Eastern Washington showcases improved rushing attack during scrimmage at ONE Spokane Stadium
One of Aaron Best’s goals for the Eastern Washington football team this season is to run the ball more effectively with its running backs, rather than relying so much on the team’s quarterbacks to gain yards on the ground.
At least during their first preseason scrimmage Thursday at ONE Spokane Stadium, the Eagles met their head coach’s goal.
Five Eastern running backs combined for 153 yards on 32 carries, spearheading an offense that scored four touchdowns and committed just one turnover.
“Shoutout to the offensive line,” redshirt junior quarterback Nate Bell said. “The run game was phenomenal today. (We moved) the ball down slowly but surely, and when we got a shot, we took a shot.”
Bell led the Eagles in rushing last season with 663 yards on 118 attempts. But he also missed the last three games with an injury.
He led two scoring drives on Thursday, capping both with touchdown passes to redshirt sophomore Jaxon Branch. Branch finished with a team-high 61 yards on three receptions; Bell completed 7 of 13 passes for 103 yards, the two scores and one interception.
That interception came on the second play of the scrimmage when redshirt senior cornerback Dre Greeley jumped an out route along the sidelines.
“That’s big, especially when we’re Eagles facing other teams,” EWU head coach Aaron Best said. “That’s such a momentum boost when, all of a sudden, the team gets the ball and in two plays we’ve turned them over.”
Bell still scrambled four times for eight yards – a total likely higher in a game setting when quarterbacks have to be tackled rather than simply touched down – but he was more inclined to stay in the pocket and go through his progressions because of that.
Redshirt sophomore Jake Schakel completed 13 of 23 passes for 133 yards but failed to lead a scoring drive.
Sophomore Kaden Rolfsness finished 4-for-6 throwing the ball and connected with sophomore Rylin Lang for a touchdown on the fourth drive of the scrimmage. Rolfsness also rushed three times for 30 yards.
The last touchdown came on a 15-yard pass from freshman quarterback Brady Annett to freshman receiver Bennett Juve.
Notable on the offense was the play of 5-foot-9 freshman running back Jaxon Bell, the younger brother of quarterback Nate Bell. Lining up in the backfield and also out wide, Jaxon Bell touched the ball three times and gained 53 yards, including one play that went for 35.
“He’s going to play this year. There’ll be a Bell-Bell (combination) at some point, maybe early and often,” Best said. “He probably had the most consistent game from the ground view.”
Redshirt junior cornerback Jojo Maxey-Johnson, who finished with six tackles, said he has complimented Jaxon Bell on his elusiveness throughout preseason camp.
“He’s a smaller guy, so you have to get really low on him,” Maxey-Johnson said. “It’s decently hard (to tackle Bell), I’m not going to lie. You can’t tackle him up high. He’s going to be a guy for us this year.”
This was the second straight year the Eagles have played a scrimmage – dubbed the Red Turf Takeover – at ONE Spokane Stadium. Volleyball and soccer players signed autographs before the game, and football players did so after.
“I thought it was a really, really, really productive scrimmage in all three phases,” Best said. “Very productive on a beautiful night, and hopefully the fans in Spokane enjoyed what the Eagles brought tonight.”
Eastern will scrimmage again in Cheney on Aug. 21, eight days before it opens the regular season at Northern Arizona on Aug. 29.