Issue date: 2/24/09 Section: Sports

Freshman linebacker Gordon Kickels waits on the sidelines during the Panthers' game against Jacksonville State on Sept. 27, 2008. Kickels was suspended from the Eastern football team for a violation of team rules. He was involved in an incident during the weekend of Feb. 13-14. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

Eastern freshman linebacker Gordon Kickels has been suspended from the Eastern football team.

Eastern Sports Information Director Rich Moser said Kickels was suspended from team activities for violation of team rules. Kickels was involved in an incident that involved Eastern athletes during the weekend of Feb. 13-14.

Moser also said the incident has been turned over to the Office of Student Standards to conduct further investigation, and Kickels is suspended until the investigation is complete.

Kickels played in 11 games this season, and notched 11 tackles, including six solo tackles. Three of his tackles were for a loss.


Searching for a quarterback

Eastern red-shirt junior quarterback Bodie Reeder is still in charge, for now.

Eastern head coach Bob Spoo said Reeder, the starter for the past 21 games, is still the No. 1 quarterback headed into the spring season.

The Panthers did not sign any quarterback recruits in its 2009 class on the Feb. 4 National Signing Day.

"We're interested in the possibility of perhaps someone making a move," Spoo said. "It's still open."

But Spoo said red-shirt freshman quarterback Doug Reynolds and red-shirt sophomore Luke Hockaday are the other quarterbacks left to challenge Reeder.

"It's not a knock on Bodie Reeder," Spoo told The Daily Eastern News in December. "Bodie has given us everything he's had, but he's given us kind of a one-dimensional approach. I think you've got to have a two-dimensional quarterback these days. The teams