Aaron Best has been around a

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1 FCS Playoffs Aaron Best Head Coach 2nd Season as Head Coach at EWU in th Season Overall as a Coach at EWU in nd Season as a Player/Coach at EWU in 2018 Eastern Washington 01 Aaron Best has been around a lot of Eastern Washington University football history in his time, and now he s made a little of his own. The 21-year veteran of the Eastern Washington University football program was named as EWU s 21st head football coach on Jan. 21, 2017, and guided Eastern to a 7-4 overall record and 6-2 Big Sky finish later that fall. His debut season was even better than those of previous Eagle head coaches Beau Baldwin (6-5/5-3), Paul Wulff (6-5/5-3) and Mike Kramer (4-7/2-5). Before taking over as head coach, Best spent 20 previous seasons since the fall of 1996 as a player and coach at Eastern. The previous nine seasons were spent as Eastern s offensive line coach under former head coach Beau Baldwin. Best is just the second Eastern graduate to become EWU s head football coach in more than 50 years. I appreciate the opportunity from the bottom of my heart, said Best when he was hired. I have a lot of different Eagle caps I wear, and I am proud very privileged and proud for this opportunity. In Best s first year as head coach, he helped put the Eagles on the cusp of a postseason playoff berth and the league championship. But this year, with his coaching staff returning intact and 28 seniors leading the way, the sky is the limit. In the second year of anything, you try to find the kinks in the hose and you work those kinks out, Best explained. We want to continue to build the base off our first year when we had a new coaching staff and the landscape was different for the players we were coaching. Because 17 was 17 and it s a whole different team in 18. As many as 56 returning letterwinners will be on hand in Getting denied a 13th NCAA Football Championship Playoff berth by the selection committee has only added fuel to the fire. We are working our tails off in the off-season and leadership is already ahead of where it was last year just based on the sheer numbers of veterans we have coming back, he continued. There are more voices and guys listening. Hopefully it s the details and work in the off-season and pre-season that will help us be successful when we get to our opener in September. Besides coaching the offensive line as a full-time assistant for 14 of his first 16 seasons on the coaching staff, Best has also served in various coordinator positions, most recently as the team s running game coordinator and as the program s long-time academic coordinator. He was a student assistant coach in 2000 and a graduate assistant in 2001, then became the school s primary offensive line coach from , and again from In his 21 seasons associated with the Eagle program, Best has been a part of teams who have won eight Big Sky Conference titles with a collective record of (69.3 percent), have made nine NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff appearances and have an overall record of (65.1 percent) in more than two decades ( and ). Best is among the 19 offensive linemen who have earned All-America honors since 1996 when he first arrived on the Cheney campus. He himself and four teammates were All-Americans, then he had a hand in coaching the next 14. Those players have also combined for nine appearances in postseason all-star games, with many going on to professional careers. Most notable was Michael Roos, who went on to a 10-year career with the Tennessee Titans in the National Football League. Two recent linemen are currently on NFL rosters Jake Rodgers (Pittsburgh) and Aaron Neary (Los Angeles Rams), with Clay DeBord (Dallas Cowboys) playing in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Roos became the highest NFL draft choice in school history when he was chosen in the second round 41st overall by the Tennessee Titans in A season-ending knee injury in 2014 led to his retirement from the NFL after 10 seasons. He credited Best in his retirement state-

2 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: ment on Instagram on Feb. 26, I was very lucky to have the best offensive line coach possible in Aaron Best, praised Roos in response to having his jersey retired at EWU on Oct. 24, He taught all of us the meaning of hard work and perseverance. With Best on the coaching staff, Eastern offensive linemen have won first team All- Big Sky Conference honors on 15 occasions. In all, in Best s 21 seasons as an Eagle, EWU offensive linemen have won 21 first team All-BSC honors, 19 second team accolades and 32 honorable mentions. Best is only the fifth head coach since 1979 for the Eagles, and the third since then who played collegiately as an offensive lineman. Dick Zornes, who is also an Eastern graduate, coached at EWU from before former Idaho offensive lineman Mike Kramer took over from Washington State offensive lineman Paul Wulff was head coach from until Baldwin, a Central Washington quarterback, took the reins in Best is the first to admit the offensive line legacy started under Zornes, as well as offensive line coaches Larry Hattemer and Kramer. That tradition including eventual NFL players Ed Simmons, Kevin Sargent, Jeff Mickel, Trent Pollard and Tom Ackerman was a big reason Best chose to be an Eagle. His head coach at EWU for four seasons was Kramer, and his offensive line coach at EWU was Wulff, who subsequently hired Best. Wulff is now an assistant coach at Sacramento State. I wish I could have played directly for Dick Zornes we would have been a tandem to be dealt with, so to speak, Best said of EWU s all-time coaching leader with 89 victories (Baldwin had 85). He was the athletic director here at the time, and the first thing he asked Coach Wulff was, you recruited this kid? From there our friendship blossomed. I appreciate and thank Paul Wulff wholeheartedly for giving me the opportunity to be a student-athlete here. Under his tutelage, I became an offensive line coach after I received my degree. In the last 14 seasons ( ) 13 with Best on the coaching staff -- EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 12 times, in total offense on 10 occasions and scoring five times. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). In 2016, center Spencer Blackburn was a second team All-Big Sky selection and went on to earn sophomore All-America accolades, then was a second team all-league selection again in Both of those seasons, Tristen Taylor earned honorable men- 19

3 FCS Playoffs I think AB is the perfect hire for Eastern s new head coach. He bleeds Eastern red and has given everything he has to the program. He s the kind of coach that gets the most out of players, and respects and loves each one like a son. I don t think it could have happened to a better man. It s a testament to someone who puts hard work into his passion day-in and day-out and gets rewarded deservedly. I believe he will put his stamp on the team from the start they will play hard and smart because that s the way he coaches. I know he ll succeed and can t wait for the season to come watch the Eagles play. Go Eags! Michael Roos on Aaron Best tion. Both of those players return in All-America skill players have captured the most headlines in recent years, as Eastern s offense has a long history of being one of the best in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. All the while, Best was learning from Baldwin, who is now offensive coordinator at Cal. Baldwin graduated in 1990 from Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash., and Best graduated from the same school six years later. I thank Coach Baldwin immensely, said Best. I went to Curtis and Coach Baldwin went to Curtis, and people seem to think we graduated in the same class. Untrue he is older. Before I worked for him, I rooted for him some 30 years ago. He did wonders for this university and football program, praised Best when he was named head coach. I ve taken physical notes and mental notes I couldn t take enough and burned through a lot of paper because of all the things you can grasp from that man. I knew one day this would occur and Coach Baldwin would go a different direction, and I m forever grateful for all he taught me and the time I spent with him. He s not only a great football coach, but he s a great family man, a great mentor and, even better, he s a great friend. Best started 22-straight games at center for Eastern in 1998 and 1999, earning honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a junior and first team honors as a senior. He also earned honorable mention All-America honors his final season. An outstanding student with a 3.3 grade point average, as a senior he was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII team and was selected to the FCS Athletic Directors Academic All-Star Team. Twice he was selected to the Big Sky All-Academic team. He received his bachelor s degree in social science from EWU in He was Eastern s long-snapper for four seasons and was a backup lineman in 1997 when Eastern led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (505.6 yards per game). That team finished 12-2 and advanced to the FCS Final Four. The Eagles were in the four seasons Best played for EWU, and Eastern had a 1,000- yard rusher each year. In all, the Eagles have had a 1,000-yard rusher in 11 of the 21 seasons Best has been at EWU. Best graduated in 1996 from Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he had a 3.75 grade point average. He was cocaptain his senior season as Curtis won the State AAA championship. Best was born Jan. 27, 1978, in Tacoma, Wash. He and the former Kim Walker were married on July 15, 2007, in Everett, Wash. They have three children one son, Tank (10), and two daughters, Tenli (8) and Texis (4).

4 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Best Had Challenging Task in 2016 After Losing Seven Seniors... Eastern entered the 2016 season coming off a 6-5 finish in 2015, plus lost seven seniors on the offensive line to graduation. Five of them were starters, including a pair (Aaron Neary and Clay DeBord) who would eventually sign free agent contracts with NFL teams. Moreover, the lone senior in the 2016 season (senior center Jerrod Jones) was injured in EWU s fourth game and missed the rest of the year. As a result, Eastern moved a defensive lineman (Jakob Stoll) to the offensive line, as well as a tight end (Beau Byus), who caught a game-winning catch on a fake field goal earlier in the season. But the results were nothing short of astonishing, as EWU finished 12-2 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the Big Sky with Best serving as running game coordinator for the third season. With three sophomores and a pair of redshirt freshman starting most of the season, the Eagles allowed just 24 sacks in 14 games, and the offense set seven Big Sky Conference team records and a total of nine school records. Eastern finished the year ranked second in FCS in total offense with an average of yards per game and was the FCS leader in passing offense (401.0 yards per game). Eastern was also third in scoring offense (42.4). Spencer Blackburn, who was Jones backup in the first four games, ended up earning second team All-Big Sky honors and was selected to the sophomore-only All-America squad. Sophomore tackle Nick Ellison and freshman redshirt tackle Tristen Taylor both earned All-Big Sky honorable mention honors. Eastern s offense in 2015 led FCS in passing offense with an average of yards per game, and was eighth in total offense (478.5). Three of his offensive linemen were honored on the All-Big Sky Conference team, including first team selections Aaron Neary (guard) and Clay DeBord (tackle) and honorable mention choice Thomas Gomez (guard). DeBord finished his career with a school-record 51 games started, and both he and Neary were selected to play in the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) Collegiate Bowl. They eventually signed free agent contracts in the NFL with Arizona (DeBord, who later was with the Dallas Cowboys) and Denver (Neary, who later joined the Los Angeles Rams), and both earned several All-America honors. The 2014 season the first with Best as running game coordinator -- was punctuated by a high-scoring offense for the Eagles, who broke school and Big Sky records with 618 points and 84 touchdowns. The Eagles established a school record for average points per game with a mark of 44.1 to rank first in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. En route to finishing 11-3 overall and winning the outright league title at 7-1, EWU also ranked third in FCS in total offense (513.4) and second in passing offense (328.6). His offensive line in 2014 featured consensus All-American Jake Rodgers, who was eventually drafted in the seventh round of the NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons (now with the Pittsburgh Steelers). Neary also earned All-America recognition and joined Rodgers on the All-Big Sky first team list, while two other Eagles (DeBord and center Jase Butorac) earned honorable mention. In 2013 in his fifth season as offensive coordinator, EWU led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in passing efficiency (school record 182.6), and was fourth in total offense (533.5 per game), fourth in passing (349.8), 41st in rushing (183.7) and seventh in scoring (39.5). The Eagles finished 12-3 and advanced to the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs for the third time in four seasons after finishing with the school s first-ever undefeated Big Sky Conference season at 8-0. Center Ashton Miller, quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. and wide receiver Cooper Kupp earned All-America honors for the Eagles. Other offensive linemen earning All-Big Sky honors included guards Steven Forgette and Brandon Murphy, and tackles Clay DeBord and Cassidy Curtis. That group allowed 27 sacks in 15 games 1.8 per game and just one for every 13.0 pass attempts. 21

5 FCS Playoffs Representing 30 years as head coaches at EWU are (from left) Mike Kramer ( ), Dick Zornes ( ), Aaron Best (2017-present) and Paul Wulff ( ). In 2012, Eastern s offense ranked seventh in the FCS with an average of passing yards per game, and was also 14th in total offense (442.0) and 17th in scoring offense (33.7). The Eagles featured All-America offensive linemen Will Post and Forgette, and All-America wide receiver Brandon Kaufman. Eastern finished 12-2 and shared the league title with Cal Poly and Montana State. In 2011, the Eagles ranked first in the FCS in passing with an average of per game, and were sixth overall in total offense (447.4) and 22nd in scoring (32.4). The offense featured four All-Americans, including center Chris Powers, quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell and wide receivers Nicholas Edwards and Greg Herd. Mitchell won the Walter Payton Award given by The Sports Network to the top player in the FCS. However, Best s job as offensive line coach in 2011 was made significantly harder when a trio of starters were lost early in the season because of injuries, as well as three starts missed by Powers. In all, 10 players started along the offensive line including a converted tight end and a converted defensive lineman and only one offensive lineman (senior Gabriel Jackson) started all 11 games. Powers was a first team All-Big Sky Conference selection in 2011, and Jackson and Post earned honorable mention. During EWU s 2010 NCAA Division I championship season, Best helped Eastern s offense rank 22nd in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in yards per game (397.1) and 18th in scoring (31.5). The Eagle offense featured a trio of All-Americans, including running back Taiwan Jones, Kaufman and Powers. Four of the offensive linemen he coached earned All-Big Sky honors Powers (first team), Jackson (second team), senior guard Nikolai Myers (honorable mention) and Forgette (honorable mention). Eastern quarterbacks were sacked only 24 times, including just seven times in four playoff games. In 2009, his first season as offensive coordinator, the Eagles finished ranked in the top 10 in four offensive categories in the FCS, including passing (3rd, 321.3), total offense (4th, 462.2), scoring (8th, 33.7) and passing efficiency (4th, 154.5). Senior quarterback Matt Nichols, senior tight end Nathan Overbay and Jones all won All-America honors and first team All-Big Sky honors. He coached a trio of All-Big Sky Conference offensive linemen in 2009 senior tackle Chris Thomas, senior guard Ryan Forney and Powers who all earned honorable mention accolades. In 2008, three earned honorable mention as senior center Charlie Wulff was joined by Thomas and sophomore tackle Brice Leahy. Best spent the 2007 season as an offensive line specialist for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League. Best helped the Argonauts win the Eastern Division championship with an 11-7 record before losing in the first round of the playoffs. Although Toronto was last in the league in total offense, Best s offensive line ranked third in fewest sacks allowed with 40. Eastern Hall of Fame member Bill Diedrick Jr., was also an offensive coach for the Argonauts. Best was a guest coach at Toronto s training camp in May 2007, and then was asked to return as a full-time coach in July. In 2006, he attended the Calgary Stampeders training camp as a guest coach to offensive coordinator Steve Buratto, who graduated from the University of Idaho and spent the 2007 season coaching in Toronto. Best Serves Seven Seasons Under Head Coach Paul Wulff... In his previous seven-year stint at Eastern from , Best had the opportunity to coach two All-Americans in the 2004 season and another in He was the school s primary offensive line coach from after previously helping coach that unit as a graduate assistant in 2001 and as a student assistant in Matt Alfred earned All-America honors in 2005, and he was recognized on the All-Big Sky squad along with Kraig Sigler and Rocky Hanni. All five of Eastern s starting offensive linemen earned All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2004, including first team selections Michael Roos and Rocky Hanni. Both players went on to earn All-America honors, with Roos also being selected as the Lineman of the Year by I-AA.Org. Roos played in the Senior Bowl and the East-West Shrine Game, and was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine. He became the highest NFL draft choice in school history when he was chosen in the second round 41st overall by the Tennessee Titans in Roos started every football game he played from , and that streak ended at 226 after Roos suffered

