EMU Football Depth Chart and Snap Counts: Week 9

Snap counts and notes in the lead-up to facing Western Michigan.

Oct 24, 2023

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FINAL SCORE: Northern Illinois 20, Eastern Michigan 13

Alex Alvarado

October 22, 2023

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It's Been a Rough Season

Alex Alvarado

October 23, 2023

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OFFENSE

QUARTERBACK

#4 Austin Smith
#8 Cam’Ron McCoy / #3 Ike Udengwu III

Over the last two games, Austin Smith is 23/51 passing for 269 yards (5.3 Y/A), 1 touchdown against Kent State, and 2 interceptions at Northern Illinois. Smith finished last season with a 57.1% passing percentage, and this year he’s slightly below that at 56.8%. For broader strokes, his season QBR has dipped from 121.7 last year to 110.8 this season.

RUNNING BACK

#22 Samson Evans / #28 Jaylon Jackson

Neither of EMU’s running backs have 400 rushing yards for the season.

Yet.

But till, 400 yards isn’t a lot to ask for, especially when Samson Evans (399 yards) and Jaylon Jackson (371) are as good as they’ve been. I don't think they’ve played particularly bad, but I just think the passing game not picking up first downs has taken away from the running back’s carries. Last year, they combined for an average of 26 carries per game for 120.3 yards. This year, they’ve totaled 21.25 carries for 96.25 yards.

Last year, Evans averaged 17.14 attempts per game, then turned it up in the final five games with an average of 25.8 rushes per game. This season, he’s only getting 11.6 rushes per game. Some of that has to do with his knee hurting, some of it has to do with the offense as a whole not staying on the field, but I’ve got to assume that some of that also has to do with EMU running the same script it had last year.

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

Tanner Knue still leads EMU’s receiving efforts at 305 yards on 32 receptions and 3 scores — all atop EMU’s stats page. Hamze El-Zayat’s two touchdowns on the year were both 50-yarders, and leads the team with 15.3 yards per reception (17-260). J.B. Mitchell, with the fifth-most snaps played by an EMU offensive player, is second in catches (19), and third in receiving yardage (184).

LEFT TACKLE

#63 Mickey Rewolinski
#76 Chris Mayo

LEFT GUARD

#54 Zack Conti
#55 Dan Sunderman

CENTER

#75 Carson Lee
#67 Broderick Roman
#70 Dimitri Douglas

RIGHT GUARD

#68 Alex Howie
#75 Carson Lee

RIGHT TACKLE

#77 Brian Dooley
#73 Joshua Anderson

Left tackle Mickey Revolinski is still out, Chris Mayo made his second start last week.

For center, Carson Lee, a second-year transfer from Colorado, got his first career start, and is the third starting center EMU has used this year. Brock Roman is injured, and Lee subbed-in for Douglas early on in the previous game against Kent State. Zack Conti, hurt during the CMU game, has played the last two games after Dan Sunderman started against Ball State.

But I’m burning the lede here. This Saturday, Brian Dooley will break the all-time program records for games played (currently 57) and started in (55), tied with Sidy Sow.

DEFENSE

LEO

#11 Mikah Coleman
#49 Jaden Gaines

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

Three plays into the game at NIU, Joe Sparacio was tossed from the game for a targeting penalty. Sparacio led with he crown of his helmet right in the middle of NIU’s receiver’s chest, and missed the rest of the game.

E.J. Williams, in turn, got the most playing time in his career — 71 snaps, second-most by an EMU defender that day. Williams had 6 tackles, 3.5 TFL, to keep NIU to 289 total yards of offense. Chris Creighton referred to the senior backup linebacker as one of the “glue” guys on his roster to help keep things together.

Said Williams on Monday at the team press conference: “The media doesn’t see what happens in the locker room, the weight room, the cafeteria, wherever it may be. I’d definitely like to attribute some of my leadership to positive changes that have happened within the program. A lot of comes from just really building a relationship with guys and genuinely caring about somebody and wanting the best for them and preaching that through actions and words.”

STAR

#4 Daiquan White
#5 Korey Hernandez

FREE

#16 Cameron Smith
#27 David Carter Jr.

BANDIT

#3 Quentavius Scandrett
#39 Barry Manning

CORNERBACK

#29 Kempton Shine
#14 Keylen Gulley

CORNERBACK

#17 Bennett Walker
#26 Tristen Hines

Already out both Joshua Scott and T.J. Peavy for the year on defense, redshirt-freshman Barry Manning left the NIU game with an injury of his own too. After Sparacio and Kline make up the team’s top tacklers at 84 and 73 respectively, Kempton Shine (39), Quentaivus Scandrett (31), and Cameron Smith (30) are all distant third, fourth, and fifth on the list.