Eastern Illinois football opened up its third spring under head coach
Kim Dameron as the Panthers are coming off a season in which they advanced to the FCS playoffs for the 16th time in school history and were ranked in the final FCS Top 25 polls. EIU opened spring camp on Tuesday and will practice in pads for the first time today in the third of 15 scheduled practice dates for the spring. The Spring Game is set for Saturday, April 23 at O'Brien Field.
The Panthers enter spring practice with nine returning starters on offense, four on defense and three special teams players.
On offense the Panthers biggest question will be replacing two-year starter
Jalen Whitlow at quarterback. The Panthers quarterback battle in the spring will be between returning back-up
Austin Green, Florida International transfer Bud Martin and
Jared Pilson. The Panthers also have quarterback
Mitch Kimble on the roster. Kimble is a transfer from Syracuse who sat out the fall due to injury. In the back field EIU returns second team All-OVC selection
Devin Church. Church led the Panthers in rushing with 743 yards and a team high 36 receptions for 254 yards. He will run behind one of the most experienced lines in the OVC with the Panthers returning four starters and two back-ups that played extensively last season.
Aaron Callaway and
Grant Branch should both compete for the other starting spot to replace
Jimmy Lowery who is graduating in May and transferring to Boston College to finish his final year of eligibility.
On the defensive side of the ball EIU will need to replace a first team All-OVC selection at each level of the defense. The Panthers lost senior All-OVC players
Dino Fanti (DL),
Kamu Grugier-Hill (LB) and
Jourdan Wickliffe (SAF) following last season. In addition the Panthers will have a new defensive coordinator with linebackers coach
Michael Hodges moving into that role. He will be assisted by
DeMarcus Covington as co-defensive coordinators. The Panthers plan to employ a very similar defense to what they have run the past two seasons. Despite the loss of several seniors the Panthers do return the services of the their top two tacklers from last season.
Seth McDonald led EIU with 109 tackles including two sacks and two interceptions.
Bradley Dewberry was second on the team with 73 tackles picking off four passes with five pass-breaks. EIU will have several position battles shape up this spring and in fall camp for the defensive line and secondary.
On special teams EIU returns kicker
Nick Bruno who will look to take over punting duties for the spring. Kickoff specialist
Carlo Mosnia and long snapper
AJ Hantak also return.
EIU opens the 2016 season at home hosting Western Illinois on Thursday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. at O'Brien Field. Season tickets renewals and sales will take place in April.
