Red-shirt sophomore running back Jake Walker has been Eastern’s leading rusher in two of the last three games.

Walker transferred to Eastern from Toledo at the beginning of this school year and has begun to pick up the Eastern offensive system over the past few weeks.

He more than doubled the total amount of rushing yards of any of his teammates Saturday. Walker rushed for 70 yards on 14 attempts.

Over the past few weeks, Walker has been one of the bright spots of the Eastern football team, which is 2-8 this season, according to offensive coordinator Roy Wittke.

“I tell people this all the time, he didn’t join us until after fall camp,” Wittke said.

This season, Walker is the team’s second-leading rusher, with 168 yards rushing. He has achieved over 100 of those yards in two of the last three games.

Wittke said it takes time for a player to pick up Eastern’s offensive system, especially for Walker, who joined the team so late.

“We are different from Toledo,” Wittke said.

However, Walker has been able to do it.

“He has been working hard in practice on a daily basis,” Wittke said. “He is improving on a daily basis.”

Wittke said Walker continues to run hard and physical for the team. Walker is making a tremendous contribution to the offense, he said

“He practices the way we want all of our players to practice,” Wittke said.

Wright wins OVC award

Chris Wright, sophomore wide receiver, was named Ohio Valley Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week, this week.

Wright had 217 receiving yards Saturday, the third highest single-game total in Eastern football history.

He also became the fourth Panther in history to have more than 200 receiving yards in a game.

Wright’s 217-yard receiving game is the fourth highest total this season in the Football Championship Subdivision.

For the season, Wright has six touchdown catches – five of them have come in the last two weeks.

No mistakes key in comeback

Eastern scored 24 unanswered points to complete a comeback win Saturday, beating Tennessee State 31-28 in overtime. Eastern didn’t make any big mistakes during its comeback.

“We simply eliminated mistakes and executed much better,” Wittke said.

Wittke said the offense had some turnovers in the game; however, he said the team did a good job of hanging in the game. Eastern’s final game of the season will be Saturday at 1 p.m. against Illinois State for the Prairie State Rivalry.

Alex McNamee can be reached at 581-7944 or admcnamee@eiu.edu

Jake Walker, a red-shirt sophomore running back, runs the ball upfield without any opposition Oct 30 at O’Brien Field. (Audrey Sawyer

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