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| | Saturday, September 2 Eagles plan on going to Church often | |||||
| By George Porter Special to ESPN.com Eastern Michigan Eagles 1999 record:4-7 (4-4 MAC) Coach: Jeff Woodruff Returning starters: 14 (7 offense, 7 defense) Outlook Former Arizona assistant Jeff Woodruff takes over a struggling program, but that doesn't mean there aren't some good things here. Quarterback Walt Church will end up owning several Eastern Michigan passing records that Charlie Batch held. He threw for over 2,000 yards last season, but only eight TDs compared to 10 interceptions. In all fairness, though, he was doing it without much of a running game. The Eagles were last in the MAC in rushing and ran for just 909 yards -- as a team. John White had a good spring and give the Eagles hope for somewhat of a rushing attack this season. Church's top targets last year graduated and the bad news is there isn't much on the horizon. The good news is four-fifths of the line returns so Church may have a little more time to wait for the young receivers to get open. The defense is solid, let by junior linebackers Kent Philpot and Scott Russell. Philpot lead the team with six sacks followed by Russell with four. Other than Philpot and Russell, the rest of the defense is shaky. The secondary is very inexperienced and will face a tough early test Sept. 9 when the Eagles travel to play the University of Miami and preseason All-American wide receiver Santana Moss. Keep an eye on ... LB Scott Russell. The 6-1, 235-pound junior has been playing since he was a freshman and has been a little better each season. Last year, he made 22 tackles against Ball State and has the ability to simply take over games. It's a good season if ... The Eagles establish a good running game and Church is able to throw more TDs than interceptions. |
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