They ended practices for the 2018 season with piles of snow all around Roos Field, and the Eagles will most likely begin the 2019 preseason that way as well.
 
Fresh off an appearance in January in the NCAA Division I Championship Game, the Eastern Washington University football team opens spring practices on Tuesday, April 2, at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Despite losing a large group of 27 seniors from its runner-up and Big Sky Conference championship squad, as many as 48 returning letterwinners will be on hand this spring and next fall when head coach Aaron Best begins his third season at the helm. The Eagles are expected to return nine total starters – five on offense and four on defense – with 28 letter winners back offense, 24 on defense and a kicker.
 
Eastern will be experienced once again with as many as 20 seniors on the squad. Eastern had only 14 seniors in 2017 and 12 in 2016. Two of the returning players include All-Big Sky offensive linemen Spencer Blackburn and Kaleb Levao, who were granted a sixth year by the NCAA to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries.
 
Eastern will also have a large group of as many as 21 redshirt freshmen on hand this spring competing for repetitions. Eight of those players saw action in 2018 as part of the new NCAA rule allowing freshman to play in as many as four games and still redshirt. Dean Sise, a transfer from Navy, also redshirted in 2018 and will be a sophomore for the Eagles next fall.
 
Newcomers will also include four new coaches. The success of 2018 resulted in four coaches moving on, and replacements include new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Ian Shoemaker, defensive passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach Allen Brown, wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Pat McCann and safeties coach Bryan Mills. In addition, Eti Ena was promoted to defensive coordinator.
 
The Eagles will spread 15 practices and scrimmages over the course of 26 days. But with less than a month to go, EWU is still dealing with massive amounts of snow and cold weather that is slowing the melting process.

Eastern will scrimmage on April 13 and April 20 before the annual Red-White Game takes place on Saturday, April 27 at noon at Roos Field and will be televised live regionally by SWX.
 
 
Spring Practice Schedule
 
Practices take place various days through April 27. Subject to change, most practices are scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. (4 p.m. on April 2 and 3 p.m. on April 19 and 26). All practices are scheduled to take place at Roos Field. Scrimmages also take place on the red Sprinturf surface at the "Inferno" in Cheney, Wash. Media interviews take place on April 2 (3:35 p.m.), April 9 (3:05 p.m.), April 16 (3:05 p.m.) and April 23 (3:05 p.m.), as well as after scrimmages.
 
Tuesday, April 2 - Practice (no pads), 4 p.m.
Wednesday, April 3 - Practice (no pads) , 3:30 p.m.

• EWU Pro Day for departing seniors is scheduled for 10 a.m. on April 4 (Roos Field at about 12:30 p.m.)

Friday, April 5 – Practice, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 6 - Practice, 10:05 a.m.
Tuesday, April 9 – Practice, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 11 – Practice, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 13 - Scrimmage, start/approx. 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m. scrimmage, Roos Field
Tuesday, April 16 – Practice, 3:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 18 - Practice, 3:30 p.m.
Friday, April 19 – Practice, 3 p.m.

• EWU Coaches Clinic in evening (Mike Kramer keynote speaker)

Saturday, April 20 – Scrimmage, 1 p.m. start/approx. 1:30 p.m. scrimmage, Roos Field

• EWU Coaches Clinic all day

April 23 - Practice, 3:30 p.m.
April 25 – Practice, 3:30 p.m.
April 26 – Practice, 3 p.m.
April 27 – Red-White Spring Game, Noon, Roos Field (televised live regionally by SWX)

• Lil' EKG Day is after the game

 
 
Spring Scrimmages
 
Eastern is scheduled to scrimmage on Saturday, April 13 at approximately 10:30 a.m. and Saturday, April 20 at approximately 1:30 p.m. at Roos Field. The annual Red-White Game will take place on Saturday, April 27th at noon at Roos Field in conjunction with the 38th Annual Orland Killin Lobster Dinner, Dance and Auction. The Red-White game will be televised live regionally by SWX.
 
