Complete 2020-21 EWU Football Fact Book

A veteran quarterback is a good place to start, especially in a delayed season impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
 
The Eastern Washington University football team enters the 2020-21 winter/spring football season with high expectations once again, thanks in part to the talents of Eric Barriere.
 
A third team All-American as a junior, Barriere is one of four returning starters on an offensive squad which led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense in 2019. The Eagles also have six returning starters on defense, plus all three of their specialists.
 
"The quarterback is the linchpin of the team," said Eastern head coach Aaron Best of Barriere, who finished fifth in the voting for the 2019 Walter Payton Award and is a perfect 11-0 as a starter at Roos Field. "No matter what you run, the quarterback is the player you really rely on. It is settling to have back such a dynamic quarterback like Eric. This will essentially be his third year as a starter, so we're expecting huge things out of him for sure."
 
A total of 43 returning letterwinners will be on hand when Best finally gets to begin his fourth season at the helm. The breakdown is 20 letterwinners back from the offense, 20 on defense, a kicker, a punter and a long snapper. Eastern lost eight returning players since the summer when the pandemic took its toll on the 2020 schedule, which was going to be Eastern's best home schedule in school history. The adjusted, abbreviated schedule will not count against the eligibility for all student-athletes.
 
Eastern has 14 seniors on its squad, that coming after losing in excess of 20 in each of the past two seasons. Eastern had only 14 seniors in 2017 and 12 in 2016.
 
Three of the returning players include All-Big Sky offensive tackle Tristen Taylor, linebacker Jack Sendelbach and running back Dennis Merritt, who were granted a sixth year by the NCAA to complete four years of eligibility because of seasons lost because of injuries. Also receiving a sixth year was University of Washington transfer Jusstis Warren, who played in just one game in 2019. Conceivably, all four of those players could return in the fall of 2021 as well.
 
Eastern will also have a large group of as many as 15 redshirt freshmen on hand competing for repetitions. Eleven of those players saw action in 2019 as part of the new NCAA rule allowing freshman to play in as many as four games and still redshirt.
 
Cheney native and Idaho transfer Ty Graham also redshirted and will play in 2020-21, as well as previous letter winners Chris Ojoh (linebacker) and Tamarick Pierce (running back). Ojoh and Pierce retained their redshirt status in 2019 by playing in four games apiece in 2019.
 
Eastern enters the 2020-21 season with a total of 20 players returning with 191 games of starting experience, including 10 players on defense with 86 starts and 10 on offense with 105 starts. Best in hoping that more experience up and down the lineup will help the Eagles avoid some of the peaks and valleys they had in the 2019 season – both offensively and defensively.
 
"We needed to learn how to play better team football more consistently, and we lacked that at times," he explained. "There were games where we played the best football I've ever seen in all my years as a part of this football program. But at other times we played some of the worst ball I've ever seen. Luck and the injury bug sometimes gets involved, but you have to be more consistent in league or non-league. You can't get too high and you can't get too low."
 
Entering the 2020-21 season with a 14-game home winning streak, the Eagles will be hosting Northern Arizona, Cal Poly and Idaho during the spring season. In 2019, Eastern was just 1-3 in the non-conference portion of its schedule before going 6-2 in the Big Sky to barely miss a berth in the FCS Playoffs.

Consistency has been a cornerstone of EWU Football, and the Eagles have cemented a 16-year run of winning the league title and/or advancing to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs at least every other year. Eastern has achieved that feat ever since its last back-back-empty seasons in 2002 and 2003.
 
 "It starts with turnovers, then it's third down conversion percentage and red zone," Best explained of the keys to winning consistently. "You have to move the sticks to get to the red zone, and those are the three things we've hammered home these past few years. We have to be better in those three areas than our opponent."
 
In 2018, Eastern secured its 10th Big Sky title and 13th appearance in the FCS Playoffs in what is now 36 years as a member of the FCS (formerly I-AA). Since 2010 when EWU won the NCAA Division I title, the Eagles have won league titles six times (2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018) and advanced to the playoffs all six of those seasons.
 
From 2004 to 2009 Eastern advanced to the playoffs four times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2009), and won the league title twice (2004, 2005). Eastern has three other playoff berths in school history (1985, 1992, 1997) and two other titles (1992, 1997), and has only had two multi-year stretches in which they accomplished neither. Those were both six-year stretches from between 1986-1991 and 1998-2003.
 
