EIU, OVC Football Teams Set For Season

EIU opens practice this Saturday and the first game will be Sunday, Feb. 21 at UT Martin. EIU will be playing four home games and the first home contest will be Sunday, Feb. 28 against Southeast Missouri.

"What an exciting day though to be on the eve of the football season," said EIU Coach Adam Cushing. " It's an extended off-season that really saw both our program and obviously the world with challenges and uncharted territory, successes and tragedy. I'm incredibly proud of the response of our football program.

"Our staff and players embraced the montra that we all kind of came to together, what's possible. Stretching our daily best. 

"Our culture is focused on wins and what's important now and our players demonstrated that focus. We just had to control what was under our control. We had two consecutive semesters of a team GPA over 3.0. We found different and creative ways to serve our community. Our young men found ways to be out and be in the community. We spent the offseason deepening the connection with each other.

"Obviously, with what Covid put in front of us, there was so much work by so many people, players and coaching staff. So this is truly an exciting afternoon. I couldn't be more thrilled to be talking to you guys again with football practice coming on Saturday.

"It's been a big part of the conversation nationally and with other coaches just exactly how to do it the right way. If you asked the players, they are excited about the opportunity. We're going to do it one week at a time. Covid taught us to be prepared to adjust.

"Most important we want to pay attention to how our players respond week to week, that we're not just stuck in our old ways.

"We've been in our weight room. Truly our young men have bought in completely to being their best in the weight room daily. We have to be bigger and stronger to be successful."

Coach Cushing talked about how his players will have to adjust to the Covid situation if some are missing from games.

"We have to have that ability to adjust constantly," said Cushing. "Our ability to adjust will define our success. As coaches we have to keep the system simple enough to allow that flexibility."

Coach Cushing talked about quarterback Harry Woodbery.

"Harry's progress on the field from game one to the end of the season was fantastic. His understanding of the system, he's incredibly bright and a hard worker. He was the guy in our walk-through asking me to get a special video so he could see the little details. That's what makes him such a great quarterback. He has the opportunity to be a Division I quarterback."

The question was asked, with no high school football this past year, will that change your recruiting focus?

"No, we still signed a number of young men from Illinois. We're always going to start and end our recruiting in our home state because we have great football in this state. It will force us to do a little more as coaches. We had an incredible job by our staff extending out. We've made great inroads in recruiting. We had the ability to see video in the surrounding states."

Most of the games will be played on Sunday.

"In the end football is football. Some of these games will be a little different. Sundays and the spring. When we change one thing, we might as well change everything."

Coach Cushing talked about the Ohio Valley Conference.

"There's talent, both players and coaches, in this conference that play their hearts out. I didn't have a great concept, going through a season seeing how competitive this entire conference is from top to bottom, how talented the players are, it's really impressive. There's going to be a lot of eyes opened, everybody around our conference, to see what level of football we see around here."

What do the Panthers need to do?

"A reduction in penalties, we focused on disicpline. You create your habits and your habits create you. If you require that to be a standard, it becomes a habit. Making sure they understand the value of what a penalty does. All it does is beat yourself. You can't beat two teams on a single day. The guys embraced that discipline. I give a lot of credit to our young men, keeping the penalties out of the game. 

"What's neat will be the audience we get, especially the national audience. We're going to be able to deliver an awesome product on the field. It's going to be really fun. Honestly, playing in the spring, they don't care what time of year. They would play in December with four feet of snow. Really in the end, football is football. Everybody is just as competitive on Sundays."

Coach Cushing finished with Tony Romo gaining the College Football Hall of Fame.

"An  Incredible positive. It's proof you can go anywhere, like EIU and have a great career and get inducted into the college football HOF. This is a place used to success, that a caliber of player can come out of here. He was not only a great player but truly at the top of what he does, commentating as well. I sent him a text that says congrats.

"Tony said, 'It's amazing that anything could happen if you fall in love with trying to get better.' It's truly the effort. We made sure we pass that along to the team."

Eastern Illinois University Schedule

Sunday, February 21 -- Eastern at Tennessee-Martin, 1 p.m.

Sunday, February 28 -- Eastern at Southeast Missouri State, 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 14 -- Eastern at Tennessee State, 1 p.m.

Sunday, March 21 -- Tennessee Tech at Eastern, 1 p.m.

Sunday, March 28 -- Eastern at Murray State, 2 p.m.

Saturday, April 3 -- Jacksonville State University at Eastern, 1 p.m.

Sunday, April 11 -- Austin Peay at Eastern, 1 p.m.