EMU Football Depth Chart and Snap Counts: Week 5
Depth charts, snap counts, notes, and quotes ahead of Central Michigan.
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MAC play is finally here, and Eastern Michigan kicks things off with an important rivalry road game.
Going up against Central Michigan (2-2), EMU (2-2) is looking to capture its first win in Mt. Pleasant since 2011, not to mention trying to get the conference season off on the right foot. Through four games, EMU’s been wanting to prove a lot of things on the field, but is trending in the wrong direction on offense.
Special teams and defense are both off to decent to great starts, but by now, ideally, kinks in the offense should be ironed and pressed out. But now, entering Week 5, game planning with two quarterbacks isn’t exactly how Chris Creighton and his coaching staff wanted to open the conference slate.
As EMU does every Monday, its updated depth chart is published in its weekly game notes. The details of that are spelled out below along with players’ snap counts (via Pro Football Focus), quotes from Creighton at the Monday morning press conference, and some of my notes.
Previous depth charts: Spring/Summer | Week 1 vs. Howard | Week 2 at Minnesota | Week 3 vs. UMass | Week 4 at Jacksonville State
OFFENSE
QUARTERBACK
#4 Austin Smith
#8 Cam’Ron McCoy / #3 Ike Udengwu III
Against Jacksonville State, we finally saw all three quarterbacks in action. Starter Austin Smith and backup Ike Udengwu split time for most of the game, and Cam’Ron McCoy came in for a fourth-down rushing attempt. Smith, sacked five times, was 6/11 throwing for 53 yards and Udengwu went 7/18 for 42 yards; they shared three thrown interceptions.
Nationally, EMU is one of four schools nationally with a yards-per-attempt average under 5 (4.8, 498/103) and is 125th in completion percentage (52.4%).
Said Creighton on Monday: “Our sweet spot is to be able to run the football and throw it, get into our RPOs and our play action, spread people out, then play with 12 personnel and hit people in a lot of different ways and be multi-formational. And we haven’t gotten into a rhythm. Practice is going to be super important this week. We’ve got to, in some ways, go back to some basics and fundamentals and get our timing and our reads and our protections and our routes and all of those things. It’s a little bit of a lot of things moreso than it is one glaring issue for us in our pass game. But we feel as though if we get that going, Austin’s done it before. Got to see Ike some last week too and think he’s a good player. In some ways, you just got to stay with and stay the course and keep getting better at what you do. And some things you’ve got to manipulate, you’ve got to nuance and make some adjustments. So that’s what we’re doing — did last night and today in terms of the week of practicing the gameplan. What things do you just stay with and keep getting better at, and what things do you adapt and change?”
“We’re open to that (using multiple quarterbacks again). We really got to see how this week of practice goes. And, again, we are putting together the gameplan right now and those guys can emphasize different strengths and whatnot. The non-conference season is over, we’re into MAC play now, and didn’t get a full sample of Ike. It was part of one game. Practice this week is going to be really, really important.”
RUNNING BACK
#22 Samson Evans / #28 Jaylon Jackson
Statistically, EMU’s not putting up numbers from its rushing attack that it would’ve liked to have to this point, but a lot of opportunities go away when the pass game throws itself off the field. Nationally, EMU is 80th in rushing average (4.09) and 122nd in total rush attempts per game (28.25). Last year, EMU was just 97th in rush average (3.66), but also ran the ball a lot more often (38.69). New game clock changes might be taking some carries away here too, but becoming a one-dimensional offense has been hurting EMU’s rushing attack right now.
X RECEIVER
#17 JB Mitchell III
#7 Von Swinton
Z RECEIVER
#2 Tanner Knue
#7 Von Swinton
H RECEIVER
#1 WR Hamze El-Zayat
#5 TE Max Reese
Tanner Knue, the team’s leading receiver, was sidelined during Saturday’s action. J.B. Mitchell was plenty featured against Jacksonville State — back in his home state — but the connections were very limited. He was targeted seven times, but was only able to come away with three catches for 23 yards to lead his position room. Von Swinton had three catches for 22 yards, and El-Zayat went catch-less.
Knue leads the team with 119 receiving yards and 15 catches.
Said Creighton on Knue’s status for the week: “Tanner, we’ll have to wait and see. As we go through the week trying to get him into there to practice when he’s able to go. We’re hoping he’ll be ready to go this weekend, but I can’t tell you for sure.”
Y RECEIVER, TIGHT END
#83 Jere Getzinger / #88 Blake Daniels / #85 Andreas Paaske
When asked about Blake Daniels and Max Reese’s on-field abilities, Creighton said: “Blake has worked his tail off to put on weight and strength and has really made himself into a tight end as he continues to get better… he’s a real threat down the field in the pass game — he’s just so long. Now at 245 lbs. he’s able to be a tight end, not just a big-long receiver, so really excited about him and his development. And this is who he is, a great, great human being and has leadership qualities for sure.
“Max, when we recruited him, we said you’re going to be a phenomenal H. Because he’s in that 235 range, can really run, and is strong and powerful. Very comfortable on the outside in running routes. He’s a big target, physical, really smooth, and it just makes him so dangerous when he can be off the ball or attached to the line of scrimmage so you don’t have to take him out of the game. Those guys are different than a Jere (Getzinger) or an Andreas (Paaske), so we have some real diversity in our Y and H group right there.”