6 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: a knee injury on Oct. 5, 2014, and subsequently retired. He started 190 of a possible 190 games he could play in until an appendicitis attack and subsequent surgery in October His 191 starts as a Titan included two AFC playoff games, 148 regular season games, 40 pre-season contests and as a starter in his first-ever Pro Bowl on Feb. 8, In his last 13 seasons as a football player, Roos started every game he played. His last 35 starts were at EWU from when he originally became an offensive lineman. Eastern s offensive lines helped the Eagles rank fourth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense in both 2004 and In 2005, the Eagles averaged yards per game, and were 13th in scoring (35.0). A year earlier, the Eagles averaged yards and 37.5 points per game to rank sixth. In 2003, Eastern averaged yards per game and ranked 21st in the FCS in passing offense (247.3). In 2002, the Eagles finished third nationally in passing offense (317.6) and were sixth in total offense (447.6), a year after leading the FCS in total offense (514.5) and scoring (41.9) in Best Starts at Center in Final 22 Games of Career Under Mike Kramer... Best started 22-straight games at center for Eastern in 1998 and 1999, earning honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a junior and first team honors as a senior. He also earned honorable mention All-America honors his final season. An outstanding student with a 3.3 grade point average, as a senior he was selected to the CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII team and was selected to the FCS Athletic Directors Academic All-Star Team. Twice he was selected to the Big Sky All-Academic team. He received his bachelor s degree in social science from EWU in He was Eastern s long-snapper for four seasons and was a backup lineman in 1997 when Eastern led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in total offense (505.6 yards per game). That team finished 12-2 and advanced to the FCS Final Four. The Eagles were in the four seasons Best played for EWU, and Eastern had a 1,000-yard rusher each year. Best graduated in 1996 from Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he had a 3.75 grade point average. He was co-captain his senior season as Curtis won the State AAA championship. His brother Tyler Best was a starting catcher for the Lewis-Clark State baseball team, which won its second straight NAIA World Series title in Aaron Best s Coaching Career Year School Coaching Assignment Head Coach Record/Big Sky 2017 Eastern Wash. Head Coach 7-4/6-2 (t-3rd) 2016 Eastern Wash. Run. Game Coord./OL/Acad. Beau Baldwin <12-2/ Eastern Wash. Run. Game Coord./OL/Acad. Beau Baldwin 6-5/ Eastern Wash. Run. Game Coord./OL/Acad. Beau Baldwin >11-3/ Eastern Wash. Off. Coord./OL Coach/Acad. Beau Baldwin =12-3/ Eastern Wash. Off. Coord./OL Coach/Acad. Beau Baldwin $11-3/ Eastern Wash. Off. Coord./OL Coach/Acad. Beau Baldwin 6-5/ Eastern Wash. Off. Coord./OL Coach/Acad. Beau Baldwin +13-2/ Eastern Wash. Off. Coord./OL Coach/Acad. Beau Baldwin *8-4/ Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Beau Baldwin 6-5/5-3 Totals as O-Line Coach Under Beau Baldwin (9 seasons) (.726)/58-14 (.806) 2007 Toronto Argonauts Offensive Line Coach Michael Clemons Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Paul Wulff 3-8/ Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Paul Wulff &7-5/ Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Paul Wulff ~9-4/ Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Paul Wulff 6-5/ Eastern Wash. Offensive Line Coach Paul Wulff 6-5/ Eastern Wash. Graduate Assistant Coach Paul Wulff 7-4/ Eastern Wash. Student Assistant Coach Paul Wulff 6-5/5-3 Totals as EWU Coach Under Paul Wulff (7 seasons) (.550)/28-23 (.549) Totals as Collegiate Coach at Eastern (17 seasons) (.654)/92-39 (.702) < NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated Central Arkansas 31-14, defeated Richmond 38-0, lost to Youngstown State 40-38); Big Sky Conference Champions. > NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated Montana 37-20, lost to Illinois State 59-46); Big Sky Conference Champions. = NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated South Dakota State 41-17, defeated Jacksonville State 35-24, lost to Towson 35-31); Big Sky Conference Champions. Jacksonville State 35-24, lost to Towson 35-31); Big Sky Conference Champions. $ NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated Wagner 29-19, defeated Illinois State 51-35, lost to Sam Houston State 45-52); Big Sky Conference Champions. +NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Champion (Defeated Southeast Missourl State 37-17, defeated North Dakota State in overtime, defeated Villanova 41-31, defeated Delaware 20-19); Big Sky Conference Champions. *NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Lost to Stephen F. Austin 44-33); &NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Lost to Northern Iowa 41-38); Big Sky Conference Champions ~NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated Southern Illinois 35-31, lost to Sam Houston State 35-34); Big Sky Conference Champions! Won Eastern Division Championship in the Canadian Football League and advanced to the playoffs (Lost to Winnipeg 19-9 in East Final) Playing Career at Eastern Wash /4-4 Big Sky - Backup Center & Long Snapper 1997 #12-2/7-1 Big Sky - Backup Center & Long Snapper /4-4 - Starting Center (11 games) Honorable Mention All-Big Sky /6-2 - Starting Center (11 games) Honorable Mention All-America; First Team All-Big Sky; Big Sky All-Academic CoSIDA All-District VIII FCS Athletic Directors Academic All-Star Team Record as a Player (all under head coach Mike Kramer): (.638)/21-11 (.656) Totals as a Player and EWU Coach (21 seasons): (.651)/ (.693). #NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (Defeated Northwestern State 40-10, defeated Western Kentucky 38-21, lost to Youngstown State 25-14); Big Sky Conference Champions. Education Bachelor s degree in social science, Eastern Wash. University, 2001 Graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash.,

7 FCS Playoffs EWU Offensive Line Legacy With Aaron Best as an Eagle ( , 2008-Present)... BOWL/ALL-STAR GAMES 2015 (2016 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) - Clay DeBord, T 2015 (2016 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) - Aaron Neary, G 2014 (2015 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl) - Jake Rodgers, T 2004 (2005 Senior Bowl) - Michael Roos, Tackle 2004 (2005 East West Shrine Game) - Michael Roos, T 2003 (2003 Blue-Gray Classic) - Kurt Sigler, Tackle 2003 (2003 The Villages Classic) - Kurt Sigler, Tackle 2001 (2002 Paradise Bowl) - Chris Polinder, Center 2001 (2002 Paradise Bowl) - David Sherrod, Tackle 24 ALL-AMERICA FIRST TEAM Clay DeBord, Tackle Jake Rodgers, OffensiveTackle Ashton Miller, Center Will Post, Tackle Chris Powers, Center Chris Powers, Center Matt Alfred, Guard Michael Roos, Tackle Chris Polinder, Center Lance Knaevelsrud, Tackle Jim Buzzard, Tackle Kevin Peterson, Center ALL-AMERICA SECOND TEAM Clay DeBord, Tackle Aaron Neary, Guard Aaron Neary, Guard Jake Rodgers, Tackle Ashton Miller, Center Will Post, Tackle Chris Powers, Center Matt Alfred, Guard Michael Roos, Tackle Lance Knaevelsrud, Tackle Kevin Peterson, Center AARON BEST with former Eastern offensive linemen JEFF CHRISTIANSEN (far left), MICHAEL ROOS (second from right) and PAUL TERRELL (far right). ALL-AMERICA THIRD TEAM Chris Powers, Center Chris Powers, Center Rocky Hanni, Guard Jim Buzzard, Guard ALL-AMERICA HON. MENTION Aaron Neary, Guard Steven Forgette, Guard Chris Powers, Center Chris Polinder, Center Asim Poston, Guard David Sherrod, Tackle Luke Fritz, Lineman Aaron Best, Center T.J. Ackerman, Tackle Jim Buzzard, Guard FIRST TEAM All-BIG SKY Aaron Neary, Guard; Clay DeBord, Tackle Aaron Neary, Guard; Jake Rodgers, Tackle Ashton Miller, Center Will Post, Tackle Chris Powers, Center Chris Powers, Center Matt Alfred, Guard Rocky Hanni, Guard; Michael Roos, Tackle Chris Polinder, Center; Asim Poston, Guard; David Sherrod, Tackle Luke Fritz, Tackle Aaron Best, Center; Lance Knaevelsrud, Tackle T.J. Ackerman, Tackle Jim Buzzard, Tackle; Kevin Peterson, Center Jim Buzzard, Guard SECOND TEAM ALL-BIG SKY Spencer Blackburn, Center Spencer Blackburn, Center Steven Forgette, Guard; Clay DeBord, Tackle Steven Forgette, Guard Gabriel Jackson, Tackle Matt Alfred, Guard; Rocky Hanni, Tackle Kraig Sigler, Center Matt Alfred, Guard; Kraig Sigler, Center Kurt Sigler, Tackle; Jeff Christiansen, Guard Kurt Sigler, Tackle Chris Polinder, Center Luke Fritz, Guard John Kane, Guard; Lance Knaevelsrud, Tackle Aaron Barfield, Tackle HONORABLE MENTION ALL-BIG SKY Tristen Taylor, Tackle Tristen Taylor, Tackle; Nick Ellison, Tackle Thomas Gomez, Guard Clay DeBord, Tackle; Jase Butorac - Center Cassidy Curtis, Tackle; Brandon Murphy, Guard Ashton Miller, Center Gabriel Jackson, Tackle; Will Post, Tackle Steven Forgette, Guard; Nikolai Myers, Guard Chris Powers, Center; Ryan Forney, Guard; Chris Thomas, Tackle Charlie Wulff, Center; Brice Leahy, Tackle; Chris Thomas, Tackle Zach Wasielewski, Tackle Rocky Hanni, Guard Paul Terrell, Tackle Michael Roos, Tackle Michael Roos, Tackle; Brandon Bouge, Center Robert Horal, Guard Scott Johnson, Tackle Aaron Best, Center; Luke Fritz, Guard; Aaron White, Guard T.J. Ackerman, Guard Kevin Peterson, Center

8 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Jeff Schmedding Defensive Coordinator/Safeties 15th Season Eastern Washington, 02 Entering his fourth season in charge of EWU s defense, Jeff Schmedding took over as Eastern s defensive coordinator in 2015 after a highly-successful seven-year stint coordinating special teams. The 2018 season will be his 15th year on the coaching staff, and he will coach safeties for the ninth year this season. Eastern s defensive highlights in 2017 came in road victories over Fordham and North Dakota. Eastern s defense held Fordham to just 217 yards total and 1-of-17 on third down, and EWU recorded 11 three-and-outs. Ten Eagles combined for a school-record 10 sacks as the Rams finished with just 26 net yards rushing. Versus the Fighting Hawks, the Eagles held UND to a net 103 yards rushing and an average of 3.3 per rush. The Eagles had a advantage in total offense in the second quarter when EWU out-scored UND Among the safeties he coaches is Mitch Fettig, who earned third team All-Big Sky honors in 2017 as a junior after earning honorable mention in He enters his senior season as one of EWU s top professional football prospects, with career totals of 231 tackles, five interceptions and 12 passes broken up in his 34-game career (33 as a starter). In their last seven victories of the 2016 season, the defense allowed just 113 points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, Eastern s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings. Eastern s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU s victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a tie in Four defensive players earned first team All-Big Sky honors in 2016, including safety Zach Bruce, a former walk-on who ended up playing 50 games in his career (24 as a starter). Like Schmedding, Bruce attended University High School in Spokane, Wash., and finished ranked among the school s all-time leaders with 115 tackles (13th) as a senior and 227 (23rd) in his career. In addition, safety Mitch Fettig earned honorable mention all-league honors as a sophomore, and Samson Ebukam earned All-America honors as a senior defensive end the first All-American with Schmedding as coordinator. Ebukam went on to play significantly for the Los Angeles Rams as a rookie in In 2015, Schmedding coached senior safety Todd Raynes, who earned third team All-Big Sky Conference honors. One of the team s top defensive performances of the season came in a win over Weber State to extend EWU s winning streak to six. The defense made a one-point lead hold up for the final 21 minutes of the game, then clinched the win by forcing four-straight incompletions on the final possession of the day for Weber State. His previous coordination of special teams was particularly impressive, especially in Eastern ranked third in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision with four blocked punts, and was 10th in net punting (38.4), 15th in kickoff return average (22.8) and 28th in punt returns (11.8). Jake Miller was a second team All-Big Sky selection as a punter after ending his career with three school records, including single season punting average (44.9 to rank fifth in FCS) and career average (43.8 to rank fifth all-time in FCS). Cooper Kupp earned third team honors as a return specialist and Cody Hecker was honorable mention on special teams. Kicker Tyler McNannay also earned honorable mention after making all 11 of his field goal attempts. In 2013, Bo Schuetzle earned first team All-Big Sky honors as a special teams player. Kicker Jimmy Pavel earned All-America and first team All-Big Sky honors in 2012 after making 17-of-19 field goal attempts. Also in 2012, Shaq Hill was a Freshman All-American as a kickoff returner, and special teams standout Chase King earned honorable mention all-league honors. Punter Jake Miller earned Freshman All-America accolades in 2011 after finishing with a average per kick, which nearly set a school record. Also, kick coverage specialist Darriell Beaumonte earned first team All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2010 and second team recognition in As a position coach, Schmedding tutored several of the finest safeties in school history. Tevin McDonald earned All-America and first team All-Big Sky Conference accolades in 2014 for the Eagles, then signed a free agent contract with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. Zach Bruce earned honorable mention. Eastern finished with 19 interceptions to rank fifth in FCS, and was 11th in turnovers gained with 28. In 2013, McDonald earned third team All-Big Sky honors and Allen Brown earned honorable mention. Schmedding s safeties in 2012 featured Academic All-American Jeff Minnerly, Freshman All-American 25

9 FCS Playoffs Jordan Tonani and second team All-Big Sky selection Brown. Tonani also earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors after Minnerly suffered a broken clavicle early in the year. In 2010 and 2011, Schmedding coached All-America safety Matt Johnson, who earned first team All-Big Sky Conference honors both seasons before being drafted in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Minnerly was honorable mention All-Big Sky both seasons. Schmedding also coached cornerbacks in 2011, a group which included eventual three-time first team All-Big Sky selection T.J. Lee III. In 2010, Eastern led the NCAA Championship Subdivision in interceptions with 26 as EWU won the NCAA Division I title. Schmedding coached linebackers in 2008 and 2009, including J.C. Sherritt, who in 2009 was named to all six FCS All-America teams and was second in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award given to the top defensive player in the FCS. He set school and Big Sky records with 170 total tackles as he led the FCS with an average of more than 14 stops per game. Sherritt would go on to win the Buck Buchanan Award in Schmedding coached safeties in 2007 including two-time All-Big Sky performer Bryan Jarrett. He previously worked with linebackers (2004), the secondary (2005) and safeties (2006) as a graduate assistant from in his first three seasons at EWU. He graduated in 2002 from Eastern with his bachelor s degree in health education and a minor in physical education/coaching. He was a health and fitness teacher at University High School in Spokane Valley for two years, and coached football. He was defensive coordinator and coached linebackers for the Titans in 2002 and While he was an EWU undergraduate, he also did his student teaching at U-Hi in 2001 and coached football. In 1999 and 2000 he coached the defensive line, and in 2001 he coached linebackers. The Titans were Greater Spokane League champions in He also helped coach track and field from Schmedding graduated in 1996 from University High School where he was a standout wrestler and football player. He was the runner-up at the State 3A Wrestling Championships in the 215-pound division. He and his wife Kristine were married in July Their son, Jack Conrad Schmedding (8), was born on Oct. 27, 2009 conveniently between EWU s victories over Montana State on Oct. 24 and Portland State on Oct. 31. A second son, Blake David Schmedding (6), was born on Jan. 27, Eti Ena Associate Head Coach/Defensive Front Coordinator/ Defensive Ends 3rd Season Eastern Washington 05 Eti Ena, a graduate of EWU, returned to his alma mater in the 2016 season to become Eastern s new defensive front coordinator and to join with Brian Strandley in coaching the defensive line for the 2016 season. Now also EWU s associate head coach under head coach Aaron Best, Ena came to Eastern from Cal Poly where he coached the defensive line from , and prior to that spent four seasons ( ) as defensive line coach at the University of Idaho. Eastern s defensive highlights in 2017 came in road victories over Fordham (56-21) and North Dakota (21-14). Eastern s defense held Fordham to just 217 yards total and 1-of-17 on third down, and EWU recorded 11 three-and-outs. Ten Eagles combined for a school-record 10 sacks as the Rams finished with just 26 net yards rushing. Versus the Fighting Hawks, the Eagles held UND to a net 103 yards rushing and an average of 3.3 per rush. The Eagles had a advantage in total offense in the second quarter when EWU out-scored UND Among the defensive linemen Ena and Strandley coached in 2017 was second team All-Big Sky Conference selection Albert Havili. He finished his career with 199 total tackles and 12 sacks in 53 games played, then signed with the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL. In Ena s first season as Eastern, they helped coach first team All-Big Sky Conference selection and All-American defensive end Samson Ebukam, as well as first team defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli. Ebukam went on to play significantly for the Los Angeles Rams as a rookie in Eastern s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU s victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a tie in In their last seven victories of the season, the defense allowed just

