Sophomore strong safety Nick Martinez is still out of action for the Eastern football team, and defensive coordinator Roc Bellantoni said there is no timetable for when Martinez will return to the field.

Martinez suffered a concussion in the first week of practice over the summer, and Bellantoni said the effects from the concussion are still being felt, forcing Martinez to sit out.

“He’s getting better. It’s just a really weird thing,” Bellantoni said. “He’s struggling because he wants to be out there.”

Bellantoni said Martinez’s issues happen randomly. He will exercise and be fine one day, and the next he will get sick.

“He was good (Monday) but then got sick again (Tuesday),” Bellantoni said. “He’s got to be able to run and bike for 30 minutes without throwing up for a couple of days before he gets back on the field.”

Martinez entered camp as the top reserve at strong safety.

The 6-foot-0, 210-pounder appeared in 10 games last season and made nine tackles.

Improvements on the line

The Eastern defensive line recorded four sacks in its season-opening victory over Illinois State. The total gives the team nearly a quarter of the sacks it had all last season.

The Panthers finished the 2008 season with only 17 sacks.

Senior defensive tackle Andre Lima, junior cornerback C.J. James, sophomore defensive end Perry Burge and freshman defensive end Ar’tavious Dowdell were the four Panthers to record sacks Sept. 3.

Spreading the ball around

Nine different receivers caught a pass during Eastern’s 31-6 victory over Illinois State Sept. 3. Among those were sophomore running back Jimmy Potempa, a transfer from Michigan.

Potempa is a running back, but was seen lining up in a number of different positions in the season-opener, including slot receiver and he also returned kicks. He was on the receiving end of quarterback Jake Christensen’s first touchdown pass of the night.

“It felt good,” Potempa said after the victory. “I’m feeling pretty comfortable working with this offense.”

Back from suspension

Junior wide receiver Charles Graves and junior linebacker Sean Campbell will both be back with the team this week after serving one-game suspensions.

The pair served its suspension in the team’s 31-6 season-opening victory over Illinois State Sept. 3.

Graves is the team’s leading returning receiver with 40 catches last season and Campbell is a reserve linebacker who started one game last season.

Around the OVC

The Panthers were one of five Ohio Valley Conference teams to register opening week wins, and Tennessee Tech was the only OVC team that did not open their season last week.

While Tennessee-Martin, Southeast Missouri, Murray State and Austin Peay all got off to 1-0 starts on the season, Eastern was the only team to beat a fellow Football Championship Subdivision School in its victory over the Redbirds.

But while the four other OVC schools to register wins did so against NAIA or Division-II schools, the three losers did so against impressive competition.

Jacksonville State went into Atlanta and lost 37-17 to Football Bowl Subdivision’s No. 15 overall team in Georgia Tech, and Eastern Kentucky – the preseason favorite to win the OVC – fell to the Big Ten’s Indiana in Bloomington 19-13.

The Panthers return to action Saturday at 11 a.m. when they face the Indiana State Sycamores in Terre Haute, Ind.

Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.

Senior offensive lineman Chris Campbell raises up the dummy on a tackling sled during practice Aug. 31, at O’Brien Field.(Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

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