EWU football practice to begin next month

Coming off a last year’s run to the NCAA Division I Championship Game in Frisco, Texas, the Eastern Washington University football team will start this year’s practices the first week of August at the Sports and Recreation Center practice fields in Cheney, according to a press release.

The Eagles have adopted the mantra “Advance the Standard” after winning their sixth Big Sky Conference championship since 2010 and finishing with a 12-3 record. Eastern advanced to the NCAA Division I Championship Game where it lost 38-24 to North Dakota State, which has won seven of the last eight titles in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision since EWU won the title in 2010.

Players will report on Aug. 1 for orientation and split practices, then the team will practice together for the first time at 3 p.m. Aug. 4, followed the next day by the first media availability of the season in conjunction with a 3 p.m. practice.

The Eagles will practice for nearly a full month prior to the team’s opener, Aug. 31 at the University of Washington. The team is expected to use the practice fields exclusively through Aug. 13, then shift to Roos Field afterward.

The Eagles will scrimmage twice before the team’s season opener. The first preseason camp scrimmage is Saturday, Aug. 17 at 1 p.m. at Roos Field, followed by a second scrimmage on Saturday, Aug. 24 also at 1 p.m. at Roos Field. Both are free and open to the public.

Times and locations of all practices and scrimmages are below and are tentative and subject to change.