Eastern Illinois football will play on a new surface this fall at O'Brien Field as the athletic department finished the summer installation of a new Astro Turf playing surface with the Panthers practicing on it for the first time this fall on Saturday evening.
"We are thrilled to have a brand-new surface at O'Brien," said head coach
Chris Wilkerson. " The new playing surface is amazing. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work by individuals and groups to create a surface for our players that looks great, but more importantly, is safe. We are fortunate to have one of the best artificial surfaces in all of college football. This is the first step towards some of our lofty goals with facilities and restoring our storied proud football tradition."
The project took place during the summer months and replaces the previous turf surface which was installed in 2012. The new surface is the Astro Turf RootZone 3D3 blend.
"We are happy to work with Eastern Illinois on the new installation of our Astro Turf product," said Aaron Klotz, Great Lakes Region Representative for Astro Turf. "EIU has installed our Astro Turf RootZone 3D3 blend which improves safety, playability and durability."
"The installation of a new playing surface is something that both our student-athletes and fans will appreciate," said EIU Athletic Director Tom Michael. "When our players were able to step foot on the new surface for practice on Saturday evening, you could see the look of excitement in their eyes and hear it in their voices. The new surface pops and I think that will be the first thing fans see when they come to games at O'Brien Field this fall. Once again, we want to continue to provide our student-athletes with the best possible experience we can, and this new surface is a step towards enhancing that experience."
EIU opens the regular season on Aug. 31 at Indiana State. The home opener for the Panthers will be on Saturday, Sept. 16 against Illinois State in the Mid-America Classic.
