Eastern Washington’s Red-White spring game will take on new look Friday

Eastern Washington will play its annual Red-White Game on Friday, but the banter and bragging for the spring football contest was in full force Wednesday.

“There’s trash talk going on already,” junior linebacker Ahmani Williams said. “There’s been trash talk going on since the winter.”

This year’s intrasquad scrimmage, the culmination of a month of practices, will look a bit different than the Red-White games of years past. With a shortage of available players at some positions, the Eagles are going with an “offense vs. defense” format rather than drafting a Red team and a White team as they have previously.

They also will be playing an evening game at 6 .

But head coach Aaron Best is still looking for some of the same excitement, energy and plays made on both sides of the ball.

“As head coach, you’re right in the middle,” Best said on Wednesday. “It’s a little bit back and forth (between offense and defense). That’s where the best teams are.”

The scrimmage, open to anyone who wants to come to Roos Field in Cheney to watch for free, will run four 12-minute quarters with a 10-minute halftime. The defense will start with a 26-0 lead, and the offense’s task is to “come back” and win.

The game will also be aired locally on SWX and streamed on ESPN+.

Leading that offense will be three quarterbacks, including presumptive starter Kekoa Visperas, a sophomore, followed by junior transfers Michael Wortham and Jared Taylor.

The Eagles’ top three rushers from last year are back this spring, led by sophomore Tuna Altahir, who had 420 yards and three touchdowns last season.

“(We’re looking for) energy from the offensive side of the ball,” Altahir said on Wednesday. “If we play with energy, I feel like we’re unstoppable.”

After Freddie Roberson, the team’s leading receiver a year ago who transferred to Mississippi State , the Eagles return their next three top-producing receivers in juniors Efton Chism III and Nolan Ulm as well as senior Jakobie James.

Along the offensive line, aside from Wyatt Musser, the Eagles are bringing back four returning starters from last fall’s team.

The task before the defense on Friday is to slow down the offense and to show progress going into the fall. Last year’s Eagles’ defense ranked among the worst in the Football Championship Subdivision, though it dealt with injuries , especially up the middle: safety Anthany Smith, tackle Joshua Jerome (who since transferred to Hawaii) and linebacker Williams missed a combined 17 games last season.

Williams said it will be good to see what the defense can do in a scrimmage setting, especially with so many players back with another year of experience.

“It’s super exciting. It’s kind of a culmination of the winter offseason and the spring,” he said. “The linebacker corps has really grown up.”

Some players won’t participate – including some whose reps have been limited to varying degrees this spring – and new players will join the team over the summer, either from transfer or as incoming freshmen. The personnel fans see at the scrimmage will be incomplete compared to the team they will see in August.

But these reps – and the tentative places on the depth chart – do matter, Best said.

“Depth charts are set based on who can play, so with a missed opportunity by some or one might develop an opportunity for another,’ he said. “So seizing those opportunities is huge.”