Fall Camp Updates, Reports and Goings On

[LDopaPDX]

Moving closer to the BIG day. Anyone actually seen a practice what to chime in? The few pictures and short videos show a group of stout young men working hard and having fun doing it. New article on the WR's from SR isn't very insightful but the scrimmages may show some separation within the group. Physical, mixture of size and speed, balanced. Hope Shoemaker is finding a way to make use of all those talents and put the opposition on their heels. It can't be all about EB3.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/14/with-nsimba-webster-graduated-who-will-be-eastern-/

I went. My first impression is this team is physically bigger than any Eastern team I've seen before. Lots and lots of big, athletic-looking dudes. Jayson Williams is listed at 6'1 205, but looks like a quarterhorse, big and ripped. I have a feeling he's in for a big year if he stays healthy. The OL is enormous, but I'd be a little concerned about that group if a few guys go down hurt as there seems to be a big dropoff after about the top 8-9 guys. The UW transfer was working with LBs when I was there and that group looks to be very strong.

I think a huge key for the entire season will be that first game. We need to compete- win or lose- and stay healthy. If we have a bad outing like we did at Texas Tech a couple of years ago, it just sets a potentially negative trend and pummels confidence. Dropping to UW isn't a big deal, but we need to come out of that game healthy and fired up because that third game at Jacksonville State is the real lynchpin of the season.

 

[60s Savage]

Our Offensive Line is it, this season. There's super Eagle backfield and receiving talent ready to be unleashed on opposing teams, specifically including Husky defense. I predict Eastern's 2019 winning ways will include prevention of lost fumbles, interceptions, missed blocks, and incomplete passes, by the decisive, dependable, penalty avoiding, split second, solid blocking, Offensive Line. "Dropping to UW isn't a big deal..." Yup; not a big deal. Beating UW is a big deal, and Eastern can do it with it's Offensive and proven Defensive Corps. The crowds are big, but Husky field is only 100 yards long, same as The Inferno. GO EAGS!

 

[luckyintheorder]

Moving closer to the BIG day. Anyone actually seen a practice what to chime in? The few pictures and short videos show a group of stout young men working hard and having fun doing it. New article on the WR's from SR isn't very insightful but the scrimmages may show some separation within the group. Physical, mixture of size and speed, balanced. Hope Shoemaker is finding a way to make use of all those talents and put the opposition on their heels. It can't be all about EB3.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/14/with-nsimba-webster-graduated-who-will-be-eastern-/

I went. My first impression is this team is physically bigger than any Eastern team I've seen before. Lots and lots of big, athletic-looking dudes. Jayson Williams is listed at 6'1 205, but looks like a quarterhorse, big and ripped. I have a feeling he's in for a big year if he stays healthy. The OL is enormous, but I'd be a little concerned about that group if a few guys go down hurt as there seems to be a big dropoff after about the top 8-9 guys. The UW transfer was working with LBs when I was there and that group looks to be very strong.

I think a huge key for the entire season will be that first game. We need to compete- win or lose- and stay healthy. If we have a bad outing like we did at Texas Tech a couple of years ago, it just sets a potentially negative trend and pummels confidence. Dropping to UW isn't a big deal, but we need to come out of that game healthy and fired up because that third game at Jacksonville State is the real lynchpin of the season.

Thanks Dopa! Your report really pumped me up. Jayson is definitely due to have a break out year, who wants to tackle that beast

How did EB3 look?

Like you, hope the team stays healthy. Ordering my tickets for the Jax St game right after this post.

Go Eags!

 

[luckyintheorder]

SR camp preview: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/03/five-questions-to-answer-as-fall-camp-gets-underwa/

Ryan names the three WRs I expect to carry the water this season.