 

Eagle Football in 2019 . . .

 
Eastern had 27 seniors on its 2018 team, including 18 four-year letterwinners and another seven who earned three. Combined, those 27 players combined for a total of 1,085 games played and 496 starts. But EWU will return as many as 48 letterwinners, including 24 on defense, 24 on offense and one on special teams. The Eagles will have back four full-time starters on defense (DT Dylan Ledbetter, DE Jim Townsend, LB Chris Ojoh, S Dehonta Hayes), plus three others who received significant time as starters (S Tysen Prunty, S B, Rover Kedrick Johnson). Offensively, five return (QB Eric Barriere, WR Andrew Boston, C Spencer Blackburn, G Kaleb Levao, T Chris Schlichting).
 
Despite missing nine players near the end of the season who had begun the season as starters – six on defense and three on offense -- the Eagles finished 12-3 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky Conference to share the league title with Weber State and UC Davis. The Eagles won their last four games of the regular season, then hosted three fellow conference champions in the FCS Playoffs – knocking off Nicholls, UC Davis and Maine to advance to the NCAA Division I Championship Game.
 
A total of 23 All-Big Sky Conference honors were won by Eastern players in the 2018 season, including five on the first team. Six Eagles went on to win FCS All-America honors, with senior winning the Fred Mitchell Award as the top placekicker in the nation. Blackburn won second team All-America honors, while Barriere was honored as a sophomore All-American and Boston and defensive end Mitchell Johnson earned freshman All-America accolades.
 
And the Eagles did all that while combining for a 3.07 grade point average in the fall, and the entire team currently has a collective 3.15 accumulative GPA. In January, a record 32 Eagles were named to the Big Sky Conference Academic All-Conference team.
 
Along the way to Eastern's 13th FCS playoff berth and 10th Big Sky title in school history, Eagle Nation supported the team in droves along the way. Eastern was unbeaten with a perfect 8-0 record at Roos Field, and extended the school's consecutive regular season sell-out streak to 30 games. Then more than 4,000 fans showed up to support the Eagles in Frisco.
 
A 22-year veteran of the Eagle program, Aaron Best himself was FCS Coach of the Year in a fan vote conducted by Hero Sports, and was the Big Sky Conference co-Coach of the Year. In two years at the helm, he has compiled a 19-7 record overall (73.1 percent) and 13-3 mark in the league (81.3 percent). Both percentages currently rank as the best in school history, just ahead of the Beau Baldwin with an 85-32 overall mark (72.6 percent) in nine seasons from 2008-16, and a 58-14 league record (80.6 percent).
 
 

38th Annual Killin Dinner/Dance/Auction is April 27 at EWU . . .

 
Tickets are now on sale for the 38th Annual Killin Dinner, Dance and Auction on April 27 at Eastern Washington University.
 
Tickets are $100 per individual and $700 for a table of eight. More information and a registration link to order tickets.is available via: http://goeags.com/killin. The registration deadline Tuesday, April 23.
 
Killin takes place at the EWU Sports and Recreation Center. The event starts with a social hour and auction at 4:30 p.m., followed by the dinner (6 p.m.), program/presentations/live auction (7 p.m.) and dancing (8 p.m.). The event follows the annual Red-White Spring Football Game on April 27 at noon at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash.
 
Net proceeds benefit areas of greatest need within Eastern Athletics, with last year's event raising more than $117,000. The event is named in honor of Orland Killin, who, along with his wife Bernice, helped create the event. Killin was a man immensely dedicated to academics and the integrity of Eastern Washington University, serving as professor, faculty athletic representative and faculty president. He was an Eastern football letter winner in 1941-42.
 
There is no admission charged for the Red-White Game, which will also be televised regionally by SWX.
 
Last year's event was the first featuring new Eastern Washington University Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey. Hickey gave a passionate plea for additional funding for scholarships prior to the live auction portion of the event. Besides a "paddle-raise" for scholarships, there were about a dozen live auction items and about a 100 silent auction items.