All is quiet in the backfield for the Elon football team. Well, kind of. Though second year head coach Jason Swepson has known senior Thomas Wilson will be the starting quarterback come September, the running back position was a major question mark coming into the spring of 2012.
Just a few months ago, Swepson had three senior running backs that each saw playing time, and had two more in reserve. It’s a completely different case now.
Those three seniors are graduating next month, and the other two backs are no longer with the team for various reasons, which left Swepson zero running backs on the roster coming into spring practice.
“You live and learn.” Swepson said. “I should’ve taken a couple more (running backs) in my first recruiting class, but that’s how things go sometimes.”
To the rescue was sophomore Matt Eastman. Though he was originally recruited to play tight end for the Phoenix, Eastman had experience in the backfield as a fullback in high school at Armwood High School in Florida.
“The first two weeks, I didn’t really comprehend that I was a running back,” Eastman said. “After practice, I’d go hang out with the tight ends still and Coach Pincince would always have to tell me, ‘Come over here. You’re a running back now,’ so they had to pound that through my head.”
Through spring practice, which culminated with Saturday’s annual spring game, Eastman instilled a bit more confidence in himself, rushing the ball a total of 14 times for 52 yards, including a one-yard touchdown run in the second quarter after bouncing off would-be tacklers. Eastman also knows what he can bring to the table for the Phoenix come next fall.
“I thought I did pretty good,” Eastman said. “I’m just the type of runner that’ll put my head down and try to get five to 10 yards every time I touch the ball.”
Eastman’s confidence turned out to be infectious, as both Swepson and quarterback Thomas Wilson liked what they saw on Saturday.
“I was a little worried going into the spring,” Swepson said. “But after Eastman, I knew we were going to be OK. He’s a big body, and with all the passing we do, we needed a big body up there that could pick up the blitz. But he’s also a load when he runs the ball, so I think it was a great move. He made the transition and I think it’s made us a better football team.”
Wilson appreciated Eastman's toughness.
“He ran the ball hard and that’s what we’re looking for and he’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do,” he said.
With two freshmen coming in this summer as part of Swepson’s 29-man recruiting class, Eastman welcomes them with open arms.
“I’m hoping the freshmen will come in and step up too,” Eastman said. “It’s not a one man show. You need three running backs to get through a season.”
What was a lackluster season running the ball in 2011, which saw ball carriers take the ball 376 times, but only gain 1,120 yards total for an average of three yards per carry, Swepson hopes Eastman will add a different dimension to the Phoenix backfield this season.
“If he can give us some power at the run game, we’ll be successful,” Swepson said.
If you asked Wilson, though, there is one knock on Eastman. It has nothing to do with his pre-game superstitions or his words on the field .
“He’s got to do something different with his hair,” Wilson said. “He’s got it slicked back and pulled back, but hey, whatever works for him.”
For now, the Phoenix will take whatever works in the backfield.