The Eagles have been impressive – if not dominant – in the league in the last 13 years (2007-2019), winning 80 percent of their games (83-21) and six titles. In that span, Eastern has had no league finish below 5-3 and five of them have included 7-1 or 8-0 records.

 

OFFENSE . . . Barriere joined by pair of returning starters at wide receiver

 
The four returning starters on offense include Barriere, Taylor and wide receivers Johnny Edwards IV and Andrew Boston. Barriere is 16-7 in 23 games as a starter, and his total is second-best on the team behind Taylor's 40 starts. A total of 10 players return on offense who have started games as Eagles.
 
Eastern closed the 2019 season with the best offense in FCS, finishing at 524.8 yards per game. Eastern also ended the regular season second in scoring (40.6), fifth in passing (317.1) and eighth in turnover margin (+0.92 per game). The Eagles also ranked 19th in rushing at 207.8 yards per game, and were the only team in FCS to rank in the top 24 in total offense, rushing and passing.
 
In EWU's last 16 seasons (2004-2019), EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 13 times, total offense on 12 occasions and scoring seven times. In school history, EWU has won a trio of FCS titles for total offense (2019, 2001, 1997), as well as three passing offense titles (2016, 2015, 2011) and two for scoring offense (2014, 2001).
 
Barriere was second in FCS in total offense with an average of 355.8 yards per game (E.J. Perry of Brown was just ahead of him at 367.8). Barriere was third in passing (309.3, with Northern Arizona's Case Cookus leading the Big Sky and the nation at 342.8) and was 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).
 
Barriere earned third-team All-Big Sky honors for the second-straight season, and then went on to earn third team All-America honors. He will once again be a leading candidate for the Walter Payton Award given to the top player in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. He was fifth in the voting in 2019, and enters his senior campaign with 4,270 yards of total offense in his career to rank third all-time at EWU.
 
"Eric is one of the most electrifying playmakers I have witnessed play in person," said Best. "He made a huge jump in touchdown-to-interception ratio in 2019, which in turn made him that much harder to defend. I expect his senior season to be even better. He is certainly one of the best players in this league and at this level. I can't wait to see what is in store."
 
Barriere 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). Entering 2020-21, his last interception came on his 14th attempt at Sacramento State on Oct. 5, 2019.
 
"He's highly-respected, and, on top of that, he's made a lot of progress," said Best. "He's stayed consistent and really cut down on his turnovers in 2019. That was something he really wanted to do and he did it, and now he has to build on that."
 
Barriere finished with the seventh-most passing yards in school history with 3,712 in 2019, and his 31 touchdown passes rank eighth. 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 (16-7 as a starter, including 11-0 at home). 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 career 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 Eastern's first two games in November of 2019, Barriere had a total of 935 yards of total offense to earn him two-straight ROOT Sports Offensive Player of the Week honors as announced by the Big Sky Conference office. He was honored twice in 2019 and three times in his career.
 
Backing him up in 2020-21 will be junior Gunner Talkington, sophomore Simon Burkett and redshirt freshman Trey Turner. Talkington was the only player of the three to throw a pass in 2019, completing 9-of-26 for 73 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. He's completed 15-of-38 passes for 135 yards and a pair of scores in his career.
 
At receiver, Boston returns for his junior season after earning third team All-Big Sky honors in 2019. He finished the year 79th in FCS in receptions per game (4.5 with a total of 50) and 76th in receiving yards per game (66.4 with a total of 730).
 
A freshman All-America selection in 2018, Boston has 93 receptions for 1,291 yards and 10 touchdowns in 26 career games (19 as a starter). He caught a career-high 10 passes for 147 yards and a pair of touchdowns against Idaho State on Nov. 9, 2019. Earlier in the season, he had six catches for 112 yards and a TD versus Washington in EWU's opener on Aug. 31.
 
 "Andrew is a film junky and he absolutely gives all he has on Saturday," said Best. "He will strive for more in the future and the best version of 'Boss' is yet to come. He followed up a productive freshman year with a solid sophomore campaign."
 