10 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, Eastern s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings. Ena graduated from EWU in 2005 with a bachelor s degree in physical education after serving as a student assistant for three seasons from under then-head coach Paul Wulff. Former Eagle head coach Beau Baldwin was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Eastern during Ena s three seasons at EWU. In his first year at Eastern, Ena helped coach linebackers. In the last two both resulting in Big Sky Conference titles for the Eagles -- he assisted along the defensive line. In his first season at Cal Poly, Ena coached defensive tackle Sullivan Grosz, who earned eight All-America honors and was named co-defensive Player of the Year in the Big Sky Conference, and later signed with the Houston Texans. At Idaho, Ena coached three defensive linemen who signed with National Football League teams -- Aaron Lavarias (New England Patriots), Michael Cosgrove (Detroit Lions) and Benson Mayowa (Seattle Seahawks, now with the Dallas Cowboys). Ena s coaching career began at Shelton (Wash.) High School, where he was an assistant coach in 1997 and 1998, serving as the varsity linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator. Ena then served three seasons ( ) at Eastern Oregon, where he was the Mountaineers defensive coordinator, linebackers coach and strength and conditioning coordinator in 2006 and He served as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator in Ena played linebacker at Utah s Snow College and Walla Walla (Wash.) Community College before transferring to Eastern Washington. A shoulder injury prior to his junior year ended his playing career. He is a 1992 graduate of Inchelium (Wash.) High School and helped lead his team to the State 1B football title as a senior. Ena and his wife, Latona, have three daughters, Corey (24), Moia (21) and Fuamai (17), and one son, Eti Jr. (14). His cousin, Paul Ena, was a two-time All-Big Sky defensive end for EWU from Eti s uncle and Paul s father, Tali Ena, was a standout running back at WSU ( ) and went on to play for the Seattle Seahawks. His younger brother, Justin, played at BYU and played four years in the NFL after signing a free agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles in Justin is now linebackers coach at the University of Utah. Another brother, Packy, is a high school coach at Kapolei High School in Hawaii and formerly played at Oregon State. His name is pronounced eh-tee en-nuh. Josh Fetter Linebackers/High School Relations 8th Season Idaho 96 With lots of ties regionally, Josh Fetter enters his eighth season as coach of Eastern s linebackers. He also serves as director of high school relations (since 2017) after previously serving as the team s liaison with professional teams. Eastern s defensive highlights in 2017 came in road victories over Fordham (56-21) and North Dakota (21-14). Eastern s defense held Fordham to just 217 yards total and 1-of-17 on third down, and EWU recorded 11 three-and-outs. Ten Eagles combined for a school-record 10 sacks as the Rams finished with just 26 net yards rushing. Versus the Fighting Hawks, the Eagles held UND to a net 103 yards rushing and an average of 3.3 per rush. The Eagles had a advantage in total offense in the second quarter when EWU out-scored UND Both starting linebackers from 2017 return for the 2018 season Ketner Kupp and Kurt Calhoun. They combined for 139 tackles as juniors and enter their final season as Eagles with a collective 273 career tackles. Fetter coached Miquiyah Zamora to first team All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2016 during a breakthrough season for Eastern s defense. After becoming just the second player in school history to have at least 100 tackles in three separate seasons, Zamora finished his career with 366 tackles to rank fourth all-time at EWU. He played in 52 games as an Eagle, including 45 as a starter. Eastern s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU s victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a tie in In their last seven victories of the season, the defense allowed just 113 points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of 27

11 FCS Playoffs the FCS Playoffs, Eastern s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings. In 2015, linebacker Jake Gall earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors. Previously, Fetter coached three-time NCAA Football Championship Subdivision All- America linebacker Ronnie Hamlin, who played in what was then a school-record 53 games (50 as a starter) and had 473 career tackles to break the Big Sky Conference record and rank seventh all-time in FCS. Hamlin earned first team All-Big Sky honors in as a sixth-year senior in 2014, with Cody McCarthy and Miquiyah Zamora each earning honorable mention. That trio combined for 295 tackles, a year after they combined for 309 in Hamlin earned All-America and second team All-Big Sky honors that season, and Mc- Carthy received honorable mention. Hamlin was an All-American and earned first team All-Big Sky honors as a sophomore in Also on the unit was second team All-Big Sky selection Zach Johnson, who finished with 324 tackles in his career to rank fifth all-time at Eastern. Fetter also coached Johnson in 2011 when he missed most of the season with a chronic knee injury, but Johnson was granted a sixth year by the NCAA and returned in Tyler Washburn and Grant Williams also received honorable mention All-Big Sky honors, giving EWU a league-leading four on the squad in Previous coaching stops for Fetter, a former University of Idaho team captain and 1996 graduate, have included Central Washington, Idaho State and Portland State. While at Central, he coached alongside several current Eagle coaches, including former Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin. At ISU, he coached with fellow Eastern assistant Brian Strandley and former Eagle assistant and Idaho State head coach John Zamberlin. Besides Baldwin, former EWU defensive coordinator/associate head coach John Graham also coached with Fetter at Central from , as well as Strandley from Former Eagle coaches Ryan Sawyer and Zak Hill were players at the time. Fetter spent the 2010 season at Idaho State under Zamberlin, a former Eastern assistant coach and head coach at Central Washington. He and Strandley, who was Fetter s teammate at Idaho, were defensive line coaches for the Bengals. Before getting the job at ISU, Fetter was going to be defensive coordinator in the 2010 season at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore. Prior to that, he spent four seasons as defensive line coach at PSU. In the 2009 season, two of his Viking linemen earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors, and in 2007, all three of his regular starters were all-league. In 2006, PSU led the Big Sky in turnover margin, passing efficiency defense, sacks per game, tackles for loss, third-down defense, fourth-down defense and red-zone defense. Fetter also coached five seasons at Western State in Gunnison, Colo., where he was defensive coordinator, strength and conditioning coach and held the title of assistant head coach. From he was at Central, including the final four seasons under Zamberlin as defensive ends coach. He coached defensive tackles in 1996, his first season coaching after graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in general studies. While at Idaho, Fetter was a two-year starter and lettered four seasons for the Vandals. As a senior he was voted as a team captain and won Idaho s most inspirational player award. Fetter was born Dec. 6, 1972, in Tacoma, Wash. He and his wife, Jahnna, have a son, Michael (12), a daughter, Delani (10) and a second daughter, Laci (6), who was born on the first day of preseason practices on Aug. 10, Brian Strandley Defensive Line/Pro Liaison 8th Season Idaho 95 Former Idaho defensive lineman Brian Strandley returned to the Eastern football coaching staff in 2012 and enters his seventh season overall at EWU. He will also serve as the team s liaison with professional teams in After serving three seasons as EWU s tight ends coach, in 2015 he returned to the defensive line where he coached one season in 2006 in his first stint with the Eagles. He currently shares coaching duties along the defensive line with Eti Ena. Eastern s defensive highlights in 2017 came in road victories over Fordham (56-21) and North Dakota (21-14). Eastern s defense held Fordham to just 217 yards total and 1-of-17 on third down, and EWU recorded 11 threeand-outs. Ten Eagles combined for a school-

12 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: record 10 sacks as the Rams finished with just 26 net yards rushing. Versus the Fighting Hawks, the Eagles held UND to a net 103 yards rushing and an average of 3.3 per rush. The Eagles had a advantage in total offense in the second quarter when EWU out-scored UND Among the defensive linemen Strandley and Ena coached in 2017 was second team All-Big Sky Conference selection Albert Havili. He finished his career with 199 total tackles and 12 sacks in 53 games played, then signed with the Los Angeles Chargers of the NFL. In 2016, they helped coach first team All-Big Sky Conference selection and All-American defensive end Samson Ebukam, as well as first team defensive tackle Jay-Tee Tiuli. Ebukam went on to play significantly for the Los Angeles Rams as a rookie in Eastern s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU s victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a tie in In their last seven victories of the season, the defense allowed just 113 points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, Eastern s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings. The Eagles in 2015 featured a pair of All-Big Sky Conference performers as juniors. Ebukam earned second team honors for the second-straight season, and tackle Matthew Sommer was on the third team after receiving honorable mention as a sophomore. The tight ends he coached in 2014 included honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference selection Zach Wimberly. In 2013, Zack Gehring earned third team honors from the league. Gehring finished his 50-game EWU career with 34 starts, 44 receptions, 511 yards and five touchdowns. Before returning to Eastern, Strandley coached at Idaho State under former EWU assistant and Central Washington University head coach John Zamberlin. Strandley spent four seasons there as the school s defensive coordinator. After the ISU coaching staff was let go following the 2010 season, Strandley coached defensive linemen in 2011 at Eastern Illinois. Prior to his single year at EWU in 2006, Strandley spent nine seasons as a defensive coach under Zamberlin at CWU. Former Eastern head coach Beau Baldwin was a fellow assistant at CWU with Strandley from , as well as at EWU in One of Strandley s Idaho teammates was Josh Fetter, who is now linebackers coach at Eastern and was previously on the staff at ISU in Strandley was also on the CWU staff with former EWU assistant coach John Graham. Strandley coached the leading tackler in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision in 2010 when Idaho State s A.J. Storms had 146 (13.27 per game). As a team, ISU ranked 40th in the FCS in takeaways with 23. In 2009 at ISU, despite a second-straight year of massive injuries, ISU s defense was impressive. The Bengals allowed just 12 points against national runner-up Montana, and had 26 takeaways for the season the most since the 2004 season when ISU had 30. In 2008, ISU s pass defense allowed 112 yards or less in three of the final four games of the season. In his first year with the school, the Bengal defense scored five touchdowns on the year, including game-changing fumble returns on back-to-back drives in a win over Portland State. In all, ISU nearly doubled their takeaways (23, up from 12 in 2006), and they increased their totals in sacks, tackles for loss, passes defended, and forced fumbles. Seven players earned honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference honors, including three defensive linemen coached by Strandley. In his lone season at EWU in 2006, the youthful Eagles finished 3-8 overall and 3-5 in the Big Sky Conference. He coached All-Big Sky honorable mention selection Greg Peach, who went on to win the 2008 Buck Buchanan Award as the top defensive player in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. Strandley was hired at CWU when John Zamberlin - a former EWU assistant coach from took over as head coach in He helped the Wildcats compile a record in nine seasons, including an 8-2 record in the 2005 season. Central won its last seven games and was undefeated in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. The 2002 Central team, which finished 11-1 after an unbeaten regular season, was inducted into the school s Hall of Fame in Strandley lettered four years from at Idaho as a defensive lineman. He was Idaho s 1993 defensive captain, and finished his career with 101 tackles. When he was a junior, the Vandals advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (then known as I-AA), and in 1994, Idaho led FCS in rushing defense (65.3 yards per game). He helped Idaho to a record, three playoff berths and one Big Sky Conference title in four seasons under head coach John L. Smith. 29

13 FCS Playoffs Included were three victories in four games versus Eastern. Idaho lost to the Eagles in overtime his freshman season, but then won the next three meetings by a combined score of He had seven tackles, a sack and a pass broken up in four career games versus EWU. After he graduated from Idaho, Strandley coached at Potlatch (Idaho) High School where he served as defensive coordinator and head junior varsity coach. He s a 1990 graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash. Strandley lettered in football and baseball, earning All-State honors as a defensive tackle when he and Baldwin led Curtis to the State AAA title in Eagle offensive line coach Aaron Best is also a Curtis grad (1996), and helped lead his school to a State title in Strandley was born June 7, 1971, in Tacoma, Wash. He and his wife, Erika, have a daughter named Brianna (7 and a son named Owen (4, born Oct. 29, 2013). Cherokee Valeria Cornerbacks/Recruiting Coordinator 7th Season Central Washington 99 Cherokee Valeria enters his seventh season as EWU s cornerbacks coach, as well as his third as recruiting coordinator. In 2015 and 2016 he also coached EWU s punt return unit. The 2017 recruiting class for EWU was ranked third in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision by 247 Sports (133rd overall at the Division I level), and the 2018 class was in the top 10 in FCS (136th overall). Since 2012 when he came to EWU, players he has coached have earned eight of the 26 All-Big Sky Conference honors won by Eagle cornerbacks since joining the league in Five different cornerbacks have earned all-league honors in his six seasons at Eastern, plus one other corner who earned All-Big Sky honors on special teams. His veteran group of cornerbacks in 2017 included Josh Lewis, who earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a junior. Eastern s defensive highlights in 2017 came in road victories over Fordham (56-21) and North Dakota (21-14). Eastern s defense held Fordham to just 217 yards total and 1-of-17 on third down, and EWU recorded 11 three-and-outs. Ten Eagles combined for a school-record 10 sacks as the Rams finished with just 26 net yards rushing. Versus the Fighting Hawks, the Eagles held UND to a net 103 yards rushing and an average of 3.3 per rush. The Eagles had a advantage in total offense in the second quarter when EWU out-scored UND Eastern had a breakthrough 2016 campaign on defense. In their last seven victories of the season, the Eagles allowed just 113 points (16.1 per game). That seven-game stretch was Eastern s best since the 1997 team allowed only 105 in its first seven games of the season. In a 38-0 victory over Richmond in the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, Eastern s defense recorded its first shutout in 102 games (since 2009), and the 205 yards Richmond had were the fewest EWU had surrendered in its last 28 outings. Eastern s defense in 2016 allowed only 24.4 points per game (second-best in the league) during its 8-0 Big Sky Conference season after allowing 40.7 against three challenging non-conference opponents. A year after allowing 57 points in a 41-point setback to Montana, the Eagle defense allowed just 16 in the rematch on Oct. 29 at Roos Field in EWU s victory. The 16 points for the Griz was their lowest total in the last 33 games in the series dating back 32 years to a tie in His deep and experienced group of cornerbacks in 2016 included Nzuzi Webster, who earned third team All-Big Sky Conference honors for the Eagles. Eastern finished third in NCAA Division in turnovers gained with 31, including 10 by cornerbacks (seven interceptions and three fumble recoveries). Valeria had a deep group of cornerbacks in 2015 as well, but he started the 2014 season with just one experienced cornerback in D londo Tucker. After that, Tucker and two others were sidelined for the season with injuries. As a result, freshman redshirt Victor Gamboa was among the players thrust into the lineup and he earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors. Eastern finished with 19 interceptions to rank fifth in FCS, and was 11th in turnovers gained with 28. In Valeria s first two seasons as cornerbacks coach, T.J. Lee III earned first team All-Big Sky Conference honors and was an All- American both years. Lee finished his 49-game career with 35 starts, 263 tackles (11th in school history), four interceptions, 25 passes broken up (sixth), 3 1/2 sacks and seven forced fumbles (school record). He signed a free agent contract with the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League in In addition, fellow starting cornerback Ronald Baines earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors both seasons, and backup Bo Schuetzle was a first team selection on special teams in In each of his final two seasons, Lee s tackles total and average per game were the best by a cornerback in the league. As a senior he had 114 overall and 7.6 per game, and as a junior he had 90 total and averaged 6.4. A member of Central Washington University s 1995 team which won the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) football title, Valeria brought seven previous years of collegiate coaching experience to Eastern. Most recently, he coached defensive backs at Southeast Missouri State in Valeria has had a player rank among the nation s top 30 in interceptions in five seasons as a position coach, dating back to his

