Four Eastern Washington University football players have been selected by their teammates as co-captains for the 2020 season, Eastern head coach Aaron Best has announced.
 
Quarterback Eric Barriere and linebacker Jack Sendelbach return for their second seasons as captains, and are joined by fellow seniors Tamarick Pierce (running back) and Calin Criner (safety).
 
The quartet represents three different states, including Washington, Idaho and California. Sendelbach is a 2015 graduate of Bishop Blanchet High School in Seattle, Wash and Criner graduated in 2016 from Rocky Mountain HS and is from Boise, Idaho. Pierce is from Oakland, Calif., and graduated from Saint Mary's HS in 2016, and Barriere hails from Inglewood, Calif., and is a 2016 graduate of La Habra HS.
 
The quartet represents 144 total games worth of experience at EWU, including 54 total starts. Sendelbach is a sixth-year senior while the other three have all redshirted previously for the Eagles.
 
Barriere is a returning All-American who has earned preseason All-America honors already as he enters his senior season in 2020. He is 16-7 in 23 career games as a starter, with 6,300 total passing yards and 7,519 yards of offense as an Eagle. He is a communication studies major.
 
Sendelbach enters the 2020 season with 159 tackles in his 36-game career (15 as a starter), and has had eight performances in double figures. He has earned Big Sky Conference All-Academic honors three times as an Eagle, and has already received his bachelor's degree in marketing. He is now in a graduate program for sports and recreation administration.
 
Pierce will enter his senior season in 2020 with a 6.3 career average per rush which currently ranks fourth in school history. Pierce has rushed for 1,014 yards and 18 touchdowns in 39 games as an Eagle with 13 catches for 107 yards and another score. He redshirted the 2019 season as he continued to rehabilitate a 2018 injury. A psychology major, Pierce has earned Big Sky All-Academic honors three times in his career thus far.
 
Criner is majoring in communication studies and leadership at Eastern, and has also previously earned Big Sky All-Academic honors. He has seven interceptions, 183 tackles, 10 passes broken up, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his 38-game career (16 as a starter). Criner will continue the legacy of wearing the No. 4 jersey for the Eagle Football team, a tribute that has existed for more than 10 years.
 
 
More on Eric Barriere . . .
Barriere earned second team recognition by HERO SPORTS on its NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Preseason All-America Team released May 28. Barriere is 16-7 as a starter at EWU, including a perfect 11-0 in home games at Roos Field. He enters his senior season with a streak of 239 passes without an interception, with his last interception coming on his 14th attempt at Sacramento State (10/5/19). Barriere has had 13 performances of at least 300 yards of total offense and eight with at least 300 yards passing in his 31 games as an Eagle. He has had six with at least 400 yards of total offense and three with at least 400 passing. He has completed 59.7 percent of his passes (463-of-775), good for 6,300 yards, 56 touchdowns and 14 interceptions, and has rushed 236 times for 1,219 yards and 17 more TDs. He had a passing efficiency rating of 146.9 as a sophomore, 151.6 in 2019 and a 148.3 mark in his career to currently rank fifth in school history. His touchdown passes rank sixth, his total of 7,519 yards of offense already rank sixth all-time at EWU and his passing yardage is seventh. He is just 13 yards behind the career rushing record for a quarterback of 1,232 yards set by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14). In addition he is seventh all-time at EWU in completion percentage (59.7), 10th in passing yards per game (203.2), fifth in average yards per pass play (8.1), seventh in average yards per completion (13.6), seventh in total completions (463), eighth in total attempts (775), seventh in offensive yards per game (242.5), sixth in total offense per play (7.44) and sixth in total touchdowns responsible for (73). Besides being 16-7 in 23 games as a starter, Eastern is 16-1 when he's rushed for at least 21 yards, with the lone loss coming at Sacramento State (10/5/19) when he finished with 103. Besides the Sac State game, he's rushed for at least 98 yards on four other occasions (98/Southern Utah/2018, 99/Portland State/2018, 101/Northern Arizona/2019, 164/Cal Poly/2019). He has now been honored three times in his career as Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Week, including twice in the 2019 season. In 2019, Barriere finished fifth in the Voting for the prestigious Walter Payton Award presented by STATS and earned third team FCS All-America honors from Hero Sports. He was a third team All-Big Sky selection as chosen by the league's head coaches and was also EWU's offensive player of the year. He finished second in FCS in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game and was third in passing (309.3), ninth with 31 touchdown passes and fourth in points responsible for (20.2 per game with 31 TDs passing, eight rushing and a two-point conversion). He closed his junior season with 239 passes without an interception, setting the school's single season record for interceptions-to-attempts ratio. He had only four picks in 438 attempts, a miniscule average of .009 per attempt compared to the previous record of .010 set by Erik Meyer in 2005 (five interceptions in 410 attempts).
 