Edwards returns for his senior season with 36 games of experience (12 as a starter), and has career totals of 52 receptions for 823 yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior, he was third on the team with 32 catches for 553 yards (17.3 per reception) and three scores.
 
The most dynamic receiver at the end of the 2019 season turned out to be Talolo Limu-Jones, who will enter his senior season with 35 games of experience (two as a starter). He was 63rd in FCS with seven touchdown catches and his average of 24.04 yards per catch closed the year second behind the 24.49 average of Isaiah Weston of Northern Iowa.
 
Jones has 42 career catches for 841 yards and 11 touchdowns – an average of 20.0 per reception in his career (currently second in school history behind the record of 22.8) and a TD every 3.8 catches. He finished with 24 grabs for 577 yards in 2019, with his per-catch average ranking second in school history behind the record of 25.8)
 
Also returning to the receiver position are sophomores Freddie Roberson and Anthony Stell Jr., a pair of former high school teammates who were impressive as redshirt freshmen in 2019. Roberson closed the year with 14 catches for 220 yards and a score, and Stell had five grabs for 41 yards. Champ Grayson also lettered in 2019 and had one reception in five games played.
 
A pair of redshirt freshmen are Chris Johnson and Jakobie James, and James caught a pass while playing in three games as a true freshman. Also returning is sophomore Michael Taras, with Robert Mason III coming to EWU from Central Washington where he caught 20 passes in two seasons for the Wildcats.
 
All-Big Sky tight end Jayce Gilder graduated, but three other tight ends from 2019 return. Junior Dylan Ingram has 27 games of experience, and has caught four passes for 41 yards and a score in his career. Sophomore Aiden Nellor is also back with 12 games of experience as an Eagle, as well as redshirt freshman Blake Gobel.
 
Gobel played in four games in 2019, making his debut on Oct. 26 versus Montana. He had his first career catch on a 15-yard touchdown on a fake field goal attempt, then started in EWU's 42-41 win over Cal Poly on Nov. 16. The Eagles started in a three tight end formation and turned it into a 25-yard rushing gain on EWU's first offensive play
 
The running back position is void of one of the most productive backs in school history, but still returns senior Tamarick Pierce, who received a redshirt in 2019. Senior running back Antoine Custer Jr. handled the majority of the carries in 2019 and finished 15th in FCS in rushing (102.3), 12th in total rushing yards (1,228) and 11th in rushing touchdowns (16). Custer finished the year with six 100-yard performances – including his last four games – and earned second team All-Big Sky honors.
 
After coming off an injury from the year before, Pierce made his 2019 debut versus Montana and had a team-leading 57 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries (long of 30). He finished with 177 yards in four games played, and retained his redshirt status.
 
Pierce will enter his senior season in 2020-21 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 with 13 catches for 107 yards and another score.
 
Merritt returns after suffering a serious lower leg injury versus Lindenwood on Sept. 7, 2019, and missing the remainder of the season. He has 559 yards and four touchdowns rushing in his career, and another eight catches for 147 yards and a score in 30 games. Merritt had 87 yards (7.2 per rush) in 2019 before he was injured.
 
True freshman Silas Perreiah and redshirt freshman Micah Smith rounded out the running back corp in 2019, with both making their debuts as Eagles versus Lindenwood on Sept. 7. Perreiah played in 10 games and did not redshirt, and had 255 yards rushing, two catches for six yards and scored twice. He had 126 yards and a score versus North Dakota.
 
Eastern received a boost at running back with the return of sophomore Isaiah Lewis in 2020-21. He played in two games early in the 2019 season and had 64 yards and a touchdown rushing versus Lindenwood, but shortly after that left the team. As a redshirt freshman in 2018, he played in three games and had 52 yards, including 47 versus Southern Utah.
 
Besides true freshmen, Eastern's other running back in 2019 is Washington transfer Jamyn Patu. Although he didn't carry the ball for the Huskies, in his final two seasons at O'Dea High School in Seattle, Wash., he rushed for 3,777 yards and 42 touchdowns on 430 carries, averaging 155.8 per game and 8.8 per rush. As a senior in 2017, he was the Associated Press Washington Player of the Year for all classifications, and was the Seattle Times Player of the Year for all classifications.
 
