With a week’s worth of practices in the books this summer for the Eastern Washington football team, head coach Aaron Best has seen enough to declare that he wants to hear more out of one particular group: the offensive linemen.
It’s a group Best, a former player and position coach, knows and appreciates.
But so far, he’s not heard much out of a group with 10 new members since the end of the 2024 season.
“Some of these offensive linemen, we never hear them talk,” Best said after Tuesday’s practice in Cheney. “Some of the best guys exude confidence verbally. You like that stuff.”
Then Best shifted into a metaphor.
“They’re (like) the guys at school dances who are on the walls,” he said. “We’re trying to get them off the walls, into the dance party and actually taking part.”
Heading into this season, which for Eastern begins at No. 5 Incarnate Word on Aug. 30, the Eagles are looking to replace five starters along the offensive line.
It seems unlikely any of the six freshmen in camp will see significant snaps. But it is still going to be a couple of weeks before the Eagles determine with certainty which guys up front will play, Best said.
“It might be an eight- or nine-man rotation,” he said. “We’re jumbling a lot of guys together. Some of the nonverbals aren’t heard as much as they should, but we’ll get more reps and get better at it.”
Grad senior running back Malik Dotson has taken to giving the new players nicknames so he can distinguish them better.
Freshman Nick Savage, for example, got the moniker “21” from Dotson as an allusion to rap artist 21 Savage.
“I think with reps comes confidence,” Dotson said.
The Eagles’ 11 returners at the position include redshirt senior Aidan Corning and redshirt junior Dylan Conner, but after those two the game…
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Publish date : 2025-08-06 02:05:00
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