Can Eastern Washington football thrive with a defensive approach?

After back-to-back losing seasons, the Eastern Washington football team returns to practice on Tuesday, four weeks and two days ahead of its season opener.

The Eagles will hold 22 practices leading up to their first game, which comes on a Thursday this year, on August 29 at home against Monmouth. The Hawks, picked 10th of the Colonial Athletic Association’s 16 teams in the preseason poll, have never played the Eagles.

There’s plenty for the Eagles to sort out this month, a stretch that will include scrimmages at Roos Field on Aug. 18 and 21. They return eight starters on offense and on defense, but that’s a mixed bag of sorts: While Eastern ranked among the top four Big Sky offenses last season, its defense was easily among the nation’s worst.

That’s partly why the Eagles promoted linebackers coach Eric Sanders to defensive coordinator, whom head coach Aaron Best has charged with improving the defense to at least a mid-range unit.

That would go a long way toward improving the team’s record and getting the Eagles back to the playoffs for the first time since 2021.

That’s just one of three big storylines heading into preseason practices.

1. Who thrives under a new defensive approach?

No Big Sky team gave up more yards per play last year than the Eagles did (6.7), and that included a league-high 5.9 yards per carry. Six times the Eagles allowed more than 270 rushing yards.

Sanders said in the spring he is intent on bringing back an attacking style to the defense, and so it will be interesting to see this month which players thrive under that system.

Ben Allen and Jaren Banks, their leading tacklers last year, exhausted their eligibility, and the Eagles did not recruit any transfers at linebacker. So, that leaves room for players like senior Trevor Thurman, senior Conner O’Farrell, redshirt junior Ahmani Williams, redshirt sophomore Myles Mayovsky and redshirt freshman Samarai Anderson to step in alongside grad student Adam Cohen (51 tackles) and senior Derek Tommasini (34 tackles).

Along the defensive line – and across the defense – the Eagles return no one who had more than three sacks last season, and as a group they want to improve on their 2023 team total of 21 sacks. Some younger names to watch in this group include a pair of 6-foot-5 defensive ends: sophomore Tylin Jackson and redshirt freshman Anthony James II, an offseason transfer from Washington.

The secondary features a trio of returning starters in redshirt junior safeties Kentrell Williams Jr. and Armani Orange as well as senior nickelback Cage Schenck. But they also have the most experienced player on the roster in seventh-year cornerback Darrien Sampson, who missed much of the last two years with injuries, and they have a bevy of sophomores and redshirt freshmen to jockey for playing time and depth.

2. Who will emerge to help carry the load at running back?

In the back half of last season, the Eagles relied heavily on Tuna Altahir, who led them with 534 rushing yards on 125 carries. They also had Justice Jackson (76 carries for 472 yards in nine games), but he transferred to Idaho State in the offseason. Aside from those two, no true running back carried more than 13 times.

So, the question will be whether the Eagles utilize redshirt junior quarterback Jared Taylor (52 carries) and senior quarterback Michael Wortham (43) even more as runners, or whether someone like redshirt junior Malik Dotson, who was limited by injury to four games last year, or perhaps even true freshman Kevin Allen III steps in alongside the redshirt junior Altahir.

Last year the Eagles still ranked seventh among Big Sky teams in yards-per-carry running the ball (4.1), but in their best years the Eagles have been able to muster more than that.

3. Who is going to punt?

In April’s spring game, sophomores Brady Peterson and Brandon Smith were given equal opportunities, and there’s been no indication that either has the definitive edge leading into this season.

The Eagles also added junior transfer Landon Ogles, who punted and kicked for two years at Palomar College in California before transferring to Fresno State last year, where he didn’t appear in any games.

Those three are vying to replace Nick Kokich, the Eagles’ primary punter each of the last five seasons.

Redshirt sophomore kicker Soren McKee is back to be the team’s primary field-goal specialist, while redshirt junior Jackson Cleaver is also back as the kickoff specialist. McKee was 11 of 17 kicking field goals last year; Cleaver was 3-for-3, including the team long of 44 yards.