* * * Honors Candidate * * *
Career: Enters his senior season with the fourth-most starts among offensive players with 13.
2015: Listed as the starter at left offensive guard on the preseason depth chart. Was a second team selection on the STATS preseason FCS All-America team.
2014: He earned second team All-America honors from Beyond Sports Network and was a first team All-Big Sky Conference selection. He also earned third team all-league honors from College Sports Madness. Neary started 13 of EWU’s 14 games in the 2014 season, missing the FCS Playoff game against Montana (2/6/14) with a knee injury. He made the first start of his career in EWU’s season opener on ESPN against Sam Houston State (8/23/14). Neary and left tackle Clay DeBord were the team’s co-offensive players of the week after helping EWU rush for 224 yards and finish with 582 total yards in a 52-51 win at Montana State (9/20/14). He helped lead Eastern’s offense to new heights in 2014, especially on the scoreboard. For the first time in school history, Eastern scored at least 50 points in six games, including outings of 56, 54, 52, 52, 56 and 56. Only once previously in school history – 105 previous years – has EWU scored 50 or more three times. The Eagles were first in FCS in scoring offense (44.1 per game) and first downs (361 total), second in passing efficiency (163.52), third in total offense (513.4) and second in passing offense (328.2). Eastern converted 48.0 percent of the time on third down (97-of-202) to rank eighth, down from a high of second earlier in the year. Eastern’s red zone offense was second in FCS, scoring 94.9 percent of the time. In the offseason, he and 23 other players and staff helped raise $3,100 for Special Olympics Washington as part of the “Polar Plunge” in nearby Liberty Lake on Feb. 22, 2014. The group’s efforts were led by Neary, the secretary of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) at EWU.
2013: Played in all 15 games and shared the right offensive guard position with starter Brandon Murphy. He helped Eastern set Big Sky and school records with 592 points, 83 touchdowns and 8,002 yards of offense in the 2013 season. As a team, EWU led FCS in passing efficiency (school record 182.6), and was fourth in total offense (533.5 per game), fourth in passing (349.8), 41st in rushing (183.7) and seventh in scoring (39.5). Eastern’s offensive line was selected as the FCS Offensive Line of the Week by Beyond Sports Network twice during the season. The first time came when EWU had 625 yards of offense in a 49-46 upset of 25th-ranked Oregon State (8/31/13) to open the season. The second time came in a 55-34 win at Idaho State (11/2/13) when the Eagles finished with a school record 743 yards of offense.
2012: He helped EWU rank seventh in the FCS in passing yards per game (318.9), 14th overall in total offense (442.0) and 17th in scoring (33.7). He also played occasionally as a fullback.
2011: Redshirted. Was selected as the team’s offensive scout team player of the week once.
HS: Graduated from Hanford HS in 2011. He missed most of his senior season in 2010 with a broken foot. As a junior, he was a second team selection as both an offensive and defensive lineman on the All-3A/4A Big Nine Cascade Division Football Team. Neary was a three sport athlete, having also participated in basketball and track and field. He averaged 13.0 points a game as a senior to earn first team all-league honors.
Personal: Social studies education major. Born 11/15/92 in Richland, Wash. Will turn 23 the day after EWU plays at Montana. His parents are Ron and LeeAnn Neary.
