Eastern Washington 2011 Recruiting

The champs look to compete with the new look Montana Grizzlies by returning 15 starters from last year's team. They return Bo Levi Mitchell at QB, Brandon Kaufman at WR, but take two big losses with J.J. Sheritt, the FCS Defense Player of the Year LB, graduating and the nations leading rusher, Taiwan Jones declaring for the draft early. With these needs in mind the Eagles took to the recruiting trail with a special emphasis on lineman.

The Lineman were found. Six offensive lineman and one defensive lineman. This group includes David Delgado (DL) at 320 lbs, and Thomas Gomez (OL) at 310 lbs. Some speculate he may end up on the defensive side of the ball. Which would make 6'7" Cassidy Curtis a big catch at OL. He will probably spend some time next year trying to put on weight to match his frame.

Vernon Adams just might be the QB of the future. Clearly he will not get any time this year, but will be able to study under Mitchell. Adams passed for over 5,000 yards and 49 TD's his senior season. He got a 50th TD on the ground.

Jordan Talley and Qunicy Forte were the two running backs who came on board and have the task of trying to replace Jones. However, those two will probably not see much action this year as Eastern Washington managed to get Demetrius Bronson to transfer in from Washington University. Bronson will probably be your starting RB next year.

The defensive side of the ball was a little more shaky in recruiting. They did pull in some Andru Pulu from Washington University as a transfer. He will play DL and will probably get right into the mix. Three Defensive backs were taken. The need to replace Sheritt; however, seems to be the one big spot missed. Granted they should be fine this next year with Bobby Gentry going to be a senior and Tyler Washburn among other underclassmen coming back. But clealry Linebacker was not a priority for the coaching staff as they signed only Cody McCarthy. McCarthy did win 4A player of the year honors in Idaho.

All in all it looks to be a nice recruiting class. The Eagles did not really lose that many impact seniors. Most were on the line or in the defensive backfield, but they were not the main leaders of the defensive backs. Taiwan Jones leaving was a big shock, but the addition of a FBS transfer one can assume that this position is in decent shape. Going into next year one would think that Mario Brown would be splitting carries with Bronson. Third string might be Darriell Beaumonte who will be a senior. It shouldn't get down to him.

This looks like a nice returning team to face the vastly improved Montana squad with a Montana at QB and a deeper team to help fill out their special teams. The Big Sky Conference is once again going to be a place to watch. Eastern Washington has no reason not to start out next season at number 1.