14 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: two-year stint as coach at Central Washington. Including Eastern, he has coached seven all-conference players at the college level. And prior to his time at EWU, he coached a pair of players who received all-region recognition and one preseason All-American. In 2011 at SEMO, the school s defense ranked 23rd in the FCS in passing defense, allowing just yards per game. He also served as assistant recruiting coordinator and was the team s pro football liaison. A year earlier and coached by 2010 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year winner Tony Samuel, the Redhawks lost to EWU on Dec. 4, 2010, in the first round of the FCS Playoffs at Roos Field in Cheney, Wash. Valeria spent the 2010 season as Director of Football Operations at Cal Poly, which joined the Big Sky Conference in He was that school s pro liaison, and also worked with the defensive staff for the 7-4 Mustangs, who ranked 14th in FCS in rushing defense. Valeria also started the Mustang Pride program, helping Cal Poly football players reach out to the local community. Prior to working at Cal Poly, Valeria spent three seasons as cornerbacks coach at Idaho State under John Zamberlin, a former EWU assistant and former head coach at CWU. Valeria coached D.J. Clark of the Carolina Panthers during his time with the Bengals football program. Clark earned All-Big Sky honors twice and finished third in ISU history with 15 interceptions. Valeria developed and implemented a study hall program that helped produce 17 Big Sky All-Academic players in his three seasons as academic coordinator at ISU. Valeria was also the cornerbacks coach in 2005 and 2006 under Zamberlin at Central Washington, where Baldwin also served as an assistant coach from Former EWU defensive coordinator John Graham was on the coaching staff at Central when Valeria was there. Valeria coached with new EWU tight ends coach Brian Strandley at both ISU ( ) and CWU (2005). In 2005, the Wildcats won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference title after going 8-2 overall and undefeated in league play. Central Washington s defense ranked 11th nationally in turnover margin, with both of Valeria s cornerbacks (Brandon Kennedy and Josiah Wilfong) earning first team All-GNAC honors that year. Kennedy received third team all-region honors and finished ranked third in CWU history with 14 interceptions. Wilfong earned second team all-region honors in Valeria has also coached in minor league professional football, including the Everett Hawks of the National Indoor Football League in He was named the 2004 Northwest Region Assistant Coach of the Year by Minor League Football News after helping lead the West Sound Saints to the Northwest Football League (NWFL) title game. In 2003, he coached the Eastside Hawks in the NWFL. From , Valeria coached two seasons each at Cedarcrest and Ellensburg high schools in Washington State. As a player, Valeria was a wide receiver at Central Washington from , and helped lead the Wildcats to the 1995 NAIA National Championship. He graduated with a degree in biology in 1999 and the 1995 Central team was inducted into the school s Hall of Fame in Baldwin played for the Wildcats from before beginning his coaching career in 1994 at CWU. A 1993 graduate of Waiakea High School in Hilo, Hawaii, Valeria was born June 13, 1975 in Honolulu. His given first name is Brandon, but he goes by Cherokee because of his Native American/Italian descent. His mother is originally from Missouri and is a member of the Cherokee Indian tribe, and his grandfather was in the military stationed in Hawaii. He and his wife, Mindy, were married July 12, His sons are Cameron and Ayosgi Uwasa (which means Last Warrior in Cherokee). He also has a daughter named T Kia Li (which means Message from God ). Bodie Reeder Quarterbacks/ Offensive Coordinator 2nd Season Eastern Illinois 10 The 2017 season was the first for Bodie Reeder as EWU s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, having joined the Eagles on Feb. 1, 2017, after a three-year stint at Oklahoma State. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). Quarterback Gage Gubrud earned second team All-Big Sky Conference honors, and helped EWU set a school record for passing yards with 545 in a win at Montana. Gubrud had individual records of 549 yards passing and 560 yards of total offense. Reeder spent the seasons working with quarterbacks at OSU and working in offensive quality control. The former player and 2010 graduate of Eastern Illinois University previously was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin-Stout from He spent two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater. Oklahoma State played in bowl games all three of Reeder s seasons there, including victories in the 2016 Alamo Bowl (defeated Colorado 38-8) and the 2014 Cactus Bowl (defeated Washington 30-22). The Cowboys also played in the Sugar Bowl following the 2015 season (lost to Mississippi 48-20). The 2016 OSU team was 10-3 and second in the Big 12 with a 7-2 record. The Cowboys were ninth in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision in passing offense (323.9 per game) and 17th in scoring (38.6 per game). Reeder helped coach OSU quarterback Mason Rudolph, who was ranked seventh nationally in passing in 2016 with an average of yards per game. He completed 63 percent of his passes for a total of 4,091 yards, 28 touchdowns and 31

15 FCS Playoffs just four interceptions. The previous season, Rudolph was 19th in FBS (290.0 per game), finishing with 3,770 yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Quarterback J.W. Walsh accounted for 24 touchdowns (11 rushing, 13 passing) in Reeder was an assistant at Wisconsin-Stout for four seasons, and was offensive coordinator his last three. Besides coaching the team s quarterbacks, he also taught kinesiology at the school. Among the players he coached was all-conference quarterback Hank Kujak. He coached in 2010 and 2011 as a graduate assistant at Eastern Illinois and worked with defensive backs. Reeder began his college career at Wyoming, then transferred to Eastern Illinois where he had 3,741 passing yards, 23 touchdown passes, and 356 career completions in 30 games. The Panthers advanced to the NCAA playoffs in 2007 and Reeder is a 2004 graduate of Mahomet-Seymour High School in Mahomet, Ill., and in his career passed for 6,582 yards and 67 touchdowns. As a freshman starter, Reeder and M-S finished 4-5. But the table was set for three straight playoff appearance as the Bulldogs compiled records of 6-4, 7-3 and 11-1 in his final three seasons. Jase Butorac Offensive Line/Community Service/ Academic Coordinator 2nd Season Eastern Washington 15 With a background at Eastern that parallels that of head coach Aaron Best, Butorac is in his second season as EWU s new offensive line coach. He also helps coordinate the football program s many community service endeavors and has the role of the team s academic coordinator. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). Eastern s offensive line allowed only 22 sacks in 11 games in 2017, as EWU set a school record for passing yards with 545 in a win at Montana. Quarterback Gage Gubrud had individual records of 549 yards passing and 560 yards of total offense in that game. A pair of Eastern offensive linemen earned repeat All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2017 under Butorac. Center Spencer Blackburn earned second team honors for the second-straight season, and tackle Tristen Taylor was honorable mention in both 2016 and Coached by current Eagle head coach Aaron Best, Butorac played center for EWU as a fouryear letterwinner from on teams that won three Big Sky Conference titles and advanced to the playoffs all three seasons. He then served as a strength and conditioning intern for Eastern while he finished his degree in business (marketing) in As a player, Butorac started 15 games as an Eagle, including 14 games as a senior team co-captain in Twice he earned Big Sky Conference All-Academic honors and had a 3.43 grade point average. He helped the Eagles finish 11-3 and win the Big Sky Conference outright title for the second-straight season in The Eagles advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, and finished ranked fourth in the final FCS poll. The 2014 Eagles broke school and Big Sky records for scoring, finishing the season with 618 points to break the previous record of 592 points scored set in 2013 in 15 games by the Eagles. Eastern scored 84 touchdowns to break school and Big Sky single season records of 83 set in 2013 by EWU. The Eagles established a school record for average points per game, with a mark of 44.1 (first in FCS) that broke the record of 41.9 set in The offensive production by the Eagles in six of their games in 2014 ranked in the top 32 in school history at the time. Eastern had 624 yards against Sam Houston State (ninth), 617 versus Idaho State to (11th), 583 versus Montana Western (23rd), 582 versus Montana State (25th), 573 versus Washington (29th) and 568 against Southern Utah (32nd). The Eagle team with the next-most performances on the list was 2013 with five ranked in the top 32. The Eagles finished the 2014 season ranked first in FCS in scoring offense (44.1 per game) and first downs (361 total), second in passing efficiency (162.52), third in total offense (513.4) and second in passing offense (328.2). Eastern converted 48.0 percent of the time

16 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: on third down (97-of-202) to rank seventh, and Eastern s red zone offense was second in FCS after scoring 94.9 percent of the time when inside the opponent 20-yard line. In 2013, Butorac was named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic team in the first of two-straight seasons to be honored. He was a backup center behind All-American Ashton Miller. He helped Eastern set Big Sky and school records with 592 points, 83 touchdowns and 8,002 yards of offense in the 2013 season. As a team, EWU led FCS in passing efficiency (school record 182.6), and fourth in total offense (533.5 per game), fourth in passing (349.8), 41st in rushing (183.7) and seventh in scoring (39.5). Eastern s offensive line was selected as the FCS Offensive Line of the Week by Beyond Sports Network twice during the season. The first time came when EWU had 625 yards of offense in a upset of 25th-ranked Oregon State (8/31/13) to open the season. The second time came in a win at Idaho State (11/2/13) when the Eagles finished with a school record 743 yards of offense. As a sophomore in 2012, he helped EWU rank seventh in the FCS in passing yards per game (318.9), 14th overall in total offense (442.0) and 17th in scoring (33.7). As a redshirt freshman in 2011, he made the first start of his career against South Dakota (9/10/11) at right offensive guard, but was lost for the season with a knee injury suffered the following game against Montana (9/17/11). He was already replacing Ashton Miller, who was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon in EWU s opener against Washington (9/3/11). Butorac made his collegiate debut versus the Huskies following the injury to Miller. Converted defensive lineman Brandon Murphy filled in at that position for the final eight games of the season. He redshirted in 2010 and was selected as the team s Offensive Scout Team Player of the Year. He was selected as the team s offensive scout team player of the week once. Butorac graduated from Skyline HS in Named by the Seattle Times as a White Chip selection as one of the top 100 prospects in the state of Washington. Was selected to the Seattle Times Star Times All-Area team as an offensive lineman. He was a first team All-KingCo League Crest Division selection as an offensive tackle and a second team choice as a defensive lineman. Butorac helped Skyline to a 40-2 record as a three-year starter, including a trio of state titles. He protected the blind side of BYU-bound Skyline quarterback Jake Heaps, who passed for 3,936 yards and 41 touchdowns. Skyline won the State 4A title with a romp past Ferris to finish the season Before the 2009 season began, he was selected on Ron Siegel s preseason All-State team. As a junior, he also earned first team All-KingCo League Crest Division honors as an offensive lineman. Skyline also won the 2008 State 4A title with a perfect 14-0 record, defeating Issaquah in the title game. Skyline was 14-0 and won the state title as a starter in his sophomore season as well. He was team captain as a senior and received the Coach Steve Gervais Award as the most complete player on the 2009 Skyline squad. He had a 3.8 grade point average and received a scholarathlete award from the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. His Eagle teammates Evan Day ( 10) and Nic Sblendorio ( 13), as well as former Eagle Tyler Washburn ( 08), also graduated from Skyline. Butorac was born Aug. 12, 1992, in Tacoma, Wash., and his parents are Mark and Melanie Butorac. His last name is pronounced boo-tur-ack. Jay Dumas Wide Receivers 2nd Season Washington State 99 With a long, vast association with football in the region, Jay Dumas joined the Eastern program as wide receivers coach in 2017 and owns the distinction of being a high school coach for EWU s recordbreaking sensation Cooper Kupp and his younger brother Ketner Kupp. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). Eastern s offensive line allowed only 22 sacks in 11 games in 2017, as EWU set a school record for passing yards with 545 in a win at Montana. Quarterback Gage Gubrud had individual records of 549 yards passing and 560 yards of total offense in that game. A pair of his receivers earned All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2017 under Dumas. Nic Sblendorio earned second team honors and Nsimba Webster was a third team pick after they combined for 131 catches and 1,736 yards. Sblendorio was 13th in FCS with an average of 6.5 catches per game (72 total) and 25th in yards (82.9 per game, total of 912), while Webster was 36th in receptions (5.4, total of 59) and 68th in yards (63.0, total of 693). A 1999 graduate of Washington State, Dumas most recently was a wide receivers coach at Central Washington from under head coach Ian Shoemaker. Among the players he coached there was NCAA Division II All-America Jesse Zalk, who played for the Wildcats from Dumas also coached returners and assisted with sum- 33

17 FCS Playoffs mer camps. Sharing a common thread with several past and present Eagle coaches as a graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, Wash., his other collegiate coaching stops have included Montana State and Western Washington. From , Dumas was the offensive coordinator at Davis High School in Yakima where he helped the offense for the Pirates set numerous school records. One of the All-State players he coached was eventual EWU legend Cooper Kupp, who as a senior in 2011 had 60 receptions for 1,059 yards (17.7 per catch) and 18 touchdowns, and scored 22 total touchdowns to set a school record. The eventual Los Angeles Ram also had 11 rushes for 122 yards and two touchdowns as Davis came one game away from a berth in the State 4A Playoffs. Davis finished 6-4 for the second straight year, giving the program back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since Ketner Kupp graduated from Davis in 2015 and will be a senior linebacker for the Eagles in Dumas was the running backs and wide receivers coach at Montana State between During his time with the Bobcats, they won the Big Sky Conference title in 2003 and 2005, making the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs both of those years. The Bobcats also advanced to the playoffs in From , he coached at Western Washington University, which dropped its football program following the 2008 season. He coached tight ends and running backs at Western, and also assisted with team study table and summer camps. It was at Western where he met Shoemaker. Dumas played four years from as a wide receiver for the Cougars. He finished his career with 96 catches for 920 yards and two touchdowns, including 50 grabs for 463 yards as a senior. He also returned 90 career punts for 705 yards (7.8 average). Dumas was an honorable mention All-Pac-10 Conference choice as junior. Dumas is a graduate of Curtis High School in Tacoma, the same school Eastern head coach Aaron Best and assistant Brian Strandley attended. He was a high school teammate of Strandley, former Eagle head coach Beau Baldwin and former Eastern assistant Torey Hunter, and together they led the Vikings to the 1989 State AAA championship. He led the South Puget Sound League in receiving as senior with 34 grabs for 704 yards and seven touchdowns. He earned all- SPSL honors on offense and defense, and played on state Class AAA championship teams as junior and sophomore. His full name is Jasson Dumas and he was born Nov. 10, His fiancé is Landi Marquis, and he has three sons (Jackson, 25; Camilo, 24; Julius, 20) and two daughters (Joy, 18; Jovi, 7). Last name is pronounced doo-moss. Kevin Maurice Running Backs/Video Coordinator 2nd Season St. Joseph s, Ind., College 06 After three full seasons as running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at North Dakota, Kevin Maurice joined the Eagles as running backs coach in He also serves as EWU s video coordinator, and was victorious versus his former team on Nov. 11, 2017, when the Eagles triumphed in his former home of Grand Forks, N.D. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). Eastern s offensive line allowed only 22 sacks in 11 games in 2017, as EWU set a school record for passing yards with 545 in a win at Montana. Quarterback Gage Gubrud had individual records of 549 yards passing and 560 yards of total offense in that game. He coached running back Antoine Custer Jr., who earned second team All-Big Sky Conference honors and received honorable mention honors on the sophomore All-America team as chosen by Hero Sports. He finished the 2017 season with 776 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns, to go along with 21 receptions for 276 yards and two more scores. In his 24-game career (16 as a starter), he already has 1,192 yards on the ground, 463 receiving and 499 on kickoff returns for a total of 2,154 all-purpose yards (89.8 per game). His tenure with the Fighting Hawks included the 2016 season when both North Dakota and Eastern Washington shared the league title with identical 8-0 records to advance to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs, and the Fighting Hawks featured a pair of All-America running backs. Maurice went against EWU just once in those three seasons he was on the staff of UND head coach Bubba Schweigert.

