A pair of Eastern Washington University senior football players – offensive tackle
Tristen Taylor and defensive back
Ty Graham – have been selected to join four others as Eagle co-captains for the 2020-21 school year. The coaching staff elected to add them based on voting tallies from a team vote earlier this summer.
Taylor is sixth-year senior from Stockton, Calif. (Stagg HS '15) and has earned All-Big Sky Conference honors three times previously at EWU. He was a second team choice in 2019 and received honorable mention in 2016 and 2017. He redshirted in 2015 and was lost to a knee injury after three games in 2018. He's started all 40 games he's played as an Eagle.
Graham is a hometown product and 2016 graduate of Cheney (Wash.) High School. He's been at EWU since winter of 2019, but had to redshirt in 2019 as a transfer from the University of Idaho. While playing from 2016-18 for the Vandals, Graham had 133 tackles at Idaho, including 13 for a loss. He had 2 1/2 sacks, an interception, two passes broken up and a forced fumble in 27 career games. His father, John Graham, is EWU's former defensive coordinator.
Taylor and Graham join four other seniors announced on July 14 as co-captains, including quarterback
Eric Barriere. linebacker
Jack Sendelbach, running back
Tamarick Pierce and safety
Calin Criner. Barriere and Sendelbach were also captains in the 2019 season.
Including Taylor and Graham, the six co-captains represent 211 total games worth of collegiate experience, including exactly 100 total starts. Sendelbach and Taylor are both sixth-year seniors who graduated from high school in 2016, while the other four were 2016 graduates and have all redshirted previously.
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.
Click here for a story and more information on the first four captains named.
Eastern's fall 2020 season has recently been wiped out because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but is expected to resume this winter/spring with an eight-game Big Sky Conference schedule. The team has recently concluded non-mandatory and mandatory summer workouts, and are expected to re-convene for workouts when classes begin at EWU in late September (scheduled for Sept. 23).
OL, 6-6, 325, Sr., Stockton, Calif.
Career: Taylor has started all 40 games he has played in his career thus far after missing the last 12 games in 2018 with a knee injury. A three-time All-Big Sky selection, he enters the 2020 season with the most starts on the offense and the most overall.
2020: Phil Steele Publications selected him to its preseason All-Big Sky Conference squad as a second team offensive lineman. He was granted a sixth year in the offseason by the NCAA to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries.
2019: Was a second team All-Big Sky selection as chosen by the league's head coaches after earning honorable mention accolades in 2016 and 2017. He started all 12 Eastern games at left offensive tackle. Eastern closed the 2019 season with the best offense in FCS, finishing at 524.8 yards per game. The Eagles had 2,450 yards of offense in the last four games of the season (612.5 per game) to take over the lead and maintain it. Eastern also ended the regular season second in scoring (40.6), fifth in passing (317.1) and 19th in rushing (207.8), and were the only team in FCS to rank in the top 24 in total offense, rushing and passing. Eastern had some impressive rushing performances in 2019, rushing for at least 174 yards eight times and at least 247 in six games (including the last four). The school's 5.29 average per rush ranked 13th in FCS. The Eagles had a season-high 320 versus Cal Poly (11/16/19), and their best game of total offense was a school-record 769 yards versus Lindenwood (9/7/19). He was a third team preseason all-conference selection as chosen by Phil Steele Publications.
2018: He started and played in just three games in 2018 before being lost with a season-ending knee injury. At the time he was injured, EWU was leading the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense. In the three games he played, EWU averaged 542.0 yards per game to rank third in FCS, and was 16th in passing (300.7) and 20th in rushing (241.3) and 15th in scoring (37.7). EWU allowed just three sacks to rank 21st nationally, and had 677 yards of offense (349 passing) against Central Washington (9/1/18) and 570 yards (322 passing) versus Northern Arizona (9/8/18). The performance versus CWU ranks fifth in school history and the NAU game is 48th.
2017: Earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors (as selected by the league's head coaches). Started all 11 games, including 10 at left offensive guard. He also started against Fordham (9/16/17) at left tackle. He helped Eastern rank fifth in FCS in total offense (476.7 per game), and was also eighth in passing (320.5), 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent).
