Heading into his first full offseason, Eastern football coach Kim Dameron has the task of bringing in several skill position players, as the Panthers are losing two running backs, three wide receivers and their All-Ohio Valley Conference tight end.

The biggest departure will be Charleston native Adam Drake, who was named to the OVC’s first team and was one of the best wide receivers in the entire FCS.

“Well, you have the No. 1 yardage receiver in the country in Adam Drake that’s not going to be back, so statistically you can say probably wide receivers are our biggest loss,” Dameron said. “You have Drake, (Stephen) Bravo-Brown, Joe Powell and (Jeff) LePak all gone.”

The quartet combined for 179 of Eastern’s 237 receptions from Panthers’ wide receivers and tight ends.

Anthony Taylor, who was a red-shirt freshman, is one of the receivers that Dameron said has to step up next season for Eastern, with the loss of so many vital weapons.

“He’s going to be somebody that we’re going to look at more and more,” he said. “But we have to go out and recruit and that’s something we’re really focused on, finding good talent at wide receiver.”

Taylor was second on the team with two receiving touchdowns and finished the year with 23 catches for 306 yards.

“We have to develop the talent that we have here and we do have some talented young men – they have to be put in that situation where they’re the guy, but they have to earn that,” Dameron said.

Red-shirt junior Shepard Little was the Panthers’ best running back, rushing for 797 yards and three touchdowns. Yet, Taylor Duncan and Jimmy Lera, who combined for eight touchdowns, will not return after completing their senior years.

On defense, Dameron has almost all of his starters returning next year, but two of his top three leading tacklers will not.

“The skill positions on offense we lose quite a bit,” Dameron said. “Defensively, the linebackers are basically it, where we have to replace Robert Haynes and Adam Gristick.”

The duo had 155 tackles, with Gristick having 80 and Haynes 75.

Dameron was first hired in early January, less than a month before National Signing Day, when high school recruits commit to schools. After a full year, Dameron and his staff have been able to narrow down their search in the recruiting process.

“It’s totally different now opposed to last year, when we were just trying to put together a class that was well rounded,” he said. Now, we’re a little more position specific.”

After completing his first season as a head coach, Dameron said the recruiting doesn’t end once signing day comes.

“We understand that we have to be patient,” Dameron said. “Recruiting doesn’t stop Feb. 4. That’s just a day that starts the signing period. We recruit all year long. We’ll have plenty of guys to sign on Feb. 4, but we’ll also sign some earlier, the mid-semester guys, and some a little later.”

Prior to the start of the 2014 season, Dameron was able to sign a trio of FBS transfers, including quarterback Jalen Whitlow.

The Panthers are going to be recruiting Illinois more and more, especially now that Dameron and the rest of his coaching staff have established themselves within the state.

“We’re trying more and more to become familiar with the people here in Illinois, the coaches, we’re recruiting more guys out of Chicago and St. Louis than we did last year because we’ve had a full cycle of recruiting now,” Dameron said.

But, Dameron does have more ties across the country, specifically the South, which he has recruited starting from Texas all the way to Florida. Despite that, he is making an immense effort in recruiting players from Chicago.

“Our area of expertise is more south than north,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that’s the only place we’re looking at. We’re hitting Chicago pretty hard. We’re trying to be very open on where ever it is that we get interest from a good player and that we have interest in them and they fit what we’re looking for.”

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