Big Sky favorite Eastern Washington gains extra motivation

STATS FCS Senior Editor=

Big Sky favorite Eastern Washington gains extra motivationBy CRAIG HALEY

(STATS) – Eastern Washington was the FCS runner-up last season and has been picked to win the Big Sky championship this season.

But the Eagles may still have come away from the conference’s media day on Monday with bulletin board material.

Only one Eastern Washington player was named to the Big Sky preseason team, senior offensive tackle Chris Schlichting. Eight other schools had more selections than the Eagles, including Weber State with a conference-high seven.

In the largest FCS conference – 13 teams – plenty of teams often come away fired up, feeling a lack of recognition in the preseason. It usually doesn’t involve the preseason favorite, though, so the rest of the conference doesn’t need the Eagles in a foul mood heading into the season.

The Big Sky has two preseason polls – head coaches and media – and Eastern Washington received 35 of 56 (62.5 percent) first-place votes over last year’s other tri-champs, UC Davis and Weber State which were second and third, respectively, in both polls.

“Everyone aspires to be No. 1, and our mission will be to be champions at the end of the 2019 campaign after all the scores have been kept,” third-year coach Aaron Best said.

“Nothing is ever earned on paper and must be substantiated on the field of play.”

Eastern Washington seeks even greater success after finishing 12-3 last year. The Eagles, who fell to North Dakota State 38-24 in the national championship game, return 10 starters, although the status of one of them, safety Dehonta Hayes, plus projected starting defensive lineman Keith Moore is uncertain as they recover from gun shot wounds suffered early Saturday in downtown Spokane.

UC Davis quarterback Jake Maier and Montana linebacker Dante Olson were named the conference’s preseason offensive and defensive players of the year, respectively. Maier won the postseason award last year, passing for 3,931 yards and 34 touchdowns, while Olson led the FCS in tackles per game (13.7) and set a Montana single-season record with 151 stops.

—=

BIG SKY CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLLS

Head Coaches Poll

1. Eastern Washington (10 first-place votes), 140 points

2. UC Davis, 127

3. Weber State (2), 124

4. Montana (1), 104

5. Montana State, 100

6. Northern Arizona, 88

7. Idaho State, 72

8. Idaho, 65

9. Cal Poly, 56

10. Portland State, 42

11. Sacramento State, 40

12. Southern Utah, 38

13. Northern Colorado, 19

Media Poll

1. Eastern Washington (25), 536

2. UC Davis (13), 510

3. Weber State (4), 472

4. Montana State, 417

5. Montana (1), 396

6. Northern Arizona, 302

7. Idaho State, 285

8. Idaho, 248

9. Cal Poly, 196

10. Portland State, 178

11. Southern Utah, 160

12. Sacramento State, 125

13. Northern Colorado, 90

BIG SKY CONFERENCE PRESEASON TEAM

Offensive Player of the Year – Jake Maier, QB, UC Davis

Defensive Player of the Year – Dante Olson, LB, Montana

Offense

QB – Jake Maier, Sr., UC Davis

WR – Mitch Gueller, Sr., Idaho State

WR – Samuel Akem, Jr., Montana

WR – Jared Harrell, Jr., UC Davis

OT – Mitch Brott, Sr., Montana State

OT – Chris Schlichting, Sr., Eastern Washington

OG – Noah Johnson, Sr., Idaho

OG – Ty Whitworth, Jr., Weber State

C – Zach Larsen, Sr., Southern Utah

TE – Charlie Taumopeau, Sr., Portland State

RB – Josh Davis, So., Weber State

RB – Elijah Dotson, Jr., Sacramento State

FB – Troy Andersen, Jr., Montana State

PK – Trey Tuttle, Jr., Weber State

RS – Rashid Shaheed, Jr., Weber State

Defense

DT – Jalen Goss, Sr., Northern Arizona

DT – Kenton Bartlett, Sr., Portland State

DE – Adam Rodriguez, Sr., Weber State

DE – Jonah Williams, Jr., Weber State

OLB – Auston Tesch, Sr., Weber State

OLB – Bryce Sterk, Sr., Montana State

ILB – Dante Olson, Sr., Montana

ILB – Kody Graves, Sr., Idaho State

CB – Khalil Dorsey, Sr., Northern Arizona

CB – Greg Filer, Jr., Montana State

S – Adkin Aguirre, Sr., Idaho State

S – Brayden Konkol, Sr., Montana State

P – Cade Coffey, Jr., Idaho

ST – Jace Lewis, Jr., Montana

25% Bonus via Western Union

bol

Credit card deposits receive a 15% bonus while the 25% bonus offer is for all other funding methods such as Western Union or Moneygram. Bank a BetOnline bonus
Claim Free Bet Now!

Comments

comments