2016: Earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors (as selected by the league's head coaches). Taylor started all 14 Eastern games at left offensive tackle. He made his debut as an Eagle starter versus Washington State (9/3/16) in EWU's thrilling 45-42 win. He was selected as the team's offensive player of the week after helping EWU finish with 540 total yards in a 50-35 win at Northern Arizona (9/24/16). Eastern allowed just one sack on a day in which
Gage Gubrud handled the ball 68 times (57 passes and 11 rushes). The offensive line shared the team offensive player of the week honor in a 35-16 win over Montana (10/29/16) and again in a 38-0 win over Richmond (12/10/16) in the FCS Playoffs. Taylor helped Eastern rank second in FCS in total offense with an average of 529.6 yards per game, trailing only Sam Houston State at 547.3 per outing. Eastern was the FCS leader in passing offense (401.0 yards per game), and was third in third down conversions (52.1 percent), third in completion percentage (.679), third in scoring offense (42.4), and third in passing efficiency (168.2). Eastern quarterbacks were sacked only 24 times in 620 passing attempts (one sack per 25.8 attempts).
2015: Redshirted.
HS: Graduated from Stagg HS in 2015. Listed as a two-star recruit by
Rivals.com. As a senior in 2014, Taylor was named the San Joaquin Athletic Association Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was also a first team selection as an offensive lineman on the
MaxPreps All-Sac-Joaquin Central Section team. He was named to the first team as an offensive lineman on the All-Area team selected by the
Stockton Record. Prior to the season, Taylor was honored as a first team preseason offensive lineman in the Sac-Joaquin Section by
Cal-Hi Sports. Taylor helped block for a Stagg offense that amassed close to 4,000 yards and scored over 60 touchdowns. On defense, he totaled 20 tackles, had one sack and one blocked field goal on the season. As a junior in 2013, Taylor was a first team All-Tri City Athletic League selection as an offensive lineman.
Personal: Criminal justice major. Born 4/9/97 in Stockton, Calif. Parents are Shawn and Wendi Taylor.
LB, 6-0, 205, Sr., Cheney, Wash.
2019: Redshirted after transferring from Idaho. He was defensive scout team player of the week once. He had 10 tackles in three spring scrimmages for EWU, including a sack.
Idaho: While playing from 2016-18 for the Vandals, Graham had 133 tackles at Idaho, including 13 for a loss. He had 2 1/2 sacks, an interception, two passes broken up and a forced fumble in 27 career games. As a junior in 2018 he had 65 tackles, including 12 in 38-14 loss at EWU at Roos Field on Oct. 27, 2018. He had 28 tackles as a sophomore and 40 as a true freshman in 2016.
HS: Graduated in 2016 from Cheney HS. He played in the 2A/1A/2B/1B Earl Barden All-State football game in June of 2016 and had a pair of interceptions. He also scored a touchdown on a 2-yard run to help the East win 25-0. He played on both sides of the ball while at Cheney, and in his career had 109 total tackles and four interceptions, plus rushed for 1,484 yards and 25 touchdowns. Was also a team captain and also played basketball and baseball at Cheney. Former Eagle defensive end
Keenan Williams, a first team All-Big Sky Conference selection as a senior in 2018, graduated from Cheney in 2015.
Nate Hagreen, who redshirted at Eastern in 2019, also attended CHS and graduated in 2019.
Personal: Marketing major with a 3.53 grade point average through spring quarter 2020. Born 9/24/97. Will turn 23 two days before Eastern plays Southern Utah. His parents are John and Becky Graham. John spent eight years as defensive coordinator at EWU under head coach Beau Baldwin and 12 years at his alma mater, Central Washington. He spent a short time as Idaho's linebackers coach when Ty was on the roster there. Ty's older brother, Andrew, played football at Montana Tech and Central Washington. His grandfather, Dan Graham, spent 11 years as head coach at nearby Reardan (Wash.) High School.