EWU has its share of big, strong experienced targets like Andrew Boston, Talolo Limu-Jones and Jayson Williams

Taras has moved to WR from QB, where I thought he might give Burkett a run at being the backup. Taras had a quick read and delivery in HS. Will be interesting to see if a player like him can make an impact with the depth Eastern has at WR. Special teams maybe? Aside from the question mark at kicker, Eastern kick coverage and return teams could be a force. Lots of talent looking for playing time

What type of impact do you expect the TE's especially Gilder to have receiving? Last year he split time with Henderson Belk. If you combine those two they had 38 catches for around 400 yds and over 10 TD's. Berriere seems to like to throw to the TE. I think Gilder could be a top three receiver this year with over 40 catches for over 500 yds and 10+ TD's If healthy. Thoughts?

Here is the link to the CWU stats from last season. Know Shoemaker wasn't the OC but like Baldwin assume he had a finger in it. There was no coach listed as OC in 2017 and 2018 there was a co-OC, so Shoemaker??

In 2018 they ran the ball 476 times for over 3300 yds and threw it 325 time for 2900 yds.. As far as I can tell TE's caught 27 balls. They had very young receiving corps last season. I do think Eastern's TE's are pretty athletic.

https://wildcatsports.com/cumestats.aspx?path=football

 

[clawman1]

SR camp preview: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/03/five-questions-to-answer-as-fall-camp-gets-underwa/

Ryan names the three WRs I expect to carry the water this season.

EWU has its share of big, strong experienced targets like Andrew Boston, Talolo Limu-Jones and Jayson Williams

Taras has moved to WR from QB, where I thought he might give Burkett a run at being the backup. Taras had a quick read and delivery in HS. Will be interesting to see if a player like him can make an impact with the depth Eastern has at WR. Special teams maybe? Aside from the question mark at kicker, Eastern kick coverage and return teams could be a force. Lots of talent looking for playing time

What type of impact do you expect the TE's especially Gilder to have receiving? Last year he split time with Henderson Belk. If you combine those two they had 38 catches for around 400 yds and over 10 TD's. Berriere seems to like to throw to the TE. I think Gilder could be a top three receiver this year with over 40 catches for over 500 yds and 10+ TD's If healthy. Thoughts?

Here is the link to the CWU stats from last season. Know Shoemaker wasn't the OC but like Baldwin assume he had a finger in it. There was no coach listed as OC in 2017 and 2018 there was a co-OC, so Shoemaker??

In 2018 they ran the ball 476 times for over 3300 yds and threw it 325 time for 2900 yds.. As far as I can tell TE's caught 27 balls. They had very young receiving corps last season. I do think Eastern's TE's are pretty athletic.

https://wildcatsports.com/cumestats.aspx?path=football

Good call on Showmakers tendancies Lucky, I don't know that one year makes a pattern though. I have been thinking with the size and experience we have on the o-line defenses will be forced to blitz a lot. If EB3 and TE's can read those blitzes and throw to where the blitzer came from it should be a good year for our big and athletic tight ends.

 

[sammamisheag]

The goal of the UW game - cash the check and no injuries. Pull the upset added bonus as long no key starters are injured to the point where it's extended.

The season starts on 9/14. Win that on the road vs an FCS playoff team and EWU will get a Top 2- 4 seed come playoff time.

 

[Obzerver]

The goal of the UW game - cash the check and no injuries. Pull the upset added bonus as long no key starters are injured to the point where it's extended.

The season starts on 9/14. Win that on the road vs an FCS playoff team and EWU will get a Top 2- 4 seed come playoff time.

You got that right sammamisheag!! JSU has an easy schedule. They play 5 teams with a winning record last year with toughest being EWU. They also play Southeast Missouri who Weber beat in playoffs 48-23, a 6-5 Chattanooga team, a DII team and Eastern Kentucky who they beat 56-7 last season.

So this game with JSU will definitely have seed implications come end of year...we need a win.

 

[luckyintheorder]

SR camp preview: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/aug/03/five-questions-to-answer-as-fall-camp-gets-underwa/

Ryan names the three WRs I expect to carry the water this season.