18 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: That was a 54-3 Eagle victory in 2014 in which UND rushed for 131 yards and had only 37 passing. North Dakota was just 3-8 overall and 2-6 in the league prior to his arrival, but then went 5-7/3-5, 7-4/5-3 and 9-3/8-0 in the three years after that for a collective overall record of and 16-8 league mark in his three seasons in Grand Forks. While in Grand Forks, Maurice coached All-America running back John Santiago, who earned first team All-Big Conference honors in both 2015 and 2016, and was the league s Freshman of the Year in Brady Oliveira earned third team All-Big Sky honors and also earned All-America accolades in Santiago, who was injured part of the 2016 season, rushed for 983 yards and seven touchdowns, while Oliveira finished with 897 and 10 scores. North Dakota had a running back rush for at least 100 yards in eight of 12 games, after having a 100-yard rusher in nine of 11 games in 2015 for a total of 17 in 23 games in two seasons. Santiago began fall camp in 2015 playing wide receiver, but by the end of the campaign was an All-America running back. He set UND Division I records for rushing yards (1,459) and rushing touchdowns (16), and broke a single-season program record for all-purpose yards, finishing with 2,159. He had 230 yards and three touchdowns against Montana State, and in the same game Oliveira had 167 and one score. Santiago was the only running back in the FCS to rush for more than 100 yards in each of his conference games and finished fourth nationally, averaging rushing yards per game. In fact, Santiago was one of three true freshmen running backs to each muster a 100- yard rushing game for Maurice in Oliveira and Iwarri Smith also cracked the century mark as UND s stable of running backs finished with 2,213 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns. In Maurice s first season at UND in 2014, senior Jer Garman emerged as an honorable mention All-Big Sky selection. After losing two key contributors in the back field to season-ending injuries during the campaign, Garman took control of the ground attack in the final five games, averaging yards per game. That stretch included a 235-yard, two-touchdown effort in the upset of No. 22 Northern Arizona and helped him notch honorable mention All-Big Sky honors. Besides being the program s recruiting coordinator, he also helped coach special teams. Among the players he coached was 2014 first team All-Big Sky punt returner Alex Tillman. Maurice spent the 2012 and 2013 seasons at Purdue where he began his tenure as a graduate assistant before being named director of player personnel. In February of 2013, he was elevated to assistant recruiting coordinator at the Big Ten school for head coach Danny Hope. Prior to his two years in West Lafayette, Ind., Maurice made stops at three other FBS programs, with the latest coming as an offensive graduate assistant at Nevada in He briefly served as a recruiting assistant at Miami (Fla.) before joining the Wolf Pack staff. Maurice spent the 2010 season as a recruiting assistant for head coach Butch Jones at Cincinnati. Before making the move to the FBS level, Maurice spent a season as the running backs coach at Midwestern State (Texas) in 2009 and was an offensive coordinator at North Miami (Fla.) High School in The Miami native played collegiately at UTEP for two seasons in 2003 and 2004 and finished his bachelor s degree in criminal justice at St. Joseph s (Ind.) College in Heath Pulver Tight Ends/ Special Teams Coordinator 2nd Season (previously at EWU) Eastern Washington 09 Having spent four previous seasons at Eastern Washington University and graduated from nearby University High School, Heath Pulver returned in 2017 to serve as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator after stints at Colorado State and Cal. In 2017, Eastern was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7), and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). On special teams, Eastern was ninth in FCS at 24.3 per kickoff return in 2017 and ranked 16th in net punting (38.24). Eastern allowed just 3.50 yards by opponents on punt returns in 2017 to rank seventh nationally. Punter Jordan Dascalo, on his way to becoming the lone Eagle to earn first team All-Big Sky honors in 2017, led the league and was 14th in FCS in average per punt (42.6). Thanks to a career-long 33- yard return in EWU s final game of the season against Portland State, junior Zach Eagle ranked 31st in FCS with an average of 6.8 yards per punt return. Third team All-Big Sky selection Anfernee Gurley, who a year prior was leading his high school team (Archbishop Murphy in Everett, Wash.) to the State 2A Championship, closed his true freshman season in 2017 with 37 tackles, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. He went on to earn first team Freshman All-America honors from Hero Sports. 35

19 FCS Playoffs Before returning to EWU, Pulver had a short stint at Cal with former Eagle coaches Beau Baldwin and Nicholas Edwards. Previously, he spent five seasons at Colorado State working with special teams, including the seasons under former Eagle assistant coach Jim McElwain. Before that, Pulver was tight ends coach and special teams assistant for the Eagles in the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and two additional years as a student assistant working with the defense. He received his bachelor s degree from EWU in interdisciplinary studies with a minor in art and history in 2009, and was part of EWU s national championship team in In the 2010 season, he coached honorable mention All-Big Sky Conference tight end Matt Martin, as well as a pair of young freshmen Zack Gehring and Ryan Seto. That trio combined for 30 catches for 349 yards and three touchdowns as Eastern went on to finish 13-2 and win the NCAA Division I title. A 2000 graduate of University High School in Spokane, Wash., Pulver redshirted as a defensive tackle at Eastern Oregon University in fall He returned and coached running backs at University High School from , then spent five years at Montana. He was a student manager for the Grizzlies in 2003, and from he was a student assistant coach for the offense and special teams. He returned to Spokane and transferred to EWU in Pulver was born May 24, He married Brittany Koehler on July 7, She was previously an athletic trainer at Colorado State. Nate Barry Asst. Ath. Dir. of Athletic Performance 1st Season Idaho 11 A veteran of 11 years in the NCAA Division I ranks, Nate Barry enters his first year as Eastern s new assistant athletic director of athletic performance. He works closely with football and men s basketball at EWU, and also oversees a staff of three other assistants/graduate assistants for all other sports. His position plans and implements all aspects of individual performance of EWU s nearly 300 student-athletes, including strength, conditioning, flexibility and nutrition. Most recently, Barry spent three years working as strength and conditioning coach at Michigan, and prior to that had stops at Oregon State and Idaho. He is a 2011 graduate of the UI where he received his bachelor s degree in exercise science and health, with a minor in coaching. In his 11 years of experience, all 11 have included working with football programs. He has been a part of teams with six bowl game appearances. He s worked with a total of seven different sports, including women s basketball programs which have advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice with one Final Four appearance. He is also a USA Weightlifting certified sport performance coach, and has also received his certification from the National Strength and Conditioning Association. While at Michigan from January of 2015 to January of 2018, he worked as an assistant strength coach for the football team. Three times the Wolverines advanced to bowl games while he was there. From January of 2012 to January of 2015 he was at Oregon State, serving as head strength and conditioning coach for women s basketball for all three seasons. He also worked with men s basketball, men s soccer, baseball and men s and women s golf. In addition, Barry served as the assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Beaver football program, which advanced to a pair of bowl games. From May 2011 to January of 2012 he was a part-time assistant at OSU working with football, women s basketball, men s soccer and men s golf. He began his strength and conditioning career as an undergraduate at Idaho, working part-time and as an intern with the football program, which advanced to the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl. During his time assisting the Vandals from May of 2006 to May of 2011, he also oversaw strength and conditioning programs for men s and women s basketball, men s and women s tennis, men s golf and the track and field team s throwers. He and his wife, Whitney (Power), were married in June of Marc Anderson Director of Football Operations 3rd Season Eastern Washington 14 Marc Anderson, a graduate of Eastern Washington University, enters his third year as director of football operations at Eastern in the school year. He provides administrative support services for head coach Aaron Best and the program. Most recently, Anderson worked as the graduate operations assistant for EWU Football since December 2015 and continues to work with recruiting and camps. Anderson also assists with roster management, student-athlete grades and coordinating team meals and travel. He worked as the student operations assistant and video coordinator for EWU Football from January 2014-December 2015 after interning with them for nearly three years. Anderson directed day-today video operations and assisted coaches with stats and scouting reports. He coordinated film for all practices and games, and assisted in the coordinating of team travel. He also hired, managed and trained student assistants. The EWU alum earned a master of arts in English degree in June 2016 and a bachelor of arts and education in English in June 2014.

20 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Former Eagle Players & Coaches... Where are They Coaching Now? (Only those currently coaching and with NCAA and/or professional experience) Name Current Position Current School or Pro Team (Previous) Junior Adams Offensive Coordinator Western Kentucky (Boise State/Eastern Washington) Steve Amrine Head Coach Kelso, Wash., HS (Centralia HS/Idaho State) Beau Baldwin Offensive Coordinator California (Eastern Washington/Central Washington) Bruce Barnum Head Coach Portland State (Cornell/Idaho State) Josh Blankenship Head Coach Adams State (Tulsa/Muskogee HS/Union HS) Allen Brown Cornerbacks Cal Poly (Eastern Washington) Luther Carr Assistant Coach Union HS in Tulsa, Okla. (Chief Sealth HS in Seattle/Idaho) Dave Christensen Offensive Line Arizona State (Texas A&M/Utah/Wyoming/Missouri) David Delgado Tight Ends Baldwin Wallace University Bill Diedrick Jr. Scout B.C. Lions (Palomar C./Univ. HS/Notre Dame/UW/WSU/UI) Nicholas Edwards Wide Receivers California (Eastern Washington) Greg Herd Wide Receivers Steilacoom HS in Wash. Zak Hill Off. Coord./Quarterbacks Boise State (Hawaii/Eastern Washington) Torey Hunter Scout B.C. Lions (Edmonton Eskimos/Idaho/Eastern Washington) Steve Kizer Head Coach Skyview High School in Wash. (Eastern Washington) Pete Kwiatkowski Co-Def, Coord./D-Line Washington (Boise State/Montana State) Jimmy Lake Co-Def, Coord./D-Backs Washington (Boise State/Tampa Bay Buccaneers) Kiel McDonald Running Backs Utah (Eastern Washington) Jim McElwain Wide Receivers Michigan (Florida/Colorado State/Alabama) Brent Myers Assoc. HC/Offensive Line Weber State (UNLV/Louisville) Keith Murphy Spec. Teams Quality Control Florida (Southern Ill./New Mexico St./St. Louis Rams) Travis Niekamp Defensive Coordinator/DL Illinois State (Montana/Louisiana Monroe/Washington State) Mike Orthmann Offensive Coordinator Arizona Western JC (Eastern Washington) Timm Rosenbach Off. Coord./Quarterbacks Montana (Adams State/UNLV/Montana) Jody Sears Head Coach/Def. Coord. Sacramento State (Weber State/Washington State) J.D. Sollars Assistant Coach Glendale CC (Northern Arizona) Todd Sturdy Head Coach MidAmerica Nazarene (No. Iowa/Iowa State/Wash. St./EWU) Troy Taylor Off. Coord./Quarterbacks Utah (Eastern Washington/Folsom HS) Jesse Williams Defensive Line Kansas (Ohio University/New Mexico State) Paul Wulff Asst. HC/Run. Game C./OL Sacramento St. (South Florida/SF 49ers/Wash. State) Recent Former Coaches... Jason Belford Defensive Line Portland State (Weber State/Wash. State) Randy Hanson Assistant Secondary Cal Poly (Sacramento Mountain Lions) Mike Kramer Head Coach Idaho State (Washington State/MSU/EWU) Tom Mason Defensive Coordinator Texas-El Paso (Hawaii/SMU/Fresno State) Rich Rasmussen Chief Administrative Officer Washington (Boise State/Washington State) Eric Reid Offensive Line Northern Arizona (Portland State/Eastern Washington) Malik Roberson Defensive Coordinator/LB Portland State (Central Washington) Dave Telford Head Coach Stanwood, Wash., HS (Indiana State/Monroe HS HC) Rick Worman Tight Ends Dixie State (Wilmington Col./Montreal Alouettes/Miss. Valley State) John Zamberlin Scout Hamilton Tiger-Cats (Weber State) Now co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at the University of Washington, Jimmy Lake played for the Eagles in , helping Eastern win the 1997 Big Sky Conference title and advance to the Final Four of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs (then I-AA). He was a 1995 graduate of Spokane s North Central High School. 37

21 FCS Playoffs RECAP: With Abrupt End, Eagles Finish 7-4 Eastern has now had a winning season in 20 of the last 22 years, and has finished 5-3 or better in the BSC for 11-consecutive seasons Regardless of the stunning conclusion to the 2017 season, EWU s tradition of success trumped it all. The Eastern Washington University football team secured a school-record 11th-straight winning season and had yet another outstanding Big Sky Conference campaign in 2017, despite having its season come to a surprising end when EWU was denied its 13th berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs. Eastern closed the season 7-4 overall and in a tie for third in the Big Sky Conference with a 6-2 record. It s the 11th-straight season the Eagles have finished 5-3 or better in the Big Sky. The Eagles had already secured its record 11th-straight winning season and 20th in the last 22 years. The Eagles overcame a rash of injuries to win seven games, and, in some ways, that made the year extremely special for first-year head coach Aaron Best. His debut season was even better than those of previous Eagle head coaches Beau Baldwin (6-5), Paul Wulff (6-5) and Mike Kramer (4-7). That s what good teams do, he said of his team that had only five players start every game at the same position in I would argue that we were a great team. We started playing our best football late and won seven of our last nine. The Eagles had 13 players selected to the All-Big Sky Conference team, including 10 who are expected to return for the 2018 season. In fact, the Eagles have 10 starters back from an offense which was eighth in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and fifth in total offense (476.7) in the 2017 season, and was also 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). In EWU s last 14 seasons ( ), EWU has ranked in the top 10 in passing 12 times, total offense on 10 occasions and scoring five times. Defensive end Albert Havili was the only full-time senior starter for all 11 games on the defensive side, and wide receiver Nic Sblendorio was the lone senior starter on offense. We were 7-4, but the standard around here is better than 7-4, said Best. We re used to championships and hardware at different times in Eastern s history that may be a Super Bowl season, but now it s sub-par. I like that about our mentality and we ll attack our off-season based on that. We will have a chip on both shoulders. Eastern suffered three losses to FCS teams including eventual national champion North Dakota State with a combined 34-7 record, and all three advanced to the playoffs and were conference champions. The other loss for EWU was to FBS member Texas Tech. I m so proud of this darn team, Best added. Of the four losses we had, three of them were to conference champions and the other is from Lubbock. We won the games we were supposed to win, and played lights out in a lot of our games. Our team should not hang their heads they battled through 11 games and we ended up on the right side of things in seven of them. Thanks to voters understanding EWU s strength of schedule, Eastern finished the regular season ranked 17th in the STATS FCS Top 25 poll, which was announced prior to the pairings announcement. Eastern was 21st in the final poll, ranking EWU in the top 25 at the end of the season for the 14th time in school history and 10th time in 14 years. Six times in school history EWU has finished in the top four, including five of the last eight seasons. Eastern has been ranked by STATS in 84 of its last 85 polls, and in the top 10 in 19 of the last 26. In the final coaches poll, EWU was 22nd. 13 Eagles Selected to All-Big Sky Team The Eagles had 13 players honored on the All-Big Sky Conference team, but even more noteworthy is the number 10. That s the number of selections expected to return for the 2018 campaign, as only a trio of seniors including first team pick Jordan Dascalo were on the list of Eagles selected by the league s head coaches for yearly honors in the Big Sky. The six second team selections included junior quarterback Gage Gubrud, who was one of 25 finalists for the Walter Payton Award presented by STATS to the top offensive player in FCS. The other second team selections were senior wide receiver Nic Sblendorio, junior center Spencer Blackburn, sophomore running back Antoine Custer Jr., senior defensive end Albert Havili and sophomore kickoff return specialist Dre Sonte Dorton. On the third team were junior wide receiver Nsimba Webster, junior safety Mitch Fettig, and true freshman special teams standout Anfernee Gurley. Junior running back Sam McPherson, junior cornerback Josh Lewis, and sophomore offensive guard Tristen Taylor received honorable mention. Later, Gurley was honored as a first team Freshman All-America selection and Custer earned honorable mention Sophomore All-America accolades. Blackburn was honored on the FCS Athletic Director s All-Star team as well. One of those, Jay-Tee Tiuli, was a first team selection in 2016 but had to redshirt in 2017 after an early-season injury. He returns in 2018, as well as cornerback Nzuzi Webster after earning third team All-Big Sky honors in Formerly from Los Angeles and a transfer from Washington State, Dascalo led the Big Sky and was 16th in FCS in average per punt (42.6), with 16 of his 47 punts downed inside the opponent 20-yard line. His outstanding control and hang time helped Eastern rank 17th in FCS in net punting (38.24), allowing just 3.50 yards by opponents on punt returns in 2017 to rank fifth nationally. He had 12 punts of at least 50 yards in 2017, including a career-long 67-yarder that helped him earn Big Sky Conference Player of the Week honors following EWU s win at North Dakota on Nov. 11. Players off Eastern s productive offensive unit earned eight accolades. Eastern was seventh in FCS in passing (320.5 per game) and sixth in total offense (476.7) in the 2017 season, and was also 20th in scoring (34.5) and 10th in third 2017 Big Sky Conference Standings Big Sky Conference All Games Team W L PCT PF PA W L PCT PF PA Weber State Southern Utah Eastern Washington Sacramento State Northern Arizona Montana Montana State UC Davis Idaho State Northern Colorado North Dakota Cal Poly Portland State BIG SKY IN THE FCS PLAYOFFS First Round: at Weber State 21, Western Illinois 19; San Diego 41, at Northern Arizona 10. Quarterfinals: Weber State 30, at Southern Utah 13. Semifinals: at James Madison 31, Weber State 28.

