The Colonels football program is one steeped in tradition and championships.
For awhile, that winning tradition slowly crept away, but never fully let go of the maroon and white.
While great coaches came and went, none were able to get EKU football back to consecutive winning years with postseason success. It was as if the program was playing catch up, while other schools kept gaining ground in football tradition.
Enter new head coach Walt Wells, who came in during the covid year and had to rebuild from the ground up. With his vision and recruiting, the colonels have picked up some big regular season wins and some even bigger recruits.
Players like Matt Jackson, who is currently in the NFL and Parker McKinney who is a record setting quarterback and has pro potential are just a few of the names that EKU Football has been able to recruit and develop along the way of bringing back a winning tradition to EKU.
Those players were even good enough to get the Colonels back to the FCS playoffs for the first time last season since the 2014 season and win a share of an ASUN conference championship.
Now for the 2023 season, EKU’s next goals are to be the sole winners of the United Athletic Conference and win some FCS playoff games en-route to a championship.
An 0-2 start against UK and Cincinnati will only help the Colonels with good early experience as the FCS part of their schedule takes off this Saturday, as the Colonels host Western Carolina at 6:00 PM.
Expectations are high for the Colonels this season, and fairly so with the talent on the roster and the prediction of EKU winning the UAC by national football media.
EKU fans will pack Roy Kidd this year expecting some of the greatest Colonel football in a long time, so the pressure will be on for the team and coaches to deliver.
This staff has proven that they know how to win important games. While the UAC portion of the schedule does not begin for another two weeks, this first home game for Eastern will set the tone for the seasons trajectory.
The Colonels kickoff against Western Carolina at 6:00 PM this Saturday September, 16th 2023.