Barriere also provides a run option for the Eagles, finishing the 2019 season with 558 yards, eight touchdowns and 4.7 per carry. He enters his senior season with 1,219 rushing yards and 17 scores in 31 games. Barriere is just 13 yards behind the rushing record for a quarterback of 1,232 yards set by Vernon Adams Jr. (2012-14).
 
The biggest priority for EWU in 2020-21 is replacing four starters on the offensive line, a situation which was helped considerably with the return of Taylor. He was a second team All-Big Sky selection in 2019 after earning honorable mention in both 2016 and 2017. He's started all 40 games he's played as an Eagle, but the four starters lost totaled 193 games played and 141 starts in their careers.
 
 "Tristan is a tough-minded and gritty player," said Best. "He had a brilliant bounce-back season coming off an injury in 2018. He's a physical player who still has room to grow and lead as a player, and with time to accomplish those tasks."
 
Senior Conner Crist returns with 22 career games of experience and two starts under his belt, including seven games and both starts in 2019. Junior Wyatt Musser has 12 games worth of experience in his career, and both of those players saw significant reps at guard in 2019. Junior Matt Shook also has 10 games of experience but was injured in 2019 and did not play.
 
Sophomores Brad Godwin and Charlie Baumann are Eastern's other returning letterwinners on the offensive line and played in nine and five games, respectively, as redshirt freshmen in 2019. Non-lettering squad members Brad Prestegord, Aaron Williams and Andrei Leonardi are back. They are joined by five redshirt freshmen – Luke Dahlgren, Isaac Flemmer, Nate Hagreen, Matthew Hewa Baddege and Cameron Lynch. Flemmer and Hewa-Baddege saw action as true freshmen in 2019.
 
"We lost some offensive linemen who started a lot and played a lot of football in the past few years," said Best. "It's always exciting, refreshing and difficult to put new players in those positions that have never really played college football. We are putting them in an impactful game setting and will be forced to play 75, 80 snaps – they haven't done that in their careers thus far."
 
Eastern had 2,450 yards of offense in the last four games of the season (612.5 per game) to take over the national lead in total offense and maintain it. Eastern closed the year with 559 yards against Portland State on Nov. 23 and had 496 one game earlier at Cal Poly on Nov. 16. Prior to that, the Eagles had 706 versus Northern Arizona on Nov. 2 to rank fifth in school history, and 689 at Idaho State on Nov. 9 to rank seventh all-time. Eastern also had a school-record 769 in 2019 versus Lindenwood, and 637 against Northern Colorado on Oct. 12 to rank as the 19th most in EWU history.
 
The four linemen honored on the All-Big Sky team in 2019 combined to start 171 games, with 194 total games of experience. Offensive tackle Chris Schlichting (first team) started all 52 he played, and Taylor (second team) has started all 40 games he has played in his career. Center Spencer Blackburn (first team) started the last 49 of his 51-game career, and Kaleb Levao (third team) started 30 of the 51 he played. The fourth letterwinner lost from 2019 was Will Gram, who finished his career with 39 games worth of experience and 10 starts (all in 2019).
 
"Tristen becomes our bell cow up front," added Best. "He's played a lot of football and we're excited about his ability to play multiple positions. He's capable of playing all three positions, so we'll rely on him heavily. Matt Shook is coming off an injury from the 2018 season and early in the fall of 2019, and we're excited to get him back. He's played enough ball for us in the past to get a great evaluation on him. Wyatt Musser played a bit in 2019 and rotated in with Will Gram, and this season we'll lean on him for more reps than he had that year. There is some experience, but we want to build on that experience and continue to build competitive depth up front."
 
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 on Nov. 16 as Barriere rushed for a career-high 164 and a score and Custer finished with 107 and four touchdowns on just nine carries.
 
 
 

DEFENSE . . . All three areas have increased experience in 2020-21

 
The six starters returning on defense feature a quartet in the secondary, plus the group is led by Sendelbach, who served as one of EWU's co-captains in the 2019 season and will serve again in 2020-21. The other starters back include safety Calin Criner, rover Kedrick Johnson, end Mitchell Johnson and cornerbacks Tre Weed and Darreon Moore.
 
Having a more experienced defense should help the Eagles make continued improvement in all facets on that side of the ball. A total of 10 players who have started previously return, led by the 16 starts of Criner and 15 by Sendelbach. Those 10 players have combined for a total of 86 starts.
 
