If the Eastern football season started today, red-shirt senior Andrew Manley would be suiting up as the starting quarterback, but for now he will remain the starter until someone rips the job from his hands.

Kim Dameron finished his first Spring Game as Eastern’s coach Saturday at O’Brien Field, with Manley firmly in control of the starting quarterback position.

“Manley has taken most of the No. 1 reps through spring and while we have had some great competition, no one has taken those reps away from him at this point,” Dameron said.

Manley led the Eastern Blue team, which was made up of first-string players, to a 31-0 win over the Eastern White team, as the New Mexico transfer finished the afternoon 13-of-18 for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

His two touchdown passes came to Keiondre Gober and Anthony Taylor in the second and fourth quarter, respectively, but Manley and the offense struggled early.

The Eastern defense made six straight stops to start the game, as both teams had three stops apiece.

Red-shirt sophomore Pono Choy gave the Blue team the lead, intercepting a pass and returning it 46 yards for a touchdown.

Manley was finally able to direct the Panthers’ offense downfield, capping off the scoring drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Gober. Manley’s second touchdown pass came on a 56-yard play to Taylor.

Red-shirt junior Ben Krol also saw action on the Blue team. Last year’s backup finished the game 3-of-8 for 68 yards.

Red-shirt freshmen Austin Green and Sean Hussey shared playing time on the White team.

Dameron saw his running duo of Shepard Little and Taylor Duncan rush for 89 yards on 19 carries combined.

Receiving wise, red-shirt senior Adam Drake had a game-high seven catches for 59 yards.

Eastern has seven starters from both sides of the ball returning for the 2014 season, but on the defensive end Dameron said he does not have the same depth that he has been afforded with in the past.

“Right now we don’t have a ton of depth – we’re really thin, our defensive line is anorexic as far as the number of guys we have there,” Dameron said.

The first-year head coach said that even with some injured players returning from injury in the last couple of weeks the depth is still not what he desires.

“By the standards that I am used to having in d-linemen, we don’t have them, as far as the numbers,” he said. “We have some good players, but we don’t have the numbers.”

Dameron said the biggest concern with a lack of depth at the defensive line is the worry for injuries and the inability to replenish the position.

“That is the hardest position to keep guys healthy,” Dameron said.

The Panthers’ defensive line is led by returning starter Dino Fanti, who had 45 tackles, including five sacks last season.

Another area of concern for Dameron is in the secondary, as Pete Houlihan, Alex McNulty and Nick Beard played their last season with Eastern last year.

With two starting corners and a starting safety gone this season, Dameron said the incorporation of new players, with the addition of a new defensive scheme would take time to adjust.

“It’s no secret that we’re more of a nickel-style defense than what they were in the past,” he said. “So, there are a lot of things that need to go right defensively for us – meaning that we need to stay healthy, but there are question marks with guys that you just don’t know.”

The Spring Game wrapped up the spring portion of Eastern’s practices. The Panthers will pick things up again in August, with their fall training camp prior to their season-opener at Minnesota on Aug. 28.

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