Eastern Washington wide receivers had their moments, but not enough of them

LUBBOCK, Texas – Eastern Washington fans were probably thinking it midway through the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Texas Tech:

Last year’s receivers would have caught that ball.

The new generation of Eagles wide receivers had to grow up in a hurry Saturday under the glare of scrutiny and the searing heat of the West Texas plains.

And the pain of a 56-10 loss in the season opener.

One of them, Terence Grady, is already a redshirt junior, but that shirt wasn’t burned until last year.

“For the good of the team,” Grady said as Cooper Kupp, Kendrick Bourne and Shaq Hill set more records last year.

Slow out of the gate – he dropped one easy catch and was flagged for an illegal block in the first quarter – Grady made the most of his first game in two years.

By halftime, he had seven catches for 91 yards and a score – the first TD of the Aaron Best era, as it turned out.

With Eastern trailing 21-10 late in the first half, Gubrud found him on the flat, and Grady did the rest, stretching across the goal line for the score.

“I could hear coach Best yelling ‘get downfield, get downfield,’” Grady said as he picked his way through several defenders.

“It was hard to get too excited because of what the score was, but this did feel good after two years,” said Grady, who finished with eight catches for 93 yards. Both were game-highs.

Others tried to fill the void left by Kupp, Bourne and Hill. Nsimba Webster had six catches for 57 yards and Nic Sblendorio four for 30.

True freshman Johnny Edwards IV made on impact on his first play. Early in the second quarter, Gubrud looked deep and threw incomplete, but Tech cornerback Desmon Smith was whistled for a hold and the drive stayed alive.

The problem was consistency. Gubrud (22-for-34, for 207 yards) was off-target on several key throws, and the receivers struggled to make the tough catches Eastern fans have come to take for granted.

“I have to be more accurate and the receivers had to not have so many drops,” Gubrud said as he walked off the field.

Another big factor: Whether by choice or not, Eastern seldom went deep. It didn’t help that Eastern was breaking in a new left tackle in Chris Schlichting, but Gubrud also was well off the mark on his few downfield throws.