EWU notebook: Jared Taylor, Malik Dotson bright spots in lopsided loss to Nevada

RENO, Nevada – As Eastern Washington’s players jogged back to the locker room outside Mackay Stadium following the Eagles’ 49-16 loss to Nevada on Saturday, Jared Taylor and Malik Dotson lingered near the far-side stands holding court with a crowd of visitors.

The two were coming off their best combined effort as Eagles teammates, and they had plenty of people to visit.

That’s because they played together at Feather River College in Quincy, California, less than two hours from Reno.

“That’s my guy, for real,” Dotson said as he walked back to the visiting locker room with Taylor. “He was one of the reasons I came to Feather River, and he was one of the reasons I came to Eastern. He’s been my ride or die. He’s my brother for life.”

Against the Wolf Pack, Dotson and Taylor were two of the bright spots for the Eagles, who dropped to 1-3 overall at the conclusion of their nonconference play.

Dotson, a redshirt junior in his second year with the Eagles, set a career high at EWU with 67 rushing yards on 11 carries while scoring his third touchdown in his past two games.

Taylor, a senior also in his second year with the Eagles, contributed much as he did three weeks ago, rushing a team-high 12 times for 73 yards. He also completed 4 of 6 passes for 20 yards.

More than they had in their two years at Eastern, Dotson and Taylor were lined up together in the backfield. They had never monopolized the team’s carry count like they did Saturday.

The two have a long history: They grew up together in Washington, where they played on the same team as kids and as high schoolers at Lakewood High School in Marysville. They both ended up at Feather River College, too, where, in 2022, Dotson ran for 1,057 yards and Taylor rushed for 847 and threw for 1,961.

“It’s unreal, to be honest,” Taylor said of playing with Dotson. “You don’t hear of anybody else doing it. My dad coached him when he was young. I’ve known him since we were really young and running around. We talk about how grateful we are to still be doing what we’re doing and to still be with each other.”

One new play the Eagles unveiled was a run in which Taylor took a direct snap and followed blockers – including wide receiver Efton Chism III – through a run gap.

It was something Taylor had been looking forward to all week, and he said it was just another example of Chism’s skill set: blocking.

“Efton’s that good at everything he does,” Taylor said.

Chism dominates targets, catches

The senior Chism, who last week climbed into second on Eastern’s all-time career receptions list with 254, added 11 more for 85 yards.

He didn’t wriggle around Nevada’s defenders in the way he has against other teams this year – he finished with 49 yards after catch – but he was without a doubt the focal point of Eastern’s passing game.

Eagles quarterbacks attempted 30 passes, and 14 were thrown at Chism. Junior Noah Cronquist was targeted four times and caught three for 61 yards and a touchdown.

Quarterback Michael Wortham – who threw the touchdown to Cronquist on a halfback pass play – caught all three of his targets for 15 yards.

Miles Williams was targeted four times but caught just one pass for 2 yards on a goal-line play in which he came up inches short of scoring.

Senior receiver Nolan Ulm made the trip to Reno but did not play for the second straight game. The Eagles mostly stuck to the trio of Chism, Williams and Cronquist at wide receiver.

With the return of Taylor, who played sparingly or not at all the past two games, starting quarterback Kekoa Visperas played fewer snaps than he had since the opening win over Monmouth. Visperas completed 15 of 22 passes for 116 yards and no touchdowns, all season lows. He also rarely attempted passes downfield, the longest coming on Eastern’s fifth play from scrimmage, deep down the middle intended for redshirt freshman JT Weir.

After the game, EWU head coach Aaron Best said he wondered whether Visperas couldn’t get into a rhythm, what with the number of snaps taken by Taylor and Wortham.

“I don’t know if (Visperas) was seeing things as well as he was normally seeing things downfield,” Best said, reiterating that he trusted offensive coordinator Jim Chapin as to how to employ all three quarterbacks. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to play Kekoa two-thirds to three quarters of the game just so he gets a flow with his receivers, his running backs, especially when it gets to third and fourth down.”

Penalties hurt Nevada, not EWU

Aside from the 10-penalty game two weeks ago against Drake, Eastern has limited the negative impact of penalties.

That was again the case against Nevada when the Eagles were assessed a season-low 35 yards on three penalties.

Nevada was flagged eight times for 95 yards, including one drive when two touchdowns were called back because of flags.