22 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: down conversions (46.1 percent). Among the other seniors honored, Sblendorio was 12th in FCS with an average of 6.2 catches per game (72 total) and 25th in yards (82.9 per game, total of 912). Havili was 47th in FCS and fifth in the league in sacks with an average of 0.64 per game (seven total), and also had 41 total tackles, four passes broken up and seven quarterback hurries. The 2017 season was a rare year in which an Eagle did not win the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year honor. In 2016, Gubrud was the co-offensive MVP along with Cooper Kupp, giving Eastern that award in 12 of the previous 16 seasons, including six of the previous seven. One of only 10 repeat winners in league history, Kupp in 2015 became only the second wide receiver in 42 years to win the honor. Wide receiver Keelan Doss of UC Davis won the award in 2017 for a three-year run of receivers winning the honor SENIORS 45 - Jordan Dascalo - P/K L - Los Angeles, Calif. (Taft HS 13 & Wash. State U.) 27 - Victor Gamboa - DB L - Tacoma, Wash. (Washington HS 13) 47 - Adam Gascoyne - RB L - Port Orchard, Wash. (South Kitsap HS 13 & Wisconsin-Stevens Point) 4 - #Albert Havili - DL L - Federal Way, Wash. (Federal Way HS 13) 17 - Jake Hoffman - DB L - Spokane, Wash. (North Central HS 13) 29 - John Kreifels - DB L - Modesto, Calif. (Thomas Downey HS 13) 25 - Jordan Laurencio - RB SQ - Seattle, Wash. (Kentlake HS 13) 9 - #Andre Lino - DL L - Seattle, Wash. (Blanchet HS 13) 50 - Miquel Perez - LB SQ - Grandview, Wash. (Grandview HS 12) 93 - Marcus Saugen - DL L - Spokane, Wash. (North Central HS 14) 7 - #Nic Sblendorio - WR L - Sammamish, Wash. (Skyline HS 13) 12 - Keonte White - WR L* - Sylmar, Calif. (Sylmar HS 13) #Senior Co-Captain ALL-AMERICANS!Special Teams Anfernee Gurley. +Running Back Antoine Custer Jr.,!Freshman-only All-America Team (first team) +Sophomore-only All-America Team (honorable mention) 2017 ALL-BIG SKY First Team Punter Jordan Dascalo. Second Team #Quarterback Gage Gubrud; Wide Receiver Nic Sblendorio; Running Back Antoine Custer Jr.; ~Center Spencer Blackburn; Defensive End Albert Havili; Return Specialist - Dre Sonte Dorton. Third Team Wide Receiver Nsimba Webster; ^Safety Mitch Fettig; Special Teams Anfernee Gurley. Honorable Mention ^Offensive Guard Tristen Taylor; Running Back - Sam McPherson; Cornerback Josh Lewis. #Big Sky MVP & First Team All-Big Sky in ~Second Team All- Big Sky in ^Honorable mention All-Big Sky in Team Rankings STATS (FINAL): 1. North Dakota State; 2. James Madison; 3. South Dakota State; 4. Sam Houston State; 5. Weber State; 14. Southern Utah; 21. Eastern Washington. Coaches (FINAL): 1. North Dakota State; 2. James Madison; 3. Sam Houston State; 4. South Dakota State; 5. Weber State; 13. Southern Utah; 22. Eastern Washington. The Eagles set a school record with an average of 10,123 fans per game in 2017 (50,617 in five games), besting the previous record of 9,577 set in five home games in Eastern had its fifth-most fans in school history against MSU (11,301), No. 8 against Sacramento State (10,917), No. 17 versus North Dakota State (10,231) and No. 23 against Weber State (9,451). Eastern had 8,717 fans at their home finale versus Portland State, ranking 32nd and giving EWU 25 consecutive sell-outs and 37 total in school history (crowds of 8,600 or more). 39

23 FCS Playoffs Record: 7-4 (3-2 Home/4-2 Away, 0-0 Neutral) Big Sky Record: 6-2/t-3rd (3-1 Home, 3-1 Away) Date Opponent Result Attendance Sep 2 at Texas Tech L, Sep 9 #2 NORTH DAKOTA STATE L, Sep 16 at Fordham W, *Sep 23 at Montana W, *Sep 30 SACRAMENTO STATE W, *Oct 7 at UC Davis W, *Oct 14 MONTANA STATE W, *Oct 21 at Southern Utah L, *Nov 4 #19 WEBER STATE L, *Nov 11 at North Dakota W, *Nov 18 PORTLAND STATE W, *Big Sky Conference Game. TEAM STATISTICS EWU OPP SCORING Points Per Game Points Off Turnovers FIRST DOWNS Rushing Passing Penalty RUSHING YARDAGE Yards gained rushing Yards lost rushing Rushing Attempts Average Per Rush Average Per Game TDs Rushing PASSING YARDAGE Comp-Att-Int Average Per Pass Average Per Catch Average Per Game TDs Passing TOTAL OFFENSE Total Plays Average Per Play Average Per Game KICK RETURNS: #-Yards PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards INT RETURNS: #-Yards KICK RETURN AVERAGE PUNT RETURN AVERAGE INT RETURN AVERAGE FUMBLES-LOST PENALTIES-Yards Average Per Game PUNTS-Yards Average Per Punt Net punt average KICKOFFS-Yards Average Per Kick Net kick average TIME OF POSSESSION/Game 26:50 33:10 3RD-DOWN Conversions 76/165 67/173 3rd-Down Pct 46% 39% 4TH-DOWN Conversions 7/18 16/28 4th-Down Pct 39% 57% SACKS BY-Yards MISC YARDS 1 17 TOUCHDOWNS SCORED FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS ON-SIDE KICKS RED-ZONE SCORES (38-45) 84% (37-49) 76% RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS (30-45) 67% (34-49) 69% PAT-ATTEMPTS (47-48) 98% (44-46) 96% ATTENDANCE Games/Avg Per Game 5/ /17972 Neutral Site Games 0/0 SCORING BY QUARTER 1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT Total/Avg. Eastern Washington /34.5 Opponents /33.4 RUSHING G Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Av/G Antoine Custer Jr Sam McPherson Gage Gubrud Dennis Merritt Tamarick Pierce Eric Barriere Nsimba Webster Nic Sblendorio Ashanti Kindle Jayson Williams Brett Thompson Johnny Edwards IV Zach Eagle Jayce Gilder Team Totals Opponents PASSING G Effic Att Cmp Int Pct Yds TD Lng Av/G Gage Gubrud Eric Barriere Sam McPherson Jayson Williams Totals Opponents RECEIVING G No. Yds Avg TD Long Av/G Nic Sblendorio Nsimba Webster Zach Eagle Antoine Custer Jr Jayson Williams Sam McPherson Terence Grady Talolo Limu-Jones Dre Sonte Dorton Stu Stiles Jayce Gilder Johnny Edwards IV Gage Gubrud Tamarick Pierce Henderson Belk Totals Opponents FIELD GOALS FG FGA Pct Lg Blk Roldan Alcobendas SCORING TD FGs Kick 2PR 2PC 2PP DXP Saf Pts Roldan Alcobendas Antoine Custer Jr Gage Gubrud Sam McPherson Nsimba Webster Nic Sblendorio Talolo Limu-Jones Dre Sonte Dorton Jayce Gilder Henderson Belk Eric Barriere Dennis Merritt Zach Eagle Terence Grady Jayson Williams Tamarick Pierce Brandyn Bangsund Totals Opponents

24 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: PUNTING No. Yds Avg Long TB FC I Blk Jordan Dascalo Roldan Alcobendas Brandyn Bangsund Gage Gubrud Totals Opponents KICKOFFS No. Yds Avg TB OB Retn Net YdLn Roldan Alcobendas Jordan Dascalo Brandyn Bangsund Andre Slyter Totals Opponents TOTAL OFFENSE G Plays Rush Pass Total Av/G Gage Gubrud Antoine Custer Jr Sam McPherson Eric Barriere Dennis Merritt Tamarick Pierce Nsimba Webster Nic Sblendorio Ashanti Kindle Jayson Williams Brett Thompson Johnny Edwards IV Jayce Gilder Zach Eagle Team Totals Opponents PUNT RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD Long Zach Eagle Totals Opponents KICK RETURNS No. Yds Avg TD Long Dre Sonte Dorton Antoine Custer Jr Calin Criner Nsimba Webster Josh Lewis Nzuzi Webster Totals Opponents INTERCEPTIONS No. Yds Avg TD Long Josh Lewis Victor Gamboa Jake Hoffman Totals Opponents FUMBLE RET. No. Yds Avg TD Long Jack Sendelbach Totals Opponents ALL PURPOSE G Rush Rec PR KOR IR Tot Avg. Antoine Custer Jr Nic Sblendorio Dre Sonte Dorton Nsimba Webster Sam McPherson Zach Eagle Gage Gubrud Jayson Williams Terence Grady Talolo Limu-Jones Stu Stiles Dennis Merritt Tamarick Pierce Jayce Gilder Johnny Edwards IV Calin Criner Eric Barriere Jake Hoffman Nzuzi Webster Josh Lewis Victor Gamboa Henderson Belk Ashanti Kindle Brett Thompson Team Totals Opponents DEFENSE GP UT AT Tot TFL-Yd S-Yd Int Yd PBU QBH FR-Yd FF Blk Mitch Fettig Kurt Calhoun Ketner Kupp Keenan Williams Tysen Prunty Josh Lewis Albert Havili Jack Sendelbach Dylan Ledbetter Jake Hoffman Anfernee Gurley Cole Karstetter Nzuzi Webster Victor Gamboa Jonah Jordan Calin Criner Marcus Saugen Andre Lino Chris Ojoh Rudolph Mataia Jr Brandon Montgomery Conner Baumann D londo Tucker Andrew Katzenberger John Kreifels Darnell Hogan Keith Moore Dennis Merritt Dehonta Hayes Conor McKenna Ashanti Kindle Jay-Tee Tiuli Nsimba Webster Adam Gascoyne Gage Gubrud Dre Sonte Dorton Jordan Dascalo Talolo Limu-Jones Zach Eagle Brett Thompson Jayce Gilder Johnny Edwards IV Spencer Blackburn Jayson Williams Joe Lang Miquel Perez Kaleb Levao Curtis Billen Totals Opponents

25 FCS Playoffs SEASON OUTLOOK: Eastern Works Out Kinks With Base Built 42 Eagles hope details and work ethic in the off-season will help them turn the corner in 2018 and Leave No Doubt It s year two of the Aaron Best regime, and familiarity is no longer an issue. In fact, in 2017 it s entrenched. The Eastern Washington University football program won seven of its last nine games a year ago and will hope to ride momentum and experience into the 2018 season and beyond. In Best s first year as head coach, enough was the same to put the Eagles on the cusp of a postseason playoff berth and the league championship. But this year, with his coaching staff returning intact and 28 seniors leading the way, the sky is the limit. In the second year of anything, you try to find the kinks in the hose and you work those kinks out, Best explained. We want to continue to build the base off our first year when we had a new coaching staff and the landscape was different for the players we were coaching. Because 17 was 17 and it s a whole different team in 18. A total of 56 returning letterwinners will be on hand this fall. Getting denied a 13th NCAA Football Championship Playoff berth by the selection committee has only added fuel to the fire, and the team s motto for the season is Leave No Doubt. We are working our tails off in the off-season and leadership is already ahead of where it was last year just based on the sheer numbers of veterans we have coming back, he continued. There are more voices and guys listening. Hopefully it s the details and work in the off-season and pre-season that will help us be successful when we get to our opener in September. There is no shortage of returning experience, with a dozen Eagles back who have earned All-Big Sky Conference honors in the last two seasons. Nine starters are back on offense and eight are back on defense, but a total of 15 defensive players and 17 on offense return with starting experience. Each side of the ball has 182 starts back. I do know we will be older, but it doesn t necessarily mean we are going to be better, said Best. We re not going to be better or stronger just because we re a year older. But once you apply another year of experience through this coming September, October and November, then we ll have the entire amount of data to see where we go from there. We re older, and hopefully that makes us wiser, tougher, stronger and hungry based on our outcome last year. The Eagles overcame a rash of injuries to win seven games, and, in some ways, that made the year extremely special for Best. His debut season was even better than those of previous Eagle head coaches Beau Baldwin (6-5), Paul Wulff (6-5) and Mike Kramer (4-7). Eastern secured a school-record 11th-straight winning season and had yet another outstanding Big Sky Conference campaign in After finishing 6-2, the Eagles have won 46 of Senior Center and Team Co-Captain SPENCER BLACKBURN & Junior Running Back ANTOINE CUSTER JR.

