‘He lets his play do the talking’: Cornerback Cage Schenck key piece of Eastern Washington’s experienced defensive backfield

Under sunny, smoke-free skies Tuesday in Cheney, Aaron Best took time at the end of practice to address one key difference he wants to see in this year’s Eastern Washington football team: its intentional focus not so much on winning practice but on getting better.

Asked about it shortly after, the Eagles head coach said such focus wasn’t driven by the team’s 7-15 record over the past two years. Better results, he said, will come.

“We’ve got to do a better job of not trying to win the drill, or win the moment, or win the practice, or win the week, when all we’re trying to do is try to work on fundamentals and basics now,” Best said. “… We can’t get so consumed. The highs and lows are what get you defeated.”

Best also connected that message to his choice to double the team’s usual number of captains from four to eight, expanding the group to include more players with four, five, six and even seven years’ experience in the program.

“There’s a litany of guys in that group who said things have to be different,” Best said.

One of them, perhaps the one of the eight who says it the least, but teammates say cares about it more than most, is Cage Schenck.

“I would describe Cage as a quiet, confident guy. He lets his play do the talking,” Best said of the senior nickelback. “In this leadership role we’re trying to thrust him into now, being the guy in the front seat instead of the back seat.”

It also came along with a jersey change, from No. 29 to No. 1, one of the coveted single-digit numbers that Eagles usually give out as a badge of leadership. Half of Eastern’s captains wear such a jersey.

“You’ve got Cage in (No.) 1, so that’s sick,” said senior wide receiver and captain Efton Chism III, who switched to No. 7 before last season. “I love that guy. I think he’s going to have a great season.”

By his own admission a quiet leader, Schenck has been a steady presence on the defense since taking over the nickelback role two seasons ago. Since the start of the abbreviated 2020 season, Schenck has played in 41 games. Last year, he picked off two passes and scored his first collegiate touchdown. He’s also a key special teams player.

“He flies around,” redshirt junior safety Kentrell Williams Jr. said, “and I love flying around with him.”

Schenck was again on the first-team defense during drills Tuesday – the first day of preseason practices for the Eagles – playing a crucial hybrid role as a defensive back who plays closer to the linebackers than the cornerbacks in many formations.

“I like that I can see things develop fast and I can hit things at full speed,” Schenck said of playing nickel. “At that position, you can really play downhill and 100%.”

That’s the sort of defense coaches are preaching as they try to get back toward the middle of the Big Sky statistically instead of being the liability they’ve been the past two seasons.

A year ago, the Eagles averaged the third-most points in the Big Sky but also allowed the third most. Five of their seven losses last year came in games in which the Eagles scored at least 30 points.

“We’ve got to stop the run, that’s the biggest thing,” Schenck said. “We need to play fast, play aggressive, play fearless.”

That’s been a consistent message from first-year defensive coordinator Eric Sanders since spring. It has been echoed at various times by Schenck’s fellow defensive captains Brock Harrison, Jacob Newsom and Darrien Sampson (the other captains are Chism, offensive lineman Luke Dahlgren, receiver Nolan Ulm and tight end Austin York).

The Eagles don’t particularly lack game snaps, either, with eight returning starters on defense and half a dozen more with significant playing time.

The Eagles’ secondary is particularly experienced. The safety Williams , a presumptive starter, has played in 18 games. Armani Orange, another redshirt safety, has played in just as many games as Williams and picked off two passes last year.

At cornerback, seventh-year senior Sampson is looking to play a full season for the third time in his career. Redshirt junior DaJean Wells has played in 28 career games and is in line to start opposite Sampson.

Second-year players in Derek Ganter Jr., Jonathan Landry, Zion Jones and JoJo Maxey-Johnson form an intriguing quartet that will provide depth in the secondary. Ganter may start at safety; he ran with the first team during drills Tuesday.

“We’ve got young guys, and we’ve got talented older guys,” Schenck said. “We’ve got a comfortable group ready to play hard and play fast.”

Now they have just more than four weeks to ensure that mixture of talent and experience is game-ready when the Eagles kick off at home Aug. 29 against Monmouth (New Jersey).

“We have to be better, we have to be different than what we’ve been,” Best said. “The results aren’t what they need to be and what we expect to be.

“We have enough players. We have enough good coaching. We just have to make sure we stay healthy and our mind is in a good spot. Not winning today, but getting better today, to win in the future.”