EWU has its share of big, strong experienced targets like Andrew Boston, Talolo Limu-Jones and Jayson Williams

Taras has moved to WR from QB, where I thought he might give Burkett a run at being the backup. Taras had a quick read and delivery in HS. Will be interesting to see if a player like him can make an impact with the depth Eastern has at WR. Special teams maybe? Aside from the question mark at kicker, Eastern kick coverage and return teams could be a force. Lots of talent looking for playing time

What type of impact do you expect the TE's especially Gilder to have receiving? Last year he split time with Henderson Belk. If you combine those two they had 38 catches for around 400 yds and over 10 TD's. Berriere seems to like to throw to the TE. I think Gilder could be a top three receiver this year with over 40 catches for over 500 yds and 10+ TD's If healthy. Thoughts?

Here is the link to the CWU stats from last season. Know Shoemaker wasn't the OC but like Baldwin assume he had a finger in it. There was no coach listed as OC in 2017 and 2018 there was a co-OC, so Shoemaker??

In 2018 they ran the ball 476 times for over 3300 yds and threw it 325 time for 2900 yds.. As far as I can tell TE's caught 27 balls. They had very young receiving corps last season. I do think Eastern's TE's are pretty athletic.

https://wildcatsports.com/cumestats.aspx?path=football

Good call on Showmakers tendancies Lucky, I don't know that one year makes a pattern though. I have been thinking with the size and experience we have on the o-line defenses will be forced to blitz a lot. If EB3 and TE's can read those blitzes and throw to where the blitzer came from it should be a good year for our big and athletic tight ends.

You're probably on to something about the blitzing not sure who on our BSC schedule has the personnel to be effective at it.

The link I provided has statistical data going back several years 2017 when Shoemaker was the OC they ran the ball over 550 times and threw it 335 times only a handful to TE's. They went undefeated in the regular season and had several good senior WR's. In 2016 it was 380 rushes to 320 passes, again no OC listed.

Fair to say, the big and experienced OL will be leaned on in Shoemaker's offense. Expect a balanced attack. One thing, the average scoring under Shoemaker is about 34-37 points a game over those years. Watched several GNAC games when Reilly went over there in 2017 and Shoemaker pulled back after taking big leads a couple of times.

 

[LDopaPDX]

Coach Shoe’s historical tendencies may offer some insight, but ultimately Eastern’s philosophy is similar to UW’s with Coach Peterson. We recruit the best players we can get and build the system around their strengths. That’s very different than one like Mike Leach who has his own offensive system and recruits the “right” players rather than the “best” players. I think that’s why Leach has been so successful at WSU (and Texas Tech before that) because those schools aren’t going to be flush with four and five star kids.

Eastern is getting the FCS equivalent of four and five star kids, though (except in our case the rating are more two and three stars, which is still a quality player at our level and an occasional kid that develops with a very high ceiling). Therefore, it makes sense for us to fit the players into a system that best suits their skill set.

I’d expect a 50/50 mix of passes and runs, or quite close to it. Obviously, if we’re successful on first down, it’ll be run heavy. If we aren’t, it’ll be more pass heavy. God willing, we can be regularly successful on first down as that makes everything much easier.

 

[luckyintheorder]

Eastern is getting the FCS equivalent of four and five star kids, though (except in our case the rating are more two and three stars, which is still a quality player at our level and an occasional kid that develops with a very high ceiling).

Hallelujah. :thumb: Appreciate your eye witness reporting, let us know if you made the scrimmage today Dopa.

 

[LDopaPDX]

No luck on getting to the scrimmage today. I hope we can get a report from whoever went.

Sounds like it was purely a situational scrimmage and not open game simulation.