LEFT TACKLE
#63 Mickey Rewolinski
#76 Chris Mayo
LEFT GUARD
#54 Zack Conti
#50 Owen Snively
CENTER
#70 Dimitri Douglas
#67 Broderick Roman
RIGHT GUARD
#68 Alex Howie
#75 Carson Lee
RIGHT TACKLE
#77 Brian Dooley
#73 Joshua Anderson
This isn’t a tell-all stat, but it’s decent to use here as a heat check. In tackles for loss allowed, EMU is tied for #105 with a 6.75 clip. There were 4 given up vs. Howard, 5 at Minnesota, 5 vs. UMass, and 13 last week at Jax State.
PFF offensive grades:
Broderick Jordan, 72.4
Brian Dooley, 71.1
Zack Conti, 63.7
Mickey Rewolinski, 61.6
Alex Howie, 61.2
Dan Sunderman, 60.0
Daniel Warnsman, 60.0
Owen Snively, 56.5
Dimitri Douglas, 55.2
“When you think about the offensive line” said Creighton,” you think of Above The Line guys, that means guys you feel comfortable with going into a game and playing. This year we have as many guys above the line as I’ve had in my time here. We do have depth on the offensive line, but it’s not a situation where we’re seven guys in for a series or anything like that.”
DEFENSE
LEO
#11 Mikah Coleman
#49 Jaden Gaines
DEFENSIVE END
#45 Joey Zelinsky
#47 Justin Jefferson
NOSE TACKLE
#94 Peyton Price
#99 Melvin Swindle II
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
#98 Tim Grant-Randall
#74 Jez Janvier
Mikah Coleman’s 5 TFL so far this year is tied for second-most by a MAC player, and tied for third in sacks (3). First-year starter Joey Zelinsky also has 2.5 TFL this season.
“We have really put an emphasis on our tackling. We feel as though, when you look the course of these first few games that often we are there to make the tackle, but we haven’t always gotten guys down on the ground. This game is based on blocking and tackling. We can tackle well, we’ve tackled well at times, but I think that’s something that we really need to sure-up. We have faced some pretty good run offenses and faced some dual-threat quarterbacks and multiple quarterbacks… so we’ve certainly been tested. I think overall, I’m really pleased, even when we bet some to give up the explosive to the quarterback,” said Creighton.
MIKE, LINEBACKER
#6 Chase Kline
#44 Luke Cameron
WILL, LINEBACKER
#19 Joe Sparacio
#36 Zach Mowchan
Joe Sparacio is far and away EMU’s leading tackler at 52 total and 21 solo. Chase Kline’s created some havoc so far with 33 tackles, 3.5 TFL, 2 sacks, 3 hurries, and a fumble caused.
STAR
#1 Joshua Scott#5 Korey Hernandez
FREE
#16 Cameron Smith
#27 David Carter Jr.
BANDIT
#3 Quentavius Scandrett
#8 T.J. Peavy
CORNERBACK
#29 Kempton Shine
#17 Bennett Walker
CORNERBACK
#4 Daiquan White
#26 Tristen Hines
No details on Scott’s status other than this: “We know that Josh is not gonna be back.”
Missing Scott for the entire season is a giant loss for EMU’s secondary. The former junior college transfer had a strong first season with the Eagles in 2022: three interceptions, 13 pass breakups, and 30 tackles.
I voted Scott him as the MVP of the Potato Bowl.
Scott missed the Howard game, came in for nine coverage snaps against Minnesota, and has been sidelined since.
EMU’s secondary’s shown some upside with first-year newcomers Daiquan White (true freshman) and Bennett Walker (San Diego Mesa C.C. transfer). But with Scott out and an early injury exit by T.J. Peavy over the weekend, these newcomers are going to have to show that they can keep the pace as MAC play opens up.
SPECIAL TEAMS
PUNTER
#30 Mitchell Tomasek
#33 Ryan Kingston
Mitchell Tomasek was very close to having an all-time day on Saturday.
His 72-yard punt early in the second quarter made him one of five punters in the nation to have a 70+ yard boot this year, but here comes the kicker. On his next trip out to punt, he recorded a 74-yard flip, but the punt would be waved off with a penalty flag against Jax State. The Gamecocks ran into Tomasek late, which gave the offense a new set of downs instead of a record-setting punt.
Last year, Tomasek’s longest punt was 63 yards and finished with an average of 44.1 yards per kick. This year’s long, of course, sits at 72 and has a punt average of 46.9 yards.
PLACEKICKER
#35 Jesus Gomez
#37 Kenyon Bowyer
For the season, Jesus Gomez is 4/4 on field goals and 1/2 on PAT kicks.
LONG SNAPPER
#46 Steve Bird
#51 Mitchell Dietzel
KICKOFFS
#33 Ryan Kingston
#35 Jesus Gomez
KICK RETURN
#28 Jaylon Jackson
#1 Hamze El-Zayat
PUNT RETURN
#1 Hamze El-Zayat
#28 Jaylon Jackson
#23 Elijah Jackson-Anderson
HOLDER
#30 Mitchell Tomasek
#33 Ryan Kingston