RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University's football Colonels are ready for the season to kick off Saturday night when EKU hosts Kentucky State at Roy Kidd Stadium at 7:00 p.m.
EKU head football coach Roy Kidd said Thursday that the team has most of its work in to prepare for Kentucky State, who comes in to the game 1-0 on the year after opening last week with a 36-14 win over Miles College.
"We need to play. We're at that point where we need to see another team out there instead of our scout team offense and defense," Kidd said. "The team has been working hard in this heat and I'm sure they'll be ready to play Saturday night."
Kidd had some disturbing news Wednesday when both starting defensive tackles were missing at the end of practice. Junior Jason Muchow is battling the flu bug that is running its course through the team and had to miss practice, while senior Justin Ernest stepped on a sprinkler head embedded in the turf and twisted his ankle. His status was still being evaluated Thursday morning.
"We can't afford to be missing these guys for very long. You pick one place on our football team that we're very thin on experience and it's defensive tackle. Hopefully, they'll both be back soon," Kidd said.
Eastern comes into the Kentucky State game ranked ninth in both the ESPN/USA Today and The Sports Network pre-season polls. The Colonels finished 1997 ranked 15th in both polls after going 8-4 and making an unprecedented 17th trip to the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs.
Expectations are high this season for Eastern as the Colonels return 14 starters, including nine on offense. New quarterback Jon Denton, a junior transfer from UNLV, will highlight an offense that will also feature talented tailbacks Derick Logan and Corey Crume, experienced wide receivers Rondel Menendez and Brian Brenneman, returning starting tight end Tony DeGregorio and the entire offensive line.
Defensively, the returning starters are Ernest and Muchow at tackles, senior linebacker Charles Tinsley, who was chosen to the pre-season All-Ohio Valley Conference team, and sophomore linebacker Butch Printup. Strong safety Scooter Asel also returns after starting his freshman year and being injured in the opening game of the '97 season, which caused him to miss the remainder of last year.
Tickets to the KSU game and all home games are on sale weekdays from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. at the EKU Athletics Ticket Office in Room 126 of Alumni Coliseum. Ticket windows open at the stadium at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.