Criner returns for his senior season with seven interceptions, 183 tackles, 10 passes broken up, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery in his 38-game career (16 as a starter). In 12 games in 2019, Criner was third on the team with 85 tackles on the season, and also had three passes broken up and his four picks. He had a career-high 16 tackles at Montana on Oct. 26 for the fourth performance of his career with at least 10.
 
The 2016 graduate of Rocky Mountain High School in Boise, Idaho, had his second two-interception game of his career and had eight tackles in EWU's 48-5 victory over Idaho State on Nov. 9 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
 
That game turned out to be the high point of the season for the Eagle defense. It was the first time in 37 games that EWU hadn't allowed a touchdown since beating Richmond 38-0 in the FCS Playoffs in 2016. It had been 40 Big Sky Conference games since the Eagles held a league opponent out of the end zone, dating back to a 54-3 win over North Dakota in 2014. Eastern had a 3-0 advantage in turnovers forced, and held ISU to 4-of-17 on third down and 0-of-4 on fourth.
 
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 on Sept. 28. He was rewarded by earning honorable mention for STATS National Defensive Player of the Week honors. Eastern allowed a season-low 20 points (at the time) and 369 total yards, and the EWU offense scored 21 of its 35 points as a result of the turnovers the Eagles forced.
 
Criner has deep collegiate football roots. His father is a former player at Boise State (1990 graduate) and most recently an assistant coach with the Seattle Dragons of the XFL, which suspended operations and filed for bankruptcy due to the Covid-19 virus. The long-time college coach previously had tenures at Idaho, Portland State, Utah State, Minnesota, Eastern Michigan, Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee State, Lamar, and Colorado State Pueblo, as well as with the Las Vegas Outlaws in a previous stint in the XFL. Calin is the grandson of former Boise State University head football coach Jim Criner (1976-82), who guided the Broncos to the 1980 NCAA Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) title. He was 59-21-1 overall and 34-12 in the Big Sky at BSU, and was later head coach at Iowa State (1983-86).
 
Starting rover Kedrick Johnson is back for his senior season, and has played in 30 total games in his career (seven as a starter). He has 98 tackles, a pair of sacks and four passes broken up in his career after a 2019 campaign which saw him come on strong to finish with 50 tackles and a pair of PBUs.
 
Eastern's other two returning starters in the secondary are at cornerback where junior Moore and sophomore Weed return. Weed earned Freshman All-America accolades after a season in which he had 44 tackles, two interceptions and seven passes broken up as an 11-game starter. Moore started seven games, and finished the season with 29 tackles and three passes broken up, giving him 40 tackles in his 24-game career.
 
Junior Ira Branch and sophomore Darrien Sampson each started three games in 2019, with Sampson closing the year with 17 tackles and a pair of PBUs, while Branch closed with 14 stops and broke up four passes.
 
"The cornerback position was very young and green in 2019," said Best. "We lost four seniors after the 2018 campaign, so all the guys who saw action in 2019 really hadn't played before. It was hard to watch early and we weren't as good as we knew we would be. But we had guys step-up, including Tre Weed who earned freshman All-America honors after being moved from safety to corner. We're excited to see that group as a whole go from year one to year two, and see how much progress they've made. We want to see what kind of production and competition they've gained."
 
Other returning letterwinners in the secondary include senior Tamir Hill, junior Keshaun King, junior Anthany Smith, junior Dean Sise and sophomore Demetrius Crosby Jr.  
 
Hill had three tackles in 2019, and has 11 in 17 games of experience. King had six tackles as a sophomore and seven in his 14-game career, and Smith has 27 career tackles in 18 games. Smith played in just three games in 2019 before being lost for the season with an injury. Sise had four tackles in five games played, and Crosby had a pair in five games.
 
The secondary also includes Arizona State transfer Ely Doyle, as well as redshirt freshman Marlon Jones Jr. Doyle played in one game while at ASU, and is a former teammate at Bishop Alemany High School in California with Ojoh.
 
Sendelbach and Ojoh headline a linebacker corp that includes five returning letterwinners. Sendelbach was second on the team with 94 tackles with three sacks as an 11-game starter in 2019. He enters the 2020-21 season as a sixth-year senior with 36 games of experience (15 starts) and 159 tackles, five sacks, four fumble recoveries and three fumbles forced.
 
