Head coach Bob Spoo coached at his first practice since last season on March 30 when the football team started spring practice.

Spoo, who missed all of the 2006 season because of surgery for an undisclosed illness, hasn’t missed a practice yet this spring.

“He’ll go out there and you won’t hear him for 20 to 30 minutes,” said junior offensive tackle Anthony Rubican. “All of a sudden, he’ll bark something out and everybody’s like ‘Wow, welcome back. He’s back again.’ So he adds a little spark to practice.”

Secondary coach Noah Joseph said having Spoo back has been a pleasure.

“Anything in life, it’s common knowledge that you need the hand of the law there,” Joseph said. “Sometimes you lack that, and I think with Coach Spoo, coaches, players – they all know he’s standing there. And if you’re not doing what’s right, he’s going to let you know about it.”

The Panthers have their first scrimmage of the spring at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at O’Brien Stadium.

Rucker done for spring

Wide receiver Micah Rucker won’t practice again during the rest of spring football practices.

Rucker, Eastern’s No. 1 wide receiver last year as a junior , with 49 catches, 966 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns, sprained his medial collateral ligament on his left knee during the Panthers’ practice on April 2.

Rucker was injured when a running back was tackled from behind and landed on Rucker’s knee.

“I was going back to the huddle and my knee just didn’t feel right,” he said. “I couldn’t put any pressure on it. So I just knew something was wrong. I was just hoping it wasn’t my ACL.”

Rucker said he has a cast on his left leg, and won’t be able to get out of it until finals week.

Eastern quarterback Cole Stinson, Rucker’s roommate, said he doesn’t think the injury is a big deal.

“It gives other guys a chance to step up and get reps,” he said. “Obviously, he’d like to play football, but he can’t.”

New O-line coach gets adjusted

Jeff Hoover is still getting adjusted to Eastern. But, for the Panthers’ new offensive line coach, the transition from coaching at Portland State to Eastern has been smooth, he said.

Hoover started April 1 as Eastern’s new offensive line coach, replacing Mark Hutson – who is now the offensive line coach at Tulane.

Hutson had the dual roles of co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach last year at Eastern.

Hoover was at Portland State, but when the Vikings hired Jerry Glanville as its head coach, Hoover was out of a job.

Hoover has the task of replacing three starters on the Eastern offensive line from last season.

“There’s a lot of guys that started a lot of games that aren’t here anymore,” Hoover said. “One thing that we always talk about is trying to win the hit and hustle battle. You want to out-hit and out-hustle people we play. It doesn’t matter how many games you’ve played before, you can at least run around and hit people.”

Hoover said leaving his family back in Oregon and coming to Charleston was tough.

Hoover’s wife, Penny, and their two children, 11-year-old Lauren and nine-year-old Cole, are still back in Oregon. They will join Hoover here in Charleston once school in Oregon ends in June.

But Hoover is excited about his situation at Eastern.

“(Eastern’s) won championships and gone to the playoffs,” he said. “It doesn’t take a genius to see that’s something you want to be a part of.”

Head coach Bob Spoo watches on during football practice on Monday afternoon at O’Brien stadium. (Jay Grabiec/The Daily Eastern News)

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