March 22 – At the end of Wednesday, the end of winter, the football team in the east of Washington finished the third of its 10 official training sessions in the season a little early, a wink to the players who could move from Cheney for the university’s spring holidays.
The Eagles will meet on March 31, without more interruptions in a calendar that culminates in the red-white match on April 18.
While the players broke the full group on the Roos Field logo, they moved to position groups, a configuration that clearly indicated the limits of these 10 spring practices, as well as the opportunities for those who are present and available for them.
For the moment, the Eagles have barely more offensive than line players than the tight ends, and even many of these line players are struck.
“To be honest, we are far from the place where we intend to be,” said EWU head coach Aaron Best before this practice on Wednesday. “Overall, I think the energy was quite good.”
To discover which players will get into the five vacant starting roles on the offensive line is a question to which it will not be answered in all in August. Best said that more players would join the team during the summer, but until then they have what they have.
“It is really the largest (spot) from a positional point of view where we have to make the biggest difference,” said Best.
Players taking the pictures behind these lines, however, could be the position group with the most intrigue.
The undisputed leader in the offense at this stage is Jared Taylor, the fifth year quarter-rear which ran for 708 yards last season, 10 timids by Tuna Altahir, team leader, the ball carrier who chose during the offseason to be transferred to Stanford.
No more Kekoa Visperas, who spends his last season at FCS Tennessee Tech at the Ohio Valley conference. And then there is the absence of Michael Wortham, who obtained an additional year of eligibility because of his previous years spent in a junior college, and which should therefore play next season in Montana.
Aidan Carter, who has just finished his first first year season, also left the program, at least for a while: this winter, he accepted a call to a two-year mission through the church of Jesus Christ of the Holy Dates.
And so, while the Eagles huddled with their position groups, the first -year offensive coordinator and a quarter of the Marc Anderson quarters was with four players: Taylor, the second year student Redshirt Nate Bell, the recruit of Redshirt Jake Schakel and the real recruit Anthony Quinons.
“The main difference from last year is that we have a lot of new guys, like 8,000 snaps that we try to catch up,” said Taylor, speaking not only to the offense but to the whole team. “Spring is good to advance guys.”
During the 2024 season, which was Taylor’s second full in the program after being transferred from Feather River (California), Taylor was used more as a beating ram than a Gunslinger. He played in 11 games, but in one of them, he tried more than five passes. It was against the state of Montana, a match for which Vispera was not available.
Otherwise, Taylor’s calls mainly sent it directly to the melee line. It was effective: he ran 137 times and scored 10 affected.
But Best and Taylor suggested that this may not be the case this season.
“The particular thing about the offense here in Eastern is that it was around 60 to 70%,” said Best. “The premise and the foundation (are the same). We were quite dynamic in 2,1 1/2 decades here.”
In this historical context, the best characterized of the approach of last season in a quarter position (Visperas also worked for 375 yards and nine affected) as the last example of what the program did the best: playing its strength.
“We will always use the QB Plus racing (this season),” said Best. “But we have to throw the ball at the bottom of the ball. We have to succeed in these moments, so it is probably the biggest difference that you will see, it is that we will probably not launch the ball (a maximum of) 15 times per game sometimes.
“But when you have five seniors (on the offensive line) and a quarter-Arrière like Jared Taylor last year, who did what he did with the ball in hand, and you succeed, you rely more in this.”
The hypothesis that Taylor ran because he could not launch is the one that the quarterrier will refute with words and statistics. Some of these statistics come from his stay in Feather River, where he made 294 of the 461 attempts (63.8%) for 4,211 yards and 45 affected in 24 games from 2020 to 2022.
But when he was asked to launch east last season, he was effective, completing 20 of the 27 for 144 yards and two affected against the Big Sky Montana State champion, a match that was in a touchdown before the fourth quarter.
“Last year, I played a different verbal role and in terms of position, playing the quarter-Arrière differently last year,” said Taylor. “I start playing the real quarter again, and it was very fun for me.”
It remains to be seen how the Eagles will use their other three quarters. Bell only appeared in two games last season. Schakel, a three -star recruit from the Emerald Ridge High School in Puyallup, Washington, Redshirted. Quinons graduated early on the Liberty High School in Murrieta, California, to join the Eagles for the spring. He will be joined by recruit Kaden Rolfsness, from Puyallup high school, later this summer.
For the moment, the Eagles have what they have, in the quarter-Arrière and other positions.
“This (Quarterrière) recounts the roots for each other than anyone on this football field, while remaining competitive,” said Best. “It has not only started the last two years. It was a fairly good piece in the last 2 1/2 decades.”
