It was pretty cut-and-dried, but the Eastern Washington University received the stamp of approval it was looking for.
 
Eagle All-America center Spencer Blackburn will return for the 2019 football season after his hardship waiver request to receive a sixth year to complete his four years of eligibility was approved by the Big Sky Conference and the NCAA.
 
Honored the past three years as a second team All-Big Sky Conference selection, Blackburn is a 2014 graduate of Meridian High School in Bellingham, Wash. He redshirted in 2014, but couldn't play in 2015 because of a thumb injury. In 2018 he earned NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All-America honors by Associated Press (second team) and STATS (third team).
 
"It means a ton to be able to come back and be a part of another year with such a special program," said Blackburn. "This team has the experience and structure to further advance the standard we set this last season all the way to January. Go Eags!"
 
Blackburn has started 37 of the 39 games he has played as an Eagle, including the last 37. The Eagles finished 12-3 overall in 2018 after winning a share of the Big Sky Conference title, then won three FCS Playoff games at home to advance to the NCAA Division I Championship game. Blackburn started all 15 games for the Eagles.
 
In addition, Blackburn was a team co-captain in 2018 and was named in November to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 8 Football Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). He has also earned three Big Sky All-Academic honors, and has a 3.67 GPA in professional accounting. He was the 2017 recipient of the Larry Hattemer Offensive Lineman Scholarship.
 
"We're excited and eager for Spencer to be back with us again in 2019," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best. "We're happy that he will continue to be a leader and example for his brothers on and off the field for one more season."
 
Eastern finished as the only school to rank in the top 20 in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense, rushing and passing. The Eagles averaged 528.2 yards on offense to rank third in FCS, including 255.9 rushing (10th) and 272.3 passing (20th). Eastern was also ranked fourth in scoring (43.1).
 
The Eagles as a team finished the 2018 season with a school-record 6.62 average per rush on the season to break the previous record of 6.41 set in 2001. The Eagles set team records for rushing yards (3,839) and rushing touchdowns (41).
 
Eastern is also awaiting news on two other players who have applied for a sixth year. Offensive guard Kaleb Levao and wide receiver Zach Eagle each had seasons ended prematurely because of knee injuries – Levao in 2017 when he played two games (out of 11) and Eagle in 2018 when he played in EWU's first five (out of 15).