Fresh faces: Young players contributing on both sides of the ball for Eastern Washington

Eastern Washington opened its football season with three straight road games, and for the families of Eagles players, there can be a degree of gamesmanship in deciding which of those games to attend.

Bryce Smith’s family did not attend Eastern’s season opener at Incarnate Word in San Antonio, a defensible decision even in the true freshman’s mind.

Why attend a game in which he might not even play?

“The way we were talking about it, we were going to ease into the first couple of weeks,” Smith said Monday of how coaches discussed his playing time. “But sometimes you’ve just got to step in and do what you can.”

So far, Smith has shown he can do a lot – and he’s not the only freshman making an impact for an Eagles team that just got its first win of the season and will head to Montana State this weekend looking for its next.

“You look at a guy like Bryce Smith, a true freshman who came into the season probably not expecting to play,” grad senior linebacker Read Sunn said after Saturday’s victory over Western Illinois. “(Then) a couple safeties go down, and that’s always got to be the expectation for everybody. Even if you’re the third-string freshman, you’ve got to prepare like you’re the starter.”

Smith, admittedly, is still a unique case. Of the Eagles’ 2025 freshman recruiting class, the safety out of Bellevue High School was rated the highest by the recruit site 247sports.com, three points ahead of anyone else (his score was 87 out of 100).

His reps increased against Incarnate Word after starting safety McKel Broussard injured his hand on the opening defensive series, as starting nickel Jaylon Jenkins shifted back to take Broussard’s place. Smith made two tackles and forced a fumble, the latter of which was something the Eagles did just once all of last season.

Since then, Smith’s role has only grown, and he has made two consecutive starts. He is tied with redshirt junior linebacker Myles Mayovsky for the team lead in tackles with 24, and he has also been credited with a quarterback hurry and half of a sack.

Stepping in so young, Smith said he’s had to make adjustments. In high school, he could really hit people and showcase his power. In college, “back at the bottom of the food chain,” he said he has to go for players’ legs more often.

He’s also playing nickel for the first time after playing safety and cornerback in high school.

“I enjoy nickel, because it puts me in a position where I can make plays in the pass game and in the run game,” he said. “It keeps me near the ball.”

Smith may have found his way onto the field anyway, but injuries in the secondary have made his rise all the more necessary. Following the injury to the grad senior Broussard, redshirt junior safety Drew Carter was injured against Northern Iowa and did not play in the 51-32 victory over Western Illinois.

The Eagles also played that game without redshirt sophomore cornerback Jonathan Landry, and during the first half redshirt senior DaJean Wells – who missed the season’s first two games with an injury – left injured, too.

Without Landry and Wells, redshirt freshman Ambrose Marsh has started all four games at cornerback. Against the Leathernecks he made five tackles and broke up three passes. On the season Marsh has 19 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

“We’re a fairly young team, but then you start taking some of those old guys and they’re on the shelf, we become even younger,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said following Saturday’s game. “They stepped up in big situations. Outside of a big explosive play and a pass interference, (and) outside of one series that they had to travel the length, our defense put them in a precarious situation multiple times.”

On offense, the Eagles are also relying on Mark Johnson at center and Gavin Allen at right tackle, two redshirt freshmen who have started all four games.

Last week, redshirt freshman Kevin Allen III handled 11 carries, the highest single-game total of any of the Eagles’ running backs so far this season. Receiver Jaxon Branch, another redshirt freshman, caught his first touchdown pass.

Even the specialist group has turned to a freshman – a true one in 2025 Mt. Spokane graduate Hunter McKee. He has handled 15 kickoffs this season, sending 11 of them for touchbacks. He also attempted a field goal last week for the first time as a college player (a 51-yard miss).

For McKee’s family, the drive to Cheney is a short one. It’s not far for Smith’s mother, either: With two of her sons playing college sports in the Spokane area – Braeden Smith plays basketball at Gonzaga – she moved across the state to be closer to them, Bryce Smith said.

Now the Eagles (1-3) are on to play the Montana State Bobcats (2-2), the fourth-ranked team in the FCS, and Smith said they are eager to build on last week’s nonconference victory.

“Our expectation is to just go out and perform to the best that we can,” Smith said. “We want to go to Bozeman and let the Big Sky know we are capable of winning the Big Sky.”