CHENEY, Wash. – Under the hot July Cheney sun, the Eastern Washington football team returned to the practice fields, starting fall camp with a defensive bang.
“We’re going to define ourselves what good to great is to us,” head coach Aaron Best said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve been around it. I’ve watched it through coaches, through players, you know, through years and through decades. We gotta define ourselves. There’s no definition for us.”
“We had a lot of young, young guys last year,” senior and preseason All-Big Sky safety Jaylon Jenkins said. “Guys that are growing, so like those guys, those come in that, like I said, like Marcus Nixon and Bryce Smith, Ambrose Marsh, those guys are becoming leaders on the team and more mature.”
The Eags defense had an impressive debut, featuring three endzone interceptions.
“It’s confidence because, like, you know those guys are going to prepare,” Jenkins said. “They’re going to prepare for the game. They’re going to be ready. You know you don’t have to get on them and be like, ‘oh, you got to watch some film today’.”
The offense wasn’t too shabby either. Quarterback Nate Bell emerged as the top signal-caller option after a four-player race a year ago.
“I just feel like we’re a more mature group,” Bell said. “Personally, I feel like especially on the offensive side, we were kind of young last year. We bring a lot of guys back who have started, you know, have had those snaps. So there’s really no excuse now for us. Like we’re ready to play.”
Bell, a senior closing his Eastern career, welcomes his younger brother Jaxon Bell, the freshman running back affectionately known as ‘Baby Bell’.
“I just feel like it’s kind of more like being back home,” Bell said. “I feel like it’s more of a comfortability thing for me, just like having him out here. I have an older brother, too, so we’re always together. We’re always playing sports. So now he’s kind of out here. He’s doing his thing. Obviously he’s a great player, so I’m excited to see what he does. But it’s just a very comfortable thing for him.”
This new-look Eags squad is plenty eager to make an improved run on a losing season, with plenty of work ahead.
“We got to be coachable,” Best said. “We got to do the coaching, right, and the right amount of coaching, but we got to be coachable too. And let them do their thing, put their own sprinkle on it. So, it’s too early to tell when we’re one practice in.”
Full pads come on Friday, and three weeks later, fall camp wraps, and we’re already onto the regular season.
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