Eagles gear up for first practice

Eastern Washington will open football practices on Aug. 9, the school announced Monday.

Players will report on Aug. 7 and 8. The Eagles will practice at the Sports and Recreation Center fields at 9:15 a.m. Eastern will practice in pads for the first time on Aug. 12.

The Eagles are expected to exclusively use the practice fields through Aug. 17, then move to Roos Field to prepare for the Sept. 3 opener against Washington State in Pullman.

The Eagles will scrimmage twice before the team’s season opener, on Aug. 20 and Aug 26. Both scrimmages are free and open to the public.

Times and locations of all practices and scrimmages are tentative and subject to change.

Eastern coach Beau Baldwin, entering his ninth season at the helm and 13th overall at EWU, has his team ranked as high as ninth in the Football Championship Subdivision in preseason polls.

The Eagles return 54 lettermen and 14 starters from last year’s team, which finished 6-5 overall and 5-3 in the Big Sky Conference.

EWU senior receiver Cooper Kupp, last year’s STATS national player of the year, is a first-team preseason All-American by that same media agency.

Last season, Kupp led the nation in catches (114), receiving yards (1,642) and touchdowns (19).

Eight other players from the Big Sky Conference made the list with Kupp. North Dakota running back John Santiago was the only other BSC player to make first team.