Eastern Washington looks to sort out starter as Big Sky teams return experienced players at quarterback

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Jul. 29—Eastern Washington's football team began its preseason practices on Wednesday, and in team drills the first quarterback to take first-team snaps was redshirt junior Nate Bell.

It doesn't set the depth chart for Game 1 at Northern Arizona, but EWU head coach Aaron Best — who saw his team use four quarterbacks during a 5-7 season last year — emphasized the importance of having two top-line quarterbacks heading into this season.

"I am a firm believer that you need two quarterbacks. You can't have one and then a drop-off," Best said. "Nate's going to take the 1s until he doesn't take the 1s, but (redshirt sophomore) Jake (Schakel) is going to take 1 reps (too)," Best said after practice. "It's a competition. A healthy competition."

One offshoot of playing four quarterbacks last year — Jared Taylor, who graduated, and Kaden Rolfsness, now a sophomore, are the other two — is that the Eagles are experienced at the position. They have four on the roster this year, with freshman Brady Annett joining Bell, Schakel and Rolfsness.

But across the 13-team Big Sky, they are hardly alone. And for as much as the Eagles' season depends on their own quarterback play, it will also be defined by how effectively Eastern's defense can slow down the rest of the league's experienced quarterbacks.

"Historically, this league's been blessed with great quarterback play," NAU senior Ty Pennington said during Big Sky media day on Monday. "And that's the same theme this year. It's always fun to go against that competition."

Pennington, the first starting quarterback the Eagles are scheduled to play, is one of the league's four returning 3,000-yard passers. Pennington, now a senior, threw for 3,116 yards, 19 touchdowns and four interceptions as a junior last season. Eastern and NAU did not play last year, though Pennington threw for 319 yards and a score in a 30-18 victory over the Eagles at the end of the 2024 season.

Montana also returns senior Keali'i Ah Yat (4,070 yards, 33 touchdowns, nine interceptions). Montana State, defending national champion, will again be led by senior Justin Lamson (3,172 yards, 26 touchdowns, three interceptions). Both are scheduled to play at Roos Field in Cheney in October.

Idaho State, who won't play Eastern this regular season, is returning fifth-year quarterback Jordan Cooke (3,052 yards, 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions). And there's also Idaho senior Joshua Wood, who missed the Vandals' game at Eastern last year because of an injury but threw for 1,898 yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions across 10 games in 2025. Eastern is scheduled to visit Idaho on Nov. 7.

"It's big-time having J-Wood back," Idaho fifth-year linebacker Cruz Hepburn said on Monday. "He's a big leader for us on the offensive side of the ball and a guy who has a lot of experience. I think he's going to cause a lot of problems for opposing defenses for sure."

The task of slowing those quarterbacks will fall to the Eastern Washington defense, which Best referred to again on Wednesday as the strength of the team.

That defense returns many key contributors for last year's group that held its eight Big Sky opponents last season to 219.8 passing yards per game, fourth fewest in the league. That included matchups against Lamson, who threw for 270 yards and three scores in a 57-3 rout of the Eagles, and Ah Yat, who had 250 yards and two touchdowns in a 29-24 Grizzlies victory in Missoula.

Redshirt junior Jaylon Jenkins, a preseason All-Big Sky selection at defensive back, said Wednesday that the EWU defense should benefit from the experience its younger players gained last year.

"I feel like we're pretty mature," Jenkins said. "We had a lot of young guys last year, guys that are growing. (Defensive backs) Marcus Nixon, Bryce Smith, Ambrose Marsh, those guys are becoming leaders on the team."

The opportunity to play some of those top quarterbacks again this fall is one Jenkins welcomes.

"With a lot of quarterbacks, you don't really know until you get on the field with them how much zip they've got on the ball or how fast they really are or how big they really are," Jenkins said. "It's cool just to know that I know how this guy plays, and that the little things you might not notice on film, you already know."

As for the Eagles' own quarterbacks, Bell said he is not worried about what the depth chart looks like right now. He is just glad to be at practice and competing again.

"We enjoy playing. We're a good group. I really like my teammates," Bell said. "And bringing Brady (Annett) in, he's a really good kid so I am excited for what he can do as well. But we play ball and leave (the depth chart) up to the coaches."

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