All eyes are on the Eastern football quarterback battle between the four players trying to earn the starting job on the current roster, but at the moment red-shirt senior Andrew Manley is in the lead.

For the past month the Eastern football team has been going through its spring practice and heading into Saturday’s Spring Game, first-year coach Kim Dameron said the New Mexico State transfer has positioned himself to be the next starting quarterback for the Panthers, with close competition lurking.

“Andrew Manley has basically stepped out a little bit and he’s No. 1 right now, but Ben Krol has had some really good days in the last couple of weeks, Austin Green has had some good days and Sean Hussey has had a couple good days,” Dameron said.

The Eastern football coach has plenty of options to go to at quarterback, heading into his first season with the Panthers, but Manley’s experience has given Dameron a sense of comfort, knowing what Manley could bring to the field.

“He’s ahead because he’s played – he’s an experienced guy, who has started at New Mexico State and he’s mature and a hard worker, not to say that the other guys aren’t,” Dameron said. “I know what kind of experiences he has and he’s been able to show that more on the field learning this offense.”

Manley started 19 games at New Mexico State prior to transferring to Eastern before the 2013 season. In his last year with the Aggies, Manley started all 12 games of the regular season.

Krol has played in 10 games for Eastern in the last two years, but has only attempted 10 passes. Meanwhile, Green and Hussey both sat out during their freshmen seasons, as the young quarterbacks were red-shirted.

“I know what to expect from him – he has been a starter at a Division I-A school and I don’t really know enough about the other quarterbacks to know that for sure,” Dameron said. “The known is so much better than the unknown.”

Whoever is named the starting quarterback has the daunting task of having to play the position after Jimmy Garoppolo, who owns almost every imaginable school record and is heading to the NFL Draft, where he is projected to go within the first two rounds.

Eastern also does not have its receiving leader coming back either, as Erik Lora also has hopes of landing in the NFL, but as much star power that the Panthers have lost from last year’s offense, Dameron said he is still confident with the weapons that remain on the team, which will run a more balanced offense than last season.

“We’ve got some guys that we need to get the ball to and we will be a little more balanced than they were a year ago because we don’t have a three-year starter coming back, who is an NFL second-rounder or first-rounder, but we do have an experienced guy,” Dameron said.

Garoppolo did not have to do a lot of running during his final two seasons directing Dino Babers’ offense, so fans will get a new look, as Dameron said opponents will have to prepare to defend all 11 players on offense when facing Eastern.

“I believe as a defensive coach that you have to have some quarterback run game in the game plan every week,” he said. “If you don’t do that you’re taking something away from your offense that is hard to defend. Believe me, I’ve defended it for years and it’s not easy.”

Manley will get the first-team reps with the ones and offensive coordinator Greg Stevens will figure out the rest of playing time for the quarterbacks in Eastern’s Spring Game, Dameron said.

The game begins at noon Saturday at O’Brien Field.

For now, Manley has the keys to the Panthers’ offense and he will still have them until someone makes Dameron change his mind.

“There was a reason we started out with Manley as the No. 1 guy and nobody has come up and said, ‘Hey, you made the wrong choice. It’s not him, it’s me,’ yet,” Dameron said. “Until that happens, he’s the guy.”

Aldo Soto can be reached at 581-2812 or asoto2@eiu.edu.