26 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: their last 54 league games. We have experience coming back and the entire coaching staff is intact. So change won t be a factor in why things are the way they are, said Best. We re also a little salty from finishing 7-4 and having to watch the playoffs from home. I ll be honest, we felt like we earned the opportunity to be in the field of 24. Like our motto says, leave no doubt is a small reminder that in 11 weeks of work if you finish 7-4 you could be watching on TV. That s a taste we don t want in our mouth and aren t used to, so we are out to earn the eighth win and beyond. The Eagles finished in a tie for third in the Big Sky and have finished 5-3 or better in the last 11 seasons. Overall, Eastern has had 20 winning campaigns in the last 22 years. But with nine league titles and a national championship on their resume, the bar is set high for the Eagles. Best will lean on 28 seniors to help get Eastern over that hump. It s a combination of scholarship players and non-scholarship players, and players we added the past couple of seasons, he explained of EWU s latest senior class that totaled just 14 in 2017 and 12 the year before that. It s kind of an eclectic bunch with a nucleus of players from our 2014 recruiting class. But that s a lot of seniors and a lot of bodies. When you travel 60, that s conceivably half our team. Nevertheless, Best looks to the rest of the squad to push the seniors and experienced players for repetitions. Eastern has more than Senior Safety and Team Co-Captain MITCH FETTIG a dozen redshirt freshmen hungry for playing time, plus a talented group of incoming first-year Eagles. The challenge for any team laden with juniors and seniors is trying to let the young players know that if they play well enough we ll find them reps, he said. Whether it s on special teams or at a position or a combination of both we want them to compete to be a starter even though there is a returning player at their position. Last time I checked, competitors compete. If they are waiting for their turn, they have the wrong mindset. Now that we have a ton of seniors this year, it s not going to play out any differently. DEFENSE... Improved turnover margin includes increasing the 13 takeaways registered in 2017 The credit and blame for turnover margin can go both ways. Regardless, Best wants his team to improve that on both sides of the ball. Eastern is 41-0 since 2010 when winning the turnover battle. If we get the ball out and take care of it, it s been proven here at this institution that we win, Best said. We were better late in the season than we were earlier in the year. We started holding onto the ball a little better and we got it out a few more times on defense and special teams. We will continue to drive that home. Eastern finished the 2017 season ranked 105th out of 123 FCS schools in both turnover margin (-0.91 per game) and turnovers gained (13 with six interceptions and seven fumble recoveries). Eastern s 23 giveaways (14 interceptions and nine fumbles) ranked 90th. On defense we have to be more stout and get the ball out, Best said. We only had six interceptions last year, and we re too long in the tooth, savvy and experienced in the back-end not to be able to get more. We need to read routes better, get tips and read the quarterback in order for us to make more plays. We don t want to be just average, we want to be great. We need to be more ballhawking while the ball is in the air, and we need to tie that into getting more pressures on quarterbacks. Led by senior safety and team co-captain Mitch Fettig, the Eagles feel their secondary is ready for a big year. Starting senior cornerback Josh Lewis and starting senior rover Cole Karstetter are among the total of 11 returning letterwinners at defensive back four with starting experience. Fettig was a third-team All-Big Sky selection as a junior after earning honorable mention as a sophomore, and Lewis earned honorable mention honors in Fettig has started a team-best 33 times in his 34-game career, with 231 tackles, five interceptions and 12 passes broken up. In 2017 he averaged

27 FCS Playoffs tackles per game (team-leading total of 92) to rank 61st nationally and ninth in the Big Sky. Lewis has started 21 career games, and has 89 tackles, five interceptions and 11 passes broken up in 36 games as an Eagle. A year ago he had 52 tackles, a team-leading three interceptions and five other PBUs. Karstetter missed most of the 2016 season with a Achilles injury, but has started 14 of the 24 games he s played in his career, with 31 tackles a year ago to give him 80 in his career. At cornerback, senior Nzuzi Webster has 25 games of starting experience, and sixth-year senior D londo Tucker has nine starts. Tucker received a sixth-year from the NCAA after having most of one season and all of another wiped out because of injuries. Junior Brandon Montgomery also returns at that position. Webster earned third team All-Big Sky honors in 2016, and has 22 career passes broken up to rank eighth in school history. He has 133 total tackles and a pair of interceptions in 38 career games, with 31 tackles and seven passes broken up in Tucker was injured in September of 2017 and missed the rest of the year, but has 57 total tackles, three interceptions, a sack and 12 passes broken up in his 35-game career. Montgomery chipped in 15 tackles and four passes broken up in At safety, junior Tysen Prunty has four games of starting experience and sophomore Anfernee Gurley started one during a magnificent season as a true freshman. Sophomore Calin Criner and junior Dehonta Hayes are also back. In 2017, Prunty ranked fifth on the team in tackles with 52, and also broke-up a pair of passes. Gurley finished with 37 tackles, three PBUs and two forced fumbles while doing much of his damage on special teams en route to earning third team All-Big Sky honors and first team Freshman All-America accolades. Criner chipped in 22 tackles and Hayes had six. Sophomore Kedrick Johnson is the 11th returning letterwinner in the secondary, and played in five games in Six linebackers also return, including senior starters Ketner Kupp and Kurt Calhoun. Kupp, one of five senior co-captains, has started 13 of the 33 career games he s played. He has 152 career tackles with 2 1/2 sacks after finishing with 66 stops in eight games as a junior. Calhoun has played in 26 career games and has started 11, and has 121 tackles with 3 1/2 sacks in his career. He finished the 2017 season with 73 tackles to rank second on the team, and had 1 1/2 sacks, three passes broken up and two forced fumbles. Juniors Jack Sendelbach and Andrew Katzenberger also return with experience, with Sendelbach owning four starts. Also back is sophomore Chris Ojoh, who played significantly on defense and special teams as a true freshman in 2017, and junior Trevor Davis Jr. Sendelbach has 65 tackles in his 24-game career, and in a victory over North Dakota in 2017 he earned Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week honors as a replacement for Calhoun. Sendelbach had 11 tackles in that game and 49 on the season with a pair of sacks, and also had three fumble recoveries in 2017 to rank ninth in FCS. Katzenberger finished with 13 tackles in 2017, and Ojoh had 18. Davis was injured and didn t play in 2017, but lettered in 2016 when he played in 11 games and had 13 tackles. A trio of starters are back on the defensive line, as well as one from Senior Jay-Tee Tiuli was an injury redshirt in 2017 after starting at nose guard in 2016 and earning first team All-Big Sky honors. He has played in 36 career games (11 as a starter), and has had 77 total tackles with 8 1/2 sacks, three quarterback hurries and two passes deflected. Prior to the 2017 season he earned third team preseason All-America honors from STATS, and first team all-league accolades from College Sports Madness. Tiuli s position was filled in 2017 by Dylan Ledbetter, with senior Jonah Jordan starting six games as an injury replacement at defensive tackle. Now a junior, Ledbetter had eight tackles and a pair of sacks in his starting debut in 2017, and finished the year with 45 tackles and 4 1/2 sacks. Jordan had 24 tackles and 3 1/2 sacks as a junior, giving him a total 42 tackles and 5 1/2 sacks in 28 career games (seven as a starter). Senior Keenan Williams started the entire season at defensive end, and is among the total of 10 returning letterwinners along the line. He finished the 2017 season with 55 tackles to rank fourth on the team and first among EWU defensive linemen. He also had four sacks and a pair of quarterback hurries to go along a fumble recovery. In his 33-game career (19 as a starter), he has 116 tackles with seven sacks. Senior ends Conner Baumann and Nick Senior Quarterback & Team Co-Captain GAGE GUBRUD

28 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Foerstel are back, as well as junior Darnell Hogan. Junior Jim Townsend was redshirted in 2017 after playing in 2016 as a sophomore and 2015 as a true freshman. Baumann has 54 tackles in 35 career games with a pair of sacks, and Foerstel has 20 stops and two sacks in 23 games as an Eagle. Hogan had eight tackles in 2017 and Townsend had 13 with a sack in Inside, sophomores Keith Moore and Rudolph Mataia return. Moore, an imposing 6-foot-4, 290 pounds, had seven tackles in his debut season as an Eagle, and Mataia had 16. Eastern had 28 sacks a year ago in 11 games after finishing with 35 in 14 games in In both seasons the Eagles averaged 2.5 sacks per game, but the 2016 squad featured Samson Ebukam, who is now with the Los Angeles Rams after having 24 career sacks as an Eagle. We were solid in the sack department even with the loss of Samson, but we can be better, said Best. And that will help us in the back-end in getting a quarterback uneasy in the pocket and off his mark. We want him to make mistakes so our secondary can feast. Besides turnovers, Eastern also wants to improve upon a defense which ranked 115th overall out of 123 FCS schools with an average of yards per game. However, Eastern s red zone defense ranked 34th nationally. On defense we want to be more consistent, Best said. Part of that is getting the ball out, but also holding teams in the red zone and between the 20 s. We were pretty good in the red zone last year and we need to build on that. But we need to tighten the screws a little bit between the 20 and 20. We can t just rely on our red zone defense we re all in for stopping teams at the 50. OFFENSE... Maintaining top five position in FCS in productivity and limiting turnovers the goal in 2018 The Eagles were once again potent on offense, ranking fifth in FCS with an average of yards per game. Eastern s third down conversion percentage was 11th at 46.1 percent, and Best hopes his offense can maintain if not improve that mark in The challenge to me is to always get a little better at things you weren t good at, but just because you are good at something doesn t mean you are going to replicate that again, he explained. Our third down percentage was off the charts, and when you have a percentage that high you are going to give yourself a chance to win because you are going to move the sticks. Eastern had 14 interceptions on offense, which is more than Best cared for the Eagles to have. We threw the ball to the other team too many times, he explained. When you are talking about being in the mid-teens, that s more than one a game and that s too many. We want to go about improving that in a positive way because we want to stay aggressive with our approach on offense. We want to learn from RETURNING ALL-BIG SKY PERFORMERS 2nd Team #Quarterback - Gage Gubrud - McMinnville, Ore. 2nd Team Running Back - #28 - Antoine Custer Jr. - Berkeley, Calif. 2nd Team ~Center - #75 - Spencer Blackburn - Bellingham, Wash. 2nd Team Return Specialist - #87 - Dre Sonte Dorton - Pasco, Wash. 3rd Team Wide Receiver - #5 - Nsimba Webster - Antioch, Calif. 3rd Team ^Safety - #13 - Mitch Fettig - Olympia, Wash. 3rd Team Special Teams - #34 - Anfernee Gurley - Everett, Wash. HM ^Offensive Guard - #65 - Tristen Taylor - Stockton, Calif. HM Running Back - #20 - Sam McPherson - Bothell, Wash. HM Cornerback - #1 - Josh Lewis - Lakewood, Wash. 1st Team (2016) Defensive Tackle - #99 - Jay-Tee Tiuli - Seattle, Wash. 3rd Team (2016) Cornerback - #6 - Nzuzi Webster - Antioch, Calif. #Big Sky MVP & First Team All-Big Sky in ~Second Team All-Big Sky in ^Honorable mention All-Big Sky in *Has used redshirt year. it and help make our players make plays. We want to applaud the other team s defense for getting the ball out, not because it was hand-wrapped and gifted to them by us. Senior preseason All-America quarterback Gage Gubrud followed a record-breaking, honor-filled sophomore season with a solid junior season. The two-time team co-captain is backed up by strong-armed sophomore Eric Barriere, who saw action in five games as a redshirt freshman including one as a starter. A second team All-Big Sky selection in 2017 after winning MVP honors as a sophomore, Gubrud is a two-time finalist for the Walter Payton Award presented by STATS to the top offensive player in FCS. He was second in FCS in total offense per game (357.8) and fourth in passing yards per game (334.2) as a junior, after leading in both passing and total offense (368.6 and 411.0, respectively) in Most importantly, Gubrud is 17-6 in 23 games as a starter, and in 27 total games as an Eagle he has 9,441 yards of total offense and 8,568 passing yards. A duplication of last year s totals (3,578 total offense and 3,342 passing) and he ll challenge Big Sky records owned by former Eagle Matt Nichols (13,308 total offense and 12,616 passing). Barriere saw action in five games as a freshman, and led EWU to a victory at North Dakota in his only start. He completed 13-of- 23 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, and rushed 15 times for 55 yards in that game, while getting sacked only once and committing no turnovers. At running back, the Eagles return junior Antoine Custer Jr. He started 10 Eastern games, and senior Sam McPherson started the other. Juniors Tamarick Pierce and Dennis Merritt are also returning letterwinners. Custer has started 16 career games in two seasons as an Eagle, and has 1,192 yards on the ground, 463 receiving and 499 on kickoff returns for a total of 2,154 all-purpose yards (89.8 per game) in 24 games. He earned second team All-Big Sky honors in 2017 when he finished with 776 yards and 10 TDs on the ground. 45

29 FCS Playoffs One of five team co-captains in 2018, McPherson added 477 rushing yards in 2017 and has career totals of 649 on the ground, 448 receiving and 1,259 all-purpose yards in 30 games. He earned honorable mention All-Big Sky honors as a junior. Pierce has 287 rushing yards in 21 career games, and Merritt has 126 in 13 outings. Eastern s running game has made strides, but Best a former offensive lineman still wants that phase of Eastern s game to improve. Eastern averaged rushing yards per game and 4.4 per carry a year ago. We upped our yardage per game and per carry, but it needs to be and will be better, he said. Anywhere between 175 and 180 per game would be a good number, but we re still trying to hit that 4.5 per carry mark. When you add in quarterbacks, running backs and tackles for loss, you have a pretty productive run offense if you are averaging 4.5. So it s not necessarily yards per game which is most important, it s yards per carry. The Eagles return plenty of targets for Gubrud to throw to, including 2017 starters Nsimba Webster and Zach Eagle. They are seniors, as well as Terence Grady, who also has starting experience. Webster has started 12 of the 29 games he s played in his career, and was a third team All-Big Sky selection in He was 36th in FCS in receptions (5.4 per game, total of 59) and 68th in yards (63.0, total of 693) in 2017, giving him 72 receptions for 854 yards and seven scores as an Eagle. Junior Jayson Williams also has starting experience, and junior Dre Sonte Dorton and sophomore Johnny Edwards IV also are back as returning letterwinners. Williams caught 20 passes for 252 yards and a touchdown in 2017, while Dorton finished with 10 catches for 164 yards and two scores. Edwards had six grabs for 72 yards as a true freshman. In addition, sophomore Talolo Limu- Jones has been converted from tight end to wide receiver. He proved to be a big target for the Eagles with four touchdown catches among his 11 catches for 148 yards in A pair of tight ends are back, including junior starter Jayce Gilder. Senior Henderson Belk also has significant experience as a returning letterwinner. Gilder caught six passes for 74 Junior Wide Receiver & Kickoff Returner DRE SONTE DORTON yards and two scores in 2017, and Belk had two for nine yards and a TD. After losing seven senior offensive linemen in 2015, the Eagles rebuilt their line in 2016 and 2017 around center Spencer Blackburn. Now a senior team co-captain, he has been a second team All-Big Sky selection in each of the past two seasons. A year ago, Eastern was fifth in FCS in total offense (476.7 per game), and was also eighth in passing (320.5), 14th in scoring (34.5) and 11th in third down conversions (46.1 percent). Juniors Tristen Taylor and Chris Schlichting both return with 25 career starts on their resumes. Both can play either guard or tackle, with Taylor an All-Big Sky honorable mention selection in both 2016 and starting at guard last year while Schlichting started at tackle. Senior guard Matt Meyer missed much of the 2017 season with an injury, but has 16 games of starting experience to his credit. Guard Jack Hunter is also a senior and has 12 career starts. Other returning letterwinners back along the offense line are senior Kaleb Levao, junior Will Gram and sophomores Nicholas Blair and Conner Crist. Sophomore D.J. Dyer is also back after redshirting in 2017 and playing as a true freshman in A former tight end, senior Beau Byus is expected to play on the offensive line exclusively in 2018, giving EWU a total of 11 letterwinners back at that position. SPECIAL TEAMS... Eagles feature returning kickers and long snapper, but punter a question The return of Roldan Alcobendas as a sixth-year senior should add some consistency to Eastern s kicking game, as well as the availability of senior Brandyn Bangsund. Senior long snapper Curtis Billen is back for his fourth and final year as EWU s snapper. In his 29-game career, Alcobendas has scored 201 points to rank third in school history in points kicking. He made 20-of-31 field goals and 141-of-146 extra points in his career, including a school-record string of consecutive career extra points made at 85. In the 2017 season, he made 46-of-47 extra point attempts and 10-of-14 field goals. He also handled kickoff duties much of the season, and averaged 59.8 yards on 39 kicks in 2017 with seven touchbacks. In his career, he has 107 kickoffs for a 57.4 average (6,143 total yards) with 17 touchbacks. Bangsund has played in 17 games, and has made 22 extra points and a 29-yard field goal. He and Alcobendas could also punt if needed, but newcomer Trevor Bowens could also be the replacement for departed first team All-Big Sky Conference punter Jordan Dascalo. The Eagles also have back a quartet of players with considerable experience returning kicks. Most notable is junior Dre Sonte Dorton, who averaged 27.4 yards on 22 returns to finish ranked ninth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision and ninth

