Eastern Washington must overcome tough nonconference schedule, offensive turnover to climb Big Sky standings

There’s no way around it: It has not been a great three years for the Eastern Washington football program.

Since the start of the 2022 season, the Eagles have 11 victories, just one more than they had in the 2021 season, the last time the program went to the FCS playoffs. The program’s lone national championship, at the end of the 2010 season, was claimed in a year when none of the current Eagles players had turned 10 years old.

A difficult nonconference schedule will do the Eagles no favors, either: EWU starts this season with three consecutive road games – at Incarnate Word, Boise State and Northern Iowa.

But Eagles coaches, including head coach Aaron Best, have made clear the importance of the team’s second- and third-year players stepping up this preseason, which begins Wednesday for Eastern.

Their growth will be crucial in the Eagles’ quest to get back to the playoffs. Here are three storylines to follow as the team starts its summer camp practices in Cheney.

1. Which players command attention on offense?

The main name here is Jared Taylor, the fifth-year quarterback who gets his shot at being QB1 in his third year at Eastern. He proved last year he could run; now he gets to prove he can throw.

But aside from him, there are few clear ascendants on an offense looking to replace the production of NFL wide receiver Efton Chism III.

Does redshirt sophomore Nate Bell get snaps as a change-of-pace quarterback in an offense that has recently loved to use more than one at a time?

What about any of the running backs – fifth-year player Malik Dotson, juniors Marceese Yetts and Talon Betts, newcomer junior Amir Dendy (East Tennessee State) or redshirt freshman Kevin Allen III – who, aside from Dotson, have yet to establish themselves as college running backs?

There’s also the crew at wide receiver, which, after the trio of Nolan Ulm (sixth-year senior), Miles Williams (redshirt sophomore) and Noah Cronquist (senior) are unproven. There could be room for a redshirt freshman like Jaxon Branch or Boden Gardner, each of whom had strong spring camps.

How first-year coordinator Marc Anderson uses all these players will be fascinating to see over the next four weeks.

2. Who replaces the starters at offensive line?

There are 20 offensive linemen listed on Eastern’s roster, and the only one who has started any games for the Eagles is redshirt junior Dylan Conner.

Conner started three times last season when he was limited by injuries, but he is a presumed starter heading into this fall.

Redshirt freshman Mark Johnson and redshirt senior Aidan Corning played limited snaps last year that would seem to give them an inside track this year. But the group will have a more open competition than at any other position.

3. Does the defensive line have a sack master among its ranks?

Recording 10 sacks in a season is a rare feat in the Big Sky. Just four players have done it over the past three seasons, and it’s been 18 years since Greg Peach did it for the Eagles (he had 11 in 2007).

But even collectively, the Eagles – who haven’t had a player record more than 5.5 sacks in the past three years – haven’t measured up to the rest of the conference lately. Last year, their 14 sacks ranked 10th in the Big Sky and were six fewer than the median Big Sky team. In 2023, they were better, with 21 sacks (two behind the median). But in 2022, they again had 14, which that year was seven below the conference median.

All that is a way of correlating the Eagles’ overall struggles with the team’s difficulties in getting to opposing quarterbacks.

There are 18 defensive linemen on the roster and 13 of them are returners, who will be counted on to take the next step in coordinator Eric Sanders’ defense and generate more pressure.

Junior end Tylin Jackson was named to the Big Sky preseason all-conference team after starting 10 games last season. Junior Jaden Radke, another end, has appeared in 22 games in his career. Redshirt junior Ben Voigtlaender has played in 25.

There is also plenty of experience at the tackle positions, where players have gotten plenty of game snaps as underclassmen who are now being relied upon to translate that into more on-field success.