Ojoh began the year as a starter in the first three games but was injured, and played in just one game after that to retain his redshirt status. He had 27 tackles in four games, giving him 150 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, an interception and three passes broken up in his 30-game career (11 as a starter). He has four performances in his career with at least 10 tackles, and Sendelbach has eight.
 
Also back at linebacker are a pair of special teams standouts in junior Cale Lindsay and sophomore Emmanuel Osuoha. Lindsay had 20 tackles in 2019, giving him 28 in 17 games as an Eagle. Osuoha had seven stops during his freshman season.
 
A senior, Graham redshirted in 2019 after transferring from Idaho, and brings 27 games of experience to EWU. The local product of Cheney High School had 133 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks, an interception, two passes broken up and a forced fumble in three seasons for the Vandals. As a junior in 2018 he had 65 tackles, including 12 in a 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, and his father, John, is EWU's former defensive coordinator.
 
Rounding out the linebacker corp is redshirt freshman Steven Flowers, who had a tackle while playing three games as a true freshman in 2019.
 
The defensive line returns one starter -- junior defensive end Mitchell Johnson. He burst on the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2018 and earned second team All-Big Sky honors and freshman All-America accolades. He followed that with 41 tackles with 1 1/2 sacks and an interception in 2019, giving him 72 tackles, six sacks, three interceptions, three passes broken up, three fumble recoveries and a pair of forced fumbles in his 27-game career (11 as a starter).
 
Four other returning lettermen are back for a defensive line which routinely rotates 9-12 players a game. Junior Caleb Davis has been productive in his first two years in the program with 47 tackles and a pair of sacks in 23 games, including 21 stops and one sack as a sophomore. Sophomore Joshua Jerome has played in just 15 career games, but already has 41 career tackles with 1 1/2 sacks, with 26 of his tackles and all of his sacks coming in 2019.
 
Junior Debore'ae McClain rounds out the returning letterwinners. McClain had 11 tackles in 2019, giving him 21 in 27 career games.
 
Also back on the defensive line is Warren, who transferred to EWU in 2019 from the University of Washington. He played in EWU's opener against his alma mater in 2019, but missed the rest of the season. In his 31-game career as a Husky, he had nine tackles, 1 1/2 sacks, a forced fumble and caught a 2-yard touchdown pass.
 
Five redshirt freshmen are also on the roster – Warren Hardin, Brock Harrison, Jacob Newsom, Soli Paleso'o and Jacobe Lee. All but Lee played as true freshmen in 2019, with that quartet combining for eight games played. Paleso'o had two tackles in two games played, and Harrison also had a pair in four games worth of action.
 
 
 
 
 

SPECIAL TEAMS . . . Harrison enters sophomore season a perfect 12-of-12 in his career

 
A year after having new players at each position, this season Eastern has some semblance of experience with sophomore kicker Seth Harrison, sophomore punter Nick Kokich and sophomore long snapper Cody Clements. Harrison, thanks to a perfect 12-of-12 performance kicking field goals, received honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors and also earned Freshman All-America accolades.
 
Harrison ended his debut season as the FCS leader in field goal percentage, and was the only kicker in FCS with at least one field goal attempt per game to make all of his field goals in 2019. He was 30th in field goals with an average of 1.09 per game).
 
Harrison was also 50-of-53 on extra points in 2019, having a string of 22-straight makes from Oct. 5 until missing his first attempt at Cal Poly on Nov. 16. He also averaged 52.9 yards on 78 kickoffs (six touchbacks) after filling in at kicker for returner Andre Slyter, who is no longer in the program.
 
Harrison and Slyter replaced EWU career and single season kick scoring leader Roldan Alcobendas, who was a perfect 16-of-16 kicking field goals in 2018 to win the Fred Mitchell Award as the top placekicker in the nation (all levels but FBS). Thus, EWU is 28-of-30 in the last two seasons, with the lone misses by Slyter early in the 2019 season.
 
 "Seth started the season as a backup and ended as the guy at our kicker position," said Best. "He followed our perfect 2018 season kicking field goals with one of his own. We're excited to see him continue to grow and compete for more."
 