30 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: in school history. A second team All-Big Sky selection as a return specialist, he had returns of 96 (touchdown), 51, 51, 49 and 38 in Dorton will enter 2018 with the fourth-best career average all-time at EWU (26.7). The team was ninth in FCS at 24.3 per return in 2017, but also has back two other top-notch kickoff returners from the 2016 season. As a true freshman, Antoine Custer Jr. averaged 26.7 yards on 14 kickoff returns with a touchdown, with long returns of 93, 55 and 35 yards. Teammate Nsimba Webster had a 65-yard return against UC Davis, but broke his clavicle in the process. Webster had a 25.3 average per return in 2016, and EWU s 21.7 average as a team that season ranked fourth in the Big Sky and 25th nationally. Senior Zach Eagle returns in 2018 to handle punt returner chores again. Thanks to a career-long 33-yard return in EWU s final game of the season against Portland State, he ranked 31st in FCS with an average of 6.8 yards per punt return. SCHEDULE... Eagles will play Idaho in Cheney for the first time since 1994 There will be plenty of interest on the Palouse this fall as EWU s schedule is highlighted by a Sept. 15 non-conference game at Washington State and an Oct. 27 Big Sky Conference home match-up with Idaho. The game versus the Cougars is a rematch of a Eagle upset to open the 2016 season on Sept. 3, In the first start of his Eagle career, Gage Gubrud had what was then a school-record 551 yards of total offense, passing for 474 yards and five touchdowns, and rushing for another 77 and a game-clinching score. The University of Idaho will join the Big Sky in football in 2018, and EWU will play the Vandals on Oct. 27, in the first meeting between the two schools since 2012 when Eastern won in Moscow The last time the former league rivals met in a Big Sky game was in 1995 when the Vandals prevailed and the last time they met in Cheney was After finishing 5-3 in league play a year ago en route to an overall 7-4 finish, Eastern s eight Big Sky Conference foes this coming season combined for a record overall and, including Idaho in the Sun Belt, were in league play in Eastern will play back-to-back games in October versus the 2017 Big Sky co-champions, Southern Utah and Weber State, who were a collective 20-6 overall and 14-2 in the Big Sky. The Eagles will actually play a ninth Big Sky foe when EWU starts a home-and-home series with Northern Arizona. The first meeting will be in Flagstaff, Ariz., on Sept. 8, and the return game will come two years later in Cheney, Wash., on Sept. 19, The two teams didn t play in 2017, and NAU finished 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the league. The Eagles open the 2018 season on Sept. 1 versus regional rival Central Washington in the 69th all-time meeting between the two schools, with kickoff scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Pacific time at Roos Field. Eastern is against Central, which is an NCAA Division II school located in Ellensburg, Wash. Once fierce NAIA rivals in the Evergreen Conference, the Eagles and Wildcats have not played each other since 2010, and have met just seven times since EWU moved to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (then I-AA) in Eastern has won eight of the last nine meetings in a series which started in Central s current quarterback is former Eagle Reilly Hennessey, who directed CWU to an 11-1 record and perfect 8-0 mark in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in He completed 67 percent of his passes for 2,551 yards and 28 touchdowns as CWU lost its lone game in the first round of the NCAA Division I Playoffs. On Sept. 8, Eastern will take a all-time series into its game against NAU, with Eastern winning in Flagstaff on Sept. 24, 2016, in a meeting between the fourth-ranked Eagles and the 26th-ranked Lumberjacks. Eastern was also ranked fourth when the two teams met on Nov. 7, 2015, in Cheney, but EWU was defeated to end its six-game winning streak. The last time EWU and NAU played in a nonconference game came in 1986 the year before the Eagles joined the league. When Eastern visits Washington State on Sept. 15 at 5 p.m. on the Pac-12 Networks, Eastern will play a WSU team coming off a 9-4 finish in The Cougars were 6-3 in the Pac-12 Conference and ended the season with a loss to Michigan State in the Holiday Bowl. Eastern lost the previous three meetings versus WSU dating back to 1907, but between 1921 and 1946 had an 8-10 record versus Washington State freshman or junior varsity squads. Eastern opens league play Sept. 22 at home versus Cal Poly (1-10/1-7 Big Sky) on Hall of Fame Day at EWU. The Eagles then go on the road to play at Montana State (5-6/5-3) in Bozeman in a game televised live regionally by ROOT Sports. Eastern has won the last five meetings versus Cal Poly with a 7-2 all-time record, and are all-time versus the Bobcats with a six-game winning streak. The schedule gets significantly tougher when EWU hosts Southern Utah (9-3/7-1) on Oct. 6 on ROOT Sports and then travels to Ogden, Utah, to play FCS Playoffs semifinalist Weber State (11-3/7-1) on Oct. 13. The Eagles are 6-3 all-time versus the Thunderbirds, but lost a year ago in Cedar City, Utah. Weber State defeated EWU the week after that in Cheney, to snap EWU s five-game winning streak in the series. Eastern is all-time versus the Wildcats. After an open date in the schedule on Oct. 20, Eastern will once again be on ROOT Sports on Sept. 27 in the renewal of a regional rivalry. Idaho (4-8/3-5 Sun Belt) visits Cheney. Eastern hosted Idaho at Albi Stadium in Spokane six times (1999, 1997, 1990, 1988, 1986, 1984) with a pair of wins, and have played in Cheney just three times (1994, 1992, 1942) with no wins versus the Vandals. The Eagles trail in the all-time series 15-6, but have won three of the last five. The Eagles close the regular season with two of their last three on the road Nov. 3 at Northern Colorado (3-7/2-6) and Nov. 16 at Portland State (0-11/0-8) sandwiched around Senior Day at home against UC Davis (5-6/3-5). The Eagles are 11-1 all-time versus the Bears with a 10-game winning streak, and are a perfect 6-0 versus UC Davis. Eastern is against Portland State, but have won the last two, five of the last six and seven of the last nine versus the Vikings. Future Schedules (subject to change and not for publication) 2019 SCHEDULE 8/31/19 at Washington 9/7/19 Open 9/14/19 at Jacksonville St. 9/21/19 Open 9/28/19 North Dakota* 10/5/19 at Sacramento St.* 10/12/19 Northern Colorado* 10/19/19 Open 10/26/19 at Montana* 11/2/19 Northern Arizona* 11/9/19 at Idaho State* 11/16/19 at Cal Poly* 11/23/19 Portland State* Also... 9/5/20 at Florida 9/12/20 Western Illinois 9/19/20 Northern Arizona 9/11/21 Jacksonville State 9/18/21 at Western Illinois 9/3/22 at Oregon 47

31 FCS Playoffs Gage Gubrud - QB McMinnville, Ore. (McMinnville HS 14) Walter Payton Award Finalist (list of 25 players on voting list for award presented by STATS) Second Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) FCS Performer of the Year Mid-Season Watch List (36 selected by CFB Performance Awards) FCS Offensive Player of the Week (College Sports Madness/vs. UC Davis 10/ yards & 6 TD passing in victory in rally from 11 points behind in fourth quarter) Honorable Mention FCS Offensive Player of the Week (STATS/vs. UC Davis 10/7) Honorable Mention FCS Performer of the Week (Col. FB Performance Awards/ vs.uc Davis 10/7) FCS Offensive Player of the Week (College Sports Madness/vs. Sacramento State 9/ yards & 5 TD passing, plus 43-yard TD reception in victory) Honorable Mention FCS Offensive Player of the Week (STATS/vs.Sacramento State 9/30) Honorable Mention FCS Performer of the Week (Col. FB Performance Awards/ vs.sac State 9/30) Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Sacramento State 9/30) Honorable Mention FCS Offensive Player of the Week (STATS/vs. Montana 9/23... school records with 549 passing & 460 yards total offense, 4 TD pass, 1 TD rush, in victory) Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Montana 9/23) Homorable Mention FCSOffensive Player of the Week (STATS/vs. Fordham 9/ & 3 TD passing; 70 & 2 TD rushing in victory) Big Sky Offensive Player of the Week (vs. Fordham 9/16) EWU Scholar-Athlete of the Month (September/Management/3.22) Spencer Blackburn - OL - Bellingham, Wash. (Meridian HS 14) Second Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) FCA ADA Academic All-Star Team Nominee (Professional Accounting/3.67) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Professional Accounting/3.67) Academic All-America Nominee (Professional Accounting/3.67) Antoine Custer Jr. - RB - Berkeley, Calif. (De La Salle 16) Honorable Mention Sophomore All-America Team (Hero Sports) Second Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) 2017 HONORS (by returning players) Tristen Taylor - Off. Guard - Stockton, Calif. (Stagg HS 15) Honorable Mention All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Josh Lewis - CB - Lakewood, Wash. (Steilacoom HS 14) Honorable Mention All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Criminal Justice/3.56) Jack Sendelbach - Seattle, Wash. (Blanchet HS 15) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Marketing/3.34) Big Sky Defensive Player of the Week (league office & College Sports Madness/ vs. North Dakota 11/ tackles, 1/2 sack, key fumble recovery in fourth quarter Henderson Belk - TE - Mukilteo, Wash. (Kamiak HS 14) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Professional Accounting/3.67) Academic All-America Nominee (Professional Accounting/3.67) Kurt Calhoun - LB - Zillah, Wash. (Zillah HS 14) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Exercise Science/3.59) Academic All-America Nominee (Exercise Science/3.59) Zach Eagle - WR - Camas, Wash. (Camas HS 14) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Exercise Science/3.91) Academic All-America Nominee (Exercise Science/3.91) 48 Dre Sonte Dorton - Return Specialist/WR - Pasco, Wash. (Chiawana HS 15) Second Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Nsimba Webster - WR - Antioch, Calif. (Deer Valley HS 14) Third Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Anfernee Gurley - Spec. Teams/DB - Everett, Wash. (Archbishop Murphy HS 17) First Team Freshman All-America (Hero Sports) Third Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Mitch Fettig - DB - Olympia, Wash. (Olympia HS 14) Third Team All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Criminal Justice/3.76) Academic All-America Nominee (Criminal Justice/3.76) Sam McPherson - RB - Bothell, Wash. (Bothell HS 15) Honorable Mention All-Big Sky Conference (selected by league head coaches) Big Sky Conference All-Academic (Interdisciplinary Studies/3.75) Academic All-America Nominee (Interdisciplinary Studies/3.75) EWU Scholar-Athlete of the Month (October) Other Big Sky Sky Conference All-Academic Selections (total of 30) Roldan Alcobendas (Marketing/3.22) Curtis Billen (Mechanical Engineering/3.21) Nicholas Blair (Pre-Mechanical Engineering/3.95) Beau Byus (Management/3.25) Calin Criner (Undeclared/3.30) Conner Crist (Communication Studies/3.39) Johnny Edwards IV (Undeclared) Jayce Gilder (Management/3.16) Dehonta Hayes (Communication Studies/3.82) Jonah Jordan (Interdisciplinary Studies/3.31) Cole Karstetter (Professional Accounting/3.56) Andrew Katzenberger (Management/3.35) Ketner Kupp (Management/3.48) Dylan Ledbetter (Interdisciplinary Studies Liberal Arts/3.23) Brandon Montgomery (Marketing/3.24) Tamarick Pierce (Undeclared/3.39) Tysen Prunty (Communication Studies/3.78) Jayson Williams (Marketing/3.39)

32 BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: CO-CAPTAINS Center Spencer Blackburn (Sr. - Bellingham, Wash.) Quarterback Gage Gubrud (Sr. - McMinnville, Ore.) Running Back Sam McPherson (Sr. - Bothell, Wash.) Safety Mitch Fettig (Sr. - Olympia, Wash.) Linebacker Ketner Kupp (Sr. - Yakima, Wash.) 2017 WEEKLY STARTERS STARTERS - OFF. L. Tackle L. Guard Center R. Guard R. Tackle Quarterback Tailback Tight End Wide Rec. Wide Rec. FB/TE/WR Texas Tech Schlichting Taylor Blackburn Meyer Levao Gubrud Custer Stiles (wr) Sblendorio Grady Nsimba Webster (wr) North Dakota St. Schlichting Taylor Blackburn Meyer Levao Gubrud Custer Belk Sblendorio Grady Nsimba Webster (wr) Fordham Taylor Hunter Blackburn Meyer Schlichting Gubrud Custer Belk Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Montana Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Gilder Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Sacramento St. Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Williams (wr) Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) UC Davis Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud McPherson Gilder Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Montana St. Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Gilder Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Southern Utah Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Williams (wr) Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Weber State Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Gilder Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) North Dakota Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Barriere Custer Gilder Sblendorio Eagle Nsimba Webster (wr) Portland State Thompson Taylor Blackburn Hunter Schlichting Gubrud Custer Williams (wr) Sblendorio Eagle Edwards IV (wr) STARTERS - DEF. Cornerback Cornerback Safety Safety Rover Middle LB Strong LB Buck End Tackle Nose Tackle End Texas Tech Lewis Nzuzi Webster Fettig Hoffman Karstetter Calhoun Sendelbach Havili Lino Tiuli Williams North Dakota St. Lewis Tucker Fettig Hoffman Karstetter Calhoun Sendelbach Havili Lino Tiuli Williams Fordham. Lewis Tucker Fettig Hoffman Karstetter Calhoun Sendelbach Havili Lino Ledbetter Williams Montana. Lewis Tucker Fettig Hoffman Karstetter Calhoun Kupp Havili Ledbetter Lino Williams Sacramento St.. Lewis Nzuzi Webster Fettig Hoffman Karstetter Calhoun Kupp Havili Jordan Lino Williams UC Davis. Lewis Nzuzi Webster Fettig Hoffman Gurley (nickel) Calhoun Kupp Havili Jordan Ledbetter Williams Montana St. Lewis Gamboa Fettig Prunty Karstetter Calhoun Kupp Havili Jordan Ledbetter Williams Southern Utah Lewis Gamboa Fettig Prunty Karstetter Calhoun Kupp Havili Jordan Ledbetter Williams Weber State Lewis Gamboa Fettig Prunty Karstetter Calhoun Kupp Havili Jordan Ledbetter Williams North Dakota Lewis Gamboa Fettig Prunty Karstetter Sendelbach Kupp Havili Jordan Ledbetter Williams Portland State Lewis Gamboa Fettig Hoffman Kreifels Calhoun Kupp Havili Lino Ledbetter Saugen 2017 WEEKLY TEAM AWARDS Players of the Week Scout Team Players of the Week Offense Defense Special Teams Offense Defense Special Teams Texas Tech Terence Grady Mitch Fettig Dennis Merritt Marques Hampton Jr. Victor Gamboa Adam Gascoyne North Dakota St. None Andre Lino Roldan Alcobendas Gunner Talkington Conor McKenna A. Pasesa Leiato Fordham Offensive Line Dylan Ledbetter/ Anfernee Gurley Roy Ebong Defensive Line Miquel Perez Albert Havili Montana Nic Sblendorio Josh Lewis Calin Criner Andrew Boston Amir Matheney Dylan Ingram Sacramento St. Antoine Custer Jr. Keenan Williams Dre Sonte Dorton Dylan Ingram Mitchell Johnson Marques Hampton Jr. UC Davis Gage Gubrud Keenan Williams Jack Sendelbach Andrew Boston Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Johnson Montana St. Antoine Custer Jr. Albert Havili Curtis Billen Jordan Laurencio Conor McKenna Jordan Laurencio Southern Utah Nic Sblendorio Tysen Prunty Dre Sonte Dorton Jim Townsend Ryan Nilles Andrew Boston Weber State Antoine Custer Jr. Dylan Ledbetter Talolo Limu-Jones Andrew Boston Cale Lindsay Roy Ebong Sam McPherson North Dakota Sam McPherson Jack Sendelbach Jordan Dascalo Gage Gubrud Mitchell Johnson Marques Hampton Jr. Portland State Nic Sblendorio Victor Gamboa Jordan Dascalo Gunner Talkington Mitchell Johnson None 49