sept. 19 at 1 p.m.