Twice Harrison kicked four field goals in a single game, including Oct. 12 against Northern Colorado when he made field goals of 32, 21, 21 and 23 yards. He also made all six of his extra points to finish with 18 points in Eastern's 54-21 romp. In a 48-5 victory over Idaho State on Nov. 9, he had makes of 40, 36, 21 and 36, and his 40-yarder was a career long. In both of those games, all of his field goals came in the first half as he came one field goal shy of the school record of five.
 
As a true freshman, Kokich made his season debut four games into the season and held the punting position the rest of the year. He averaged 39.0 yards in 41 punts in 2019, with 10 downed inside the opponent 20-yard line and a long of 59 to equal the 38th longest in EWU history.
 
Eastern's kickoff return team suffered a jolt in 2019 when senior Dre'Sonte Dorton was injured and lost for the year at mid-season. However, that provided opportunities for other players who could potentially step into future full-time return roles.
 
Stell ended up returning four kickoffs for a 20.0 average, and Marlon Jones Jr. had a pair for 62 yards and a long of 40 during limited action as a true freshman. Weed returned three for 50 yards, and Limu-Jones ended the year with two for 44 yards in EWU's season finale. One game earlier, Grayson returned two for 39 yards. Earlier in the season, Edwards returned three for 41 yards and Smith had a pair for 29.
 
Eastern used several players as punt returners in 2019, including Criner, Weed and Sampson. Weed has the best return of the year with a 13-yarder to end the season versus Portland State.
 
 
 

SCHEDULE . . . Winter/spring schedule includes home games on March 6, March 27 and April 10

 
After changes necessitated by four Big Sky Conference teams bowing out of the upcoming six-game winter/spring football season, the Eastern Washington University football team will play at home and away on the same dates from Feb. 27 through April 10 despite the change of several opponents.
 
Eastern will host Northern Arizona on March 6, Cal Poly on March 27 and Idaho on April 10. Road games will be at Idaho on Feb. 27, Idaho State on March 13 and UC Davis on April 3.
 
At this time, no spectators will be permitted to attend EWU home football games due to institutional, regional, and state guidelines in regards to the Covid-19 pandemic. But if that changes, season ticket holders and suite holders will be contacted with options for purchasing tickets to the abbreviated campaign.
 
The original winter/spring schedule was released on Nov. 4, and Sacramento State was the only team to announce then that the Hornets would skip the spring season and prepare for the fall 2021 campaign. But since Jan. 15, Montana, Montana State, Portland State and Northern Colorado have announced they were playing a reduced schedule, leaving the league with eight teams to play the full six games.
 
Essentially, league administrators came up with a schedule that replaced EWU's home game with the Grizzlies with the NAU contest, and EWU road games versus PSU and MSU with games at Idaho State and Idaho.
 
Open dates in the schedule are set for March 20 and April 17 in case games need to be re-scheduled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 16-team NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs are scheduled to begin April 24 and culminate with the championship game on May 16. Teams are required to play four games to qualify.
 
The game with Cal Poly will mark the return to EWU of new Mustang head coach Beau Baldwin, who spent 13 previous seasons as a coach at EWU. He was an assistant from 2003-06, and head coach from 2008-16.
 
Eastern was 3-1 in the 2019 season versus opponents on this spring's schedule, including a league-opening 35-27 loss at Idaho on Sept. 21, 2019. Later, on consecutive weeks, Eastern defeated NAU (66-38), ISU (48-5) and Cal Poly (42-41). The Eagles haven't played UC Davis since a 34-29 victory in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in 2018, giving EWU a perfect 8-0 mark all-time against the Aggies.
 
On Aug. 7 in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Big Sky Conference announced that all league schools – including Eastern – would move their 2020 schedule to winter/spring 2021.  The NCAA had previously announced that the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs would not have its playoffs in the fall, and eventually announced their move to 2021.
 
The 2020 schedule was going to be Eastern's best in school history, featuring home games versus Montana, Montana State, Idaho and two-time defending Big Sky Conference champion Weber State. The Eagles were scheduled to open Big Sky Conference play at Southern Utah on Sept. 26, followed by its conference home opener versus Montana on Oct. 3. The schedule also included non-conference home games versus Western Illinois and Northern Arizona, and a trip to play at Florida.