More on Jack Sendelbach . . .
Sendelbach returns after being granted a sixth year by the NCAA in the offseason to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries. He enters his senior season with 159 tackles in his 36-game career (15 as a starter), and has had eight performances in double figures. He also has five career sacks, 16 total tackles for loss, four fumble recoveries and three forced fumbles. He started in all 11 of the games he played, and missed only EWU's game at Idaho (9/21/19). He finished second on the team with 94 tackles, and also finished with eight total tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, two quarterback hurries, a pass broken up and a fumble recovery. His average of 8.5 tackles per game ranked ninth in the Big Sky. Sendelbach closed the year with 10 tackles and a sack at Portland State (11/23/19) for the seventh double-figure tackling performance in his career. Three times he has been named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team.
 
More on Tamarick Pierce . . .
Pierce will enter his senior season in 2020 with a 6.3 career average per rush which currently ranks fourth in school history. Pierce has rushed for 1,014 yards and 18 touchdowns in 39 games as an Eagle with 13 catches for 107 yards and another score. He redshirted in 2019, but played in four games in accordance with a new NCAA rule that allows student-athletes to play in up to four games and still redshirt. After a long rehabilitation from an 2018 knee injury, Pierce made his 2019 debut versus Montana (9/26/19) and had a team-leading 57 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries (long of 30). He finished the season with 177 yards in four games played, and retained his redshirt status. Pierce closed the season by catching a 4-yard TD pass from Eric Barriere at Portland State (11/23/19). He added a 2-yard TD run in the fourth quarter and finished with 54 yards on the ground. In 2019, Pierce was among five EWU running backs who averaged at least 6.4 per carry, finishing with a 7.86 average The school record is 7.88 set by Taiwan Jones in 2010, meaning Pierce's average of 7.857 is No. 3 on the list just behind the 2018 average of 7.864 by teammate Dennis Merritt. All five EWU running backs averaged at least 6.4 per carry, helping EWU set school records for average yards per rush (6.62), yards (3,839) and rushing touchdowns (41). Eastern's average per rush ranked only behind Davidson's 7.44 average in FCS. Pierce had 52 yards on just five rushes against Cal Poly (9/22/18) when EWU finished with the second-most rushing yards in school history with 441 (the record is 456 against Cal State Northridge in 1999). Eastern set new school and Big Sky Conference records in the process with an average of 14.7 yards per carry. His best performance of the season was 89 yards on just four carries versus Portland State (11/16/18), including an 81-yard touchdown run. He had 75 yards on eight rushes (9.4 per carry) with a pair of touchdowns in a 59-20 win over UC Davis (11/10/18), and had six carries for 67 yards versus Washington State (9/15/18). Three times in his career he has been selected to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team.
 
More on Calin Criner . . .
Criner will continue the legacy of wearing the No. 4 jersey for the Eagle Football team, a tribute that has existed for more than 10 years. Since the 2008 season when senior Jason Belford had the number, the coaching staff has selected a leader on defense to wear the jersey. It symbolizes the defensive player who most embodies the characteristics of defense at Eastern -- grit, toughness, effort, leadership and academic success. A year ago, senior Dylan Ledbetter wore the No. 4 jersey and went on to win honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors. Although the honor isn't necessarily given to the most talented defensive player on the team, Eastern has had 11-straight players in that number earn All-Big Sky honors, and 13 of a possible 14 since Eastern joined the league in 1987. Below is the list of players who have worn that number since EWU became a member of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 1984 (Big Sky in 1987). He has seven interceptions, 183 tackles, 10 passes broken up, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his 38-game career (16 as a starter). He had four performances in his career with at least 10 tackles. In 2019, Criner started all 12 Eastern games and was third on the team with 85 tackles on the season. He also had three passes broken up and four interceptions. His average of 7.1 tackles per game ranked 14th in the Big Sky and his average of 0.33 interceptions tied for second. He had his second two-interception game of his career and had eight tackles in EWU's 48-5 victory over Idaho State (11/9/19) to earn College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Week honors. Playing in front of a crowd of 14 family and friends which included his well-known father and grandfather, he also broke-up a pass and one of his tackles was for a loss of two yards. Earlier in the season, Criner helped Eastern to a dominating 6-0 advantage in turnovers forced with another pair of interceptions and seven tackles in EWU's 35-20 victory over North Dakota (9/28/19). He was rewarded by earning honorable mention for STATS National Defensive Player of the Week honors. He has been named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team twice in his career.