Former preferred walk-on LB Myles Mayovsky now veteran of Eastern Washington's defense: 'Experience still matters'

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Sep. 2—On a first-and-10 play from Eastern Washington's 30-yard line with the Eagles ahead by four, Myles Mayovsky did not, technically, do what he was supposed to do when he went after Northern Arizona quarterback Ty Pennington.

And yet Mayovsky, the Eagles' fifth-year starting linebacker, also, instinctually, did exactly what his coaches wanted him to do as a football player.

"We were in our split safety concept, and I saw my tight end down blocking, (and figured it was) probably a play-action shot, so I triggered and went to the quarterback," Mayovsky said of the play early in the fourth quarter of Eastern's 34-27 loss at Northern Arizona on Saturday. "Technically I'm not supposed to do that."

The play didn't go how the Eagles wanted. Mayovsky was a split second late, Pennington got the pass off cleanly and threw over Eastern's double-coverage on Jeter Purdy for a 30-yard touchdown. It turned out to be a crucial play in the Eagles' season-opening loss.

But what Mayovsky did was still correct, said Caleb Padilla, Eastern Washington's linebackers coach and co-defensive coordinator. It was also another sign that Mayovsky has become just the sort of player the Eagles want on their defense, which will look to lead Eastern to its first victory of the season against Northern Iowa this Saturday at Roos Field.

"He is a product of everything that you tried to develop with a guy coming together," Padilla said of Mayovsky, who came to Eastern five years ago as a preferred walk-on. "He's playing at the level that I hoped he could reach."

One of the challenges Padilla has long worked to figure out through his 20 years of coaching is how to help players make decisions instinctually. Linebacker is a difficult position in that regard, serving as a glue between the linemen and the secondary.

It takes time to master it, but not every player, in an era when transferring has never been easier, necessarily has the patience to stick around long enough to learn it.

But Mayovsky has.

"Mayo will be the first to tell you he didn't have a clue what he was doing his first year playing linebacker," Padilla said. "For those (other linebackers) to see Mayo play at a very, very high level now shows (the value of a) commitment to the process and that the growth is coming. College football doesn't just happen right away for people."

What Mayovsky did on that play in Flagstaff is a perfect example of that, Padilla said. The Eagles did an offseason study of play-action looks the Lumberjacks might give them, Padilla said, and they talked about what the linebackers should do in those situations.

"I don't think you can coach robots at the linebacker position," Padilla said. "I think if you try, you will ask guys to play perfectly, and by doing that, they won't play fast enough or confident enough."

So, when Mayovsky chose to attack, he was following a well-honed instinct to read the play. So was Jaylon Jenkins when, on a play in the first half, he drifted back just far enough from his coverage zone in the left flat to let him jump in front of a pass by Pennington for an interception.

"Those are just extensions of those guys having experience and us really trying to give them enough of the bigger picture of the looks that they see so they can execute those kinds of things," Padilla said.

With 36 games of college experience, including 13 starts, Mayovsky is one of the most veteran members of a defense that includes seven players with at least 12 starts for the Eagles.

He first came to Eastern as a preferred walk-on in 2022 after he graduated from Kennewick High School, where he teamed with Bronson Childs, now a senior defensive lineman at Idaho State, under head coach Randy Affholter.

Affholter, who has coached high school football for 33 years, said Child and Mayovsky were some of the best players he ever coached.

"Both of them were such great competitors, fierce competitors," Affholter said. "And the other thing too is they love football. They love the game of football. It's hard to find kids these days who love the game of football."

Affholter said he advised Mayovsky to play at DII Central Washington out of high school, but Mayovsky wanted to play at the Big Sky level.

"My hat is off to him," Affholter said, "because he hung in there when a lot of people walk away when they don't get what they want."

Mayovsky redshirted for the Eagles in 2022 but earned "The Nail" award as EWU Scout Special Teams Player of the Year. His playing time grew over the next two years as he played in every Eagles game in 2023 and 2024. By the spring of his junior year, he'd earned a scholarship.

"The biggest thing for me was once I really bought into the program and the playbook, that's when I started getting more comfortable," Mayovsky said. "Once I was able to play fast out there, that's when I started to excel more."

He earned a starting spot in 2025 and finished with 80 tackles, five pass breakups and one sack.

Then, in the loss at Northern Arizona, Mayovsky set a new career high with 18 tackles, six shy of J.C. Sherritt's single-game program record. It's a number that doesn't lie, Padilla said.

"I think no matter how you twist it, (when you make 18 tackles) you're having a highly productive game," Padilla said.

The Eagles did not get the result they wanted against Northern Arizona, and their nonconference schedule offers no reprieve: Northern Iowa beat the Eagles last year, South Dakota is ranked in the top 15 of the FCS, and a formidable FBS foe — the University of Washington — awaits them after those two Missouri Valley Football Conference opponents.

But the Eagles are banking on the idea that defense will travel, especially one as veteran as theirs.

"Experience still matters," Padilla said. "It matters in coaching and it matters for players, getting those reps. They've defended 20 different plays in that one call, so they have more to pull from in what their response should be in the one second they have to decide."

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