 

[clawman1]

I thought it went well. Not a lot of mistakes and seemed like players knew their responsibilities.
My observations:
>Hopefully we score every drive so we don't have to punt, pretty ugly. We can kick field goals up to 50yds yeah!!
>I witnessed a LB spot a WR 10 yds at midfield and run him down by the goal line! (Not saying who because we don't know if there any unfriendlies trolling but I think you know.)
>As good as WR's could be they dropped quite a few catch-able balls.
>We seem to be in very good shape @ RB.
>IMO O-line will be the core of our offensive success. WOW
>EB3 did not dress but the other QB's showed their strengths, the future is bright.
>As LDopa mentioned earlier we are showing good size all over the place. Some of our players are even looking like Vic Wallace of old!! :lol: Love you Vic!

Next Saturday will show a lot more if we see #1 on #1.

 

[rontheoldwiseeagle2]

I thought it went well. Not a lot of mistakes and seemed like players knew their responsibilities.
My observations:
>Hopefully we score every drive so we don't have to punt, pretty ugly. We can kick field goals up to 50yds yeah!!
>I witnessed a LB spot a WR 10 yds at midfield and run him down by the goal line! (Not saying who because we don't know if there any unfriendlies trolling but I think you know.)
>As good as WR's could be they dropped quite a few catch-able balls.
>We seem to be in very good shape @ RB.
>IMO O-line will be the core of our offensive success. WOW
>EB3 did not dress but the other QB's showed their strengths, the future is bright.
>As LDopa mentioned earlier we are showing good size all over the place. Some of our players are even looking like Vic Wallace of old!! :lol: Love you Vic!

Next Saturday will show a lot more if we see #1 on #1.

Ok, #37, Andre Slyter was awesome. Me thinks we have a goal kicker. Wow, from distance
# 6 Dennis Merritt and # 28 Antoine Custer look ready, several others carried today but did not catch my eye.
QB Freshman # 7 Trey Turner, Pittsburg CA. looked very good, he made several throws to his secondary reads. Throws a strong ball. He needs lots of work but there is lots to work with.
LT, # 65 Tristen Taylor is back, so much fun to watch, He has two young kids working behind him.
MORE AFTER I FIX THIS DAMN LAP TOP

 

[rontheoldwiseeagle2]

Other LT # 70 Freshman Matt Hewa Baddege, 6'7" 325, taylor looks like he in the 340 range?
LT # 52 Issac Flemmer, Freshman 6' 7" 265. They are not ready for prime time but fun to watch.
I watched for U of W transfer' # 56 6'2" 250 Jusstis Warren, just did not see him on the field, sorry.
# 7 DB Tre Weed, Red shirt, Fr. Looked very good today at Corner on strong side.
I did not get a good feel for performance because of all the newbies playing today. We sure have lots of speed and size. Next week. will be a much better gauge of team performance.










r

 

[luckyintheorder]

I thought it went well. Not a lot of mistakes and seemed like players knew their responsibilities.
My observations:
>Hopefully we score every drive so we don't have to punt, pretty ugly. We can kick field goals up to 50yds yeah!!
>I witnessed a LB spot a WR 10 yds at midfield and run him down by the goal line! (Not saying who because we don't know if there any unfriendlies trolling but I think you know.)
>As good as WR's could be they dropped quite a few catch-able balls.
>We seem to be in very good shape @ RB.
>IMO O-line will be the core of our offensive success. WOW
>EB3 did not dress but the other QB's showed their strengths, the future is bright.
>As LDopa mentioned earlier we are showing good size all over the place. Some of our players are even looking like Vic Wallace of old!! :lol: Love you Vic!

Next Saturday will show a lot more if we see #1 on #1.

Ok, #37, Andre Slyter was awesome. Me thinks we have a goal kicker. Wow, from distance
# 6 Dennis Merritt and # 28 Antoine Custer look ready, several others carried today but did not catch my eye.
QB Freshman # 7 Trey Turner, Pittsburg CA. looked very good, he made several throws to his secondary reads. Throws a strong ball. He needs lots of work but there is lots to work with.
LT, # 65 Tristen Taylor is back, so much fun to watch, He has two young kids working behind him.
MORE AFTER I FIX THIS DAMN LAP TOP

Thanks Gentlemen! Between your eyewitness reporting and the linked article, it sounds like everyone who played got after it. Have been on record the past couple years that Eastern's players are cream of the crop in size, speed and demeanor in the BigSky and it has paid off in competition and depth.

