Eagles hitting each other hard

Hitting hard is one thing, but tackling better in the 2005 season is what Eastern Washington University head football coach Paul Wulff is concerned with most.

Wulff witnessed a lot of each Friday as his Eagles football team concluded its first week of spring practice with a 61-play scrimmage on the EWU Sports and Recreation Center practice fields.

“We showed good emotion and we tackled well, which is not real common for the very first scrimmage,” Wulff said.

The Eagles defense surrendered a total of just 156 yards, including only 19 on the ground. The rushing total included seven quick-whistle sacks, featuring three by senior defensive lineman Garrett Quinn. The defense also had eight three-and-outs, and allowed just one play from scrimmage of longer than 20 yards.

The big hits were provided by several players, including sophomore safety Gregor Smith out of Lakeside-Nine Mile Falls High, linebacker Joey Cwik from Mead High and returning first-team All-Big Sky safety Brandon Keeler.

“It fires anybody up,” Wulff said of the big hits. “What makes football such a great game are those collisions as long as kids stay healthy. Seeing our guys play more physical from past years is encouraging. We’ve made some great strides in the weight room.”

Smith finished with seven total tackles, a sack and a pass defensed. Other leading tacklers were backups Bryan Jarrett (seven), Muhammad Shamsid-Deen (six) and Pullman’s Marcus Walker (six). Sacks were also recorded by Cwik, Harrison Nikolao and Kose Kuaea.

“Usually in the first scrimmage the defense is a little bit ahead of the offense and I’m glad to see that,” Wulff said. “That should be the case right now. When we see the film we’ll see a lot of good things and we’ll see some poor things. It’s a good thing we don’t have a game next week because we’re not a very good football team right now.”

All-America quarterback Erik Meyer completed 7 of 13 passes for 87 yards, and backup Chris Peerboom completed 4 of 7 for 31 yards.