EWU notebook: Quarterback Kekoa Visperas puts together best start of career

Making the fourth start of his career, redshirt sophomore Kekoa Visperas impressed his coach with his poise and playmaking ability.

But following Eastern Washington’s 40-29 win over Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday at Roos Field in Cheney, the Eagles’ quarterback also pointed out that this offense can still get better.

“I mean, you guys have seen it for years on years,” Visperas said. “Vernon (Adams), Gage (Gubrud), EB (Eric Barriere): Our offense is explosive. … We’ve got to work on it. But that’s how we play. The script’s already written. We’ve just got to do it now.”

Each game this year the Eagles have scored more points, run more plays, gained more yards and possessed the ball for a larger percentage of the game.

Visperas finished with a career-high 349 yards, completing 33 of 47 attempts and throwing two touchdowns. He also had 19 rushing yards and even caught a pass for 4 yards on a throw from backup quarterback Michael Wortham.

EWU junior receivers Efton Chism III and Nolan Ulm both had a career-high nine catches, which went for 103 yards and 89 yards, respectively. Senior Anthony Stell Jr. was Visperas’ top target – he threw to him 12 times – and he caught eight passes for 57 yards.

But there was also an interception that set up a Lions touchdown in the third quarter, a fumbled exchange with a running back and a handful of errant passes intended for Stell as well as redshirt senior tight end Blake Gobel, plays Visperas vowed he would work on eliminating.

EWU coach Aaron Best was pleased with how Visperas ran the team’s up-tempo offense, especially between the 20-yard lines.

“He’s not a game manager; he’s a calculated risk-taker,” Best said of Visperas. “(He) probably (took) some more risks than I would have hoped, but that’s how he’s going to play his best ball.”

Confidence remains high in kicking game

EWU’s Soren McKee made two field goals, from 26 yards in the second quarter and from 39 in the third, and Best praised the redshirt freshman’s unflappable nature.

But Best also said the team needs to shore up its field-goal unit after another kick was blocked Saturday, this time from around the edge. North Dakota State also blocked a field goal in the Eagles’ season opener.

“We’ve got to look at some personnel stuff and see if we can’t make it more efficient,” Best said. “Because we do trust Soren. We do trust the kick game.”

McKee has made 9 of 9 point-after-touchdown attempts and 3 of 5 field goals this year, the two misses coming on those blocks.

The Eagles also had two blocking penalties Saturday that nullified returns in the kicking game.

Wortham, the team’s backup quarterback who has also run the ball and returned kickoffs, returned a punt for the first time this season against the Lions, officially bringing back one for 6 yards. Chism also returned two for 9 yards. The Eagles have surpassed their total punt yardage from 2022, when they had 5 such yards.

Eagles rotate players along offensive line

As they have earlier this year, the Eagles rotated some of their offensive lineman at times in the hopes of giving the offense a spark and also giving players spells, Best said.

Senior Matthew Hewa Baddege took over at left tackle for Wyatt Hansen on a handful of series, which caused a ripple effect down the line rather than simply operating as a straight swap.

“We’ve got to have six to eight guys we can play,” Best said, “and the more position flexibility we have the more we can bounce Wyatt Hansen inside, give (guard) Luke Dahlgren a (break), give (guard) Brenden Rivera a (break). So it’s not just one in and one off. We shuffle the deck a little bit.”

Such personnel changes can also be used to boost the team’s energy, Best said.

“Sometimes you need a spark, and sometimes it’s not a quarterback or receiver or running back. Sometimes it’s an offensive lineman,” said Best, who coached and played offensive line at Eastern before he became head coach. “We’ve probably got seven or eight guys we feel good about. We’ve got to find nine and 10. … We’ve got to feel really good about nine and 10 because chances are we’re probably going to lean on (them) at some point in the season.”