Appreciate clawman's take on the RB's, it has been a concern for me. We know what Merritt and Custer bring to the table but unclear on how the depth will step up. WR drops aren't particularly good news.

Lots of new names on the stats below. Competition breeds strength.

https://goeags.com/news/2019/8/17/f...ins-and-leads-offense-to-425-yard-effort.aspx

Scoring Plays
Micah Smith 1 run
Dennis Merritt 10 run (Andre Slyter kick)
Jusstis Warren 25 fumble recovery
Dre' Sonte Dorton 83 pass from Gunner Talkington (Seth Harrison kick)
FG Slyter 45
FG Slyter 43

Rushing: Dennis Merritt 7-49 1td, Gunner Talkington 3-31, Micah Smith 12-30 1td, Antoine Custer Jr. 5-27, Freddie Roberson 4-12, Trey Turner 7-10, Kellen Kranc 4-minus-26, Team 1-minus-15, Totals 43-118 2td (35-180 not including seven quick-whistle sacks and one bad snap)

Passing: Gunner Talkington 7-of-14 154 1td 1int, Trey Turner 7-of-13 54, Kellen Kranc 9-of-15 99 1int, Totals 23-of-42 307 1td 1int.

Receiving: Jakobie James 5-59, Dennis Merritt 3-25, Michael Taras 3-18, Aiden Nellor 2-25, Andrew Boston 2-20, Terence Norman 2-17, Dre' Sonte Dorton 1-83, Talolo Limu-Jones 1-21, Johnny Edwards IV 1-19, Freddie Roberson 1-10, Dylan Ingram 1-7, Julian Houston 1-3, Totals 23-307 1td.

Tackles Leaders:
Tamir Hill 6, Joe Lang 6, Cale Lindsay 5, Dehonta Hayes 5, Debore'ae McClain 4, Jusstis Warren 4, Ty Graham 4, Anthany Smith 4, Trevor Davis Jr. 3, Keshaun King 3, Justin Patterson 3, Jacob Newsom 3, Zion Fa'aopega 3, Soli Paleso'o 3, Brad Alexander 3, Caleb Davis 2, Chris Ojoh 2, Andrew Katzenberger 2, Marlon Jones Jr. 2, Blake Ochsner 2,

Interceptions: Anthany Smith, Demetrius Crosby Jr.

Passes Broken Up: Darreon Moore, Joe Lang, Darnell Hogan.

Sacks: Debore'ae McClain, Andrew Katzenberger, Trevor Davis Jr., Cale Lindsay, Jusstis Warren, Jacob Newsom, Soli Paleso'o.

Forced Fumble: Steven Flowers, Keshaun King.

Fumble Recovery: Jusstis Warren, Sebastian Gomez

 

[LDopaPDX]

Nice to see Jusstis Warren showing well. He is a bad-ass looking guy; very muscular. I'm still not sure where he's the best fit defensively, but I'd assume he'll be mixed in at LB and DE. Where was he lining up yesterday? Anyone know?

 

[clawman1]

So the play where our LB ran down a WR must have been Dre' Sonte Dorton, thats even more impressive, he is fassssst!

 

[Obzerver]

So the play where our LB ran down a WR must have been Dre' Sonte Dorton, thats even more impressive, he is fassssst!

C'mon clawman, forreal it was Dorton? Who was the LB (Warren)?

 

[clawman1]

So the play where our LB ran down a WR must have been Dre' Sonte Dorton, thats even more impressive, he is fassssst!

C'mon clawman, forreal it was Dorton? Who was the LB (Warren)?

I said Dorton because Lucky said he had a long TD pass. I did not catch the number of the runner in the play, I was focused on the LB running him down and had to check the number thinking "who was that"!
I'm thinking Buck Buchanan.

 

[Rjones61]

How are our RBs looking?