EMU Football Depth Chart and Snap Counts: Week 8
EMU Football Depth Chart and Snap Counts: Week 8
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Two wins in a row puts Eastern Michigan at 2-1 in conference play (4-3 overall), and now the big task at-hand is a road trip to Northern Illinois (3-4, 2-1 MAC). Since EMU and NIU re-started their annual series in 1997, EMU has only beaten NIU five times.
The last time EMU went to DeKalb, there was an hours-long weather interruption and the Eagles ultimately lost 27-20. EMU did have a short-lived winning streak over the 2019 and 2020 seasons, Thomas Hammock’s first two seasons leading his alma mater of NIU.
Chris Creighton, 2-7 in the series, had this to say at his weekly press conference: “This will be a tall task. It’s a long road trip and they’re playing at a really high level. Just knocked off the team that was playing the best in the MAC, most points scored in the MAC, a suffocating defense that starts with their defensive line, so it’ll be a challenge for us this week.”
EMU’s version of an updated depth chart is included with its weekly game notes, and that information is listed below along with quotes from the presser, snap counts (from Pro Football Focus), and some notes from me.
Previous depth charts: Spring/Summer | Week 1 vs. Howard | Week 2 at Minnesota | Week 3 vs. UMass | Week 4 at Jacksonville State | Week 5 at Central Michigan | Week 6 vs. Ball State | Week 7 vs. Kent State
OFFENSE
QUARTERBACK
#4 Austin Smith
#8 Cam’Ron McCoy / #3 Ike Udengwu III
For the year, Smith is 94/164 passing (57.3%) for 952 yards (5.8), 6 TD, 3 INT.
RUNNING BACK
#22 Samson Evans / #28 Jaylon Jackson
Samson Evans, with 34 career touchdowns to his name, also has over 2,000 yards to his career total. His current standing is at 2,015 yards, 11th-most in school history.
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
Y RECEIVER, TIGHT END
#83 Jere Getzinger / #88 Blake Daniels / #85 Andreas Paaske
LEFT TACKLE
#63 Mickey Rewolinski
#76 Chris Mayo
Mickey Rewolinski, who hadn’t missed a snap up to this point, was out against Kent State. On his status, Creighton said: “We’ll get a report this afternoon from our training staff.”
And for Rewolinski, West Virginia transfer Chris Mayo, Creighton said: “It’s really first action here. Transferred from West Virginia last January. Really talented and obviously has been here now long enough to know what he’s doing and knowing the scheme and we’ve been really excited about him all the way through and was excited about him getting an opportunity to get out there and to play. He’s got to get better and, again, first time actually, really being out there in his career — I think he may have played a little bit at West Virginia — but overall we were pleased.”
LEFT GUARD
#54 Zack Conti
#55 Dan Sunderman
CENTER
#67 Broderick Roman
#70 Dimitri Douglas
Roman suffered an injury during the Ball State game and missed the Kent State game. Douglas was subbed out early on for Carson Lee, who came from Colorado last year (58 snaps last week). Lee is the third center to snap balls for EMU’s offense this year.
RIGHT GUARD
#68 Alex Howie
#75 Carson Lee
RIGHT TACKLE
#77 Brian Dooley
#73 Joshua Anderson
Dooley’s start on Saturday will tie his name with Sidy Sow’s in the program’s record books for most games played (57) and started (55) in a career.
DEFENSE
LEO
#11 Mikah Coleman
#49 Jaden Gaines
Said Creighton on DE Mikah Coleman: “He’s really talented and he is nowhere near as good as he can be. His length and athleticism just gives him a big advantage, and he’s really figuring out how to play that position right now so he’s been really effective. But I think the biggest thing about Mikah is he’s got serious growth potential. I know that he’s doing really well in terms of pressures and sacks in the conference right now, but he’s nowhere near as good as he’ll get.”
DEFENSIVE END
#47 Justin Jefferson
#45 Joey Zelinsky
NOSE TACKLE
#94 Peyton Price
#99 Melvin Swindle II
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
#98 Tim Grant-Randall
#92 Alex Merritt
MIKE, LINEBACKER
#6 Chase Kline
#44 Luke Cameron
WILL, LINEBACKER
#19 Joe Sparacio
#12 Elijah Williams
Joe Sparacio is the Roy Kent of the MAC because he’s just everywhere on the field cleaning up. He’s tied for fourth nationally with a tackle rate of 11.7 per game while Chase Kline is seventh at 11.5.
STAR
#4 Daiquan White
#39 Barry Manning
FREE
#16 Cameron Smith
#27 David Carter Jr.
BANDIT
#3 Quentavius Scandrett
#8 T.J. Peavy
CORNERBACK
#29 Kempton Shine
#14 Keylen Gulley
CORNERBACK
#17 Bennett Walker
#26 Tristen Hines
Bennett Walker missed the first half of the Kent State game due to a late targeting penalty from the week before, and Tristen Hines had his busiest day on defense with 25 snaps played.
For Kempton Shine, the upcoming NIU game will be his 40th career game played. Shine has recorded 149 total tackles, 1 INT, 24 pass breakups, 2 fumbles, and 2 fumble recoveries. This year, he’s EMU’s third-leading tackler with 30 (1 TFL).
SPECIAL TEAMS
PUNTER
#30 Mitchell Tomasek
#33 Ryan Kingston
PLACEKICKER
#35 Jesus Gomez
#37 Kenyon Bowyer
LONG SNAPPER
#46 Steve Bird
#51 Mitchell Dietzel
KICKOFFS
#37 Kenyon Bowyer
#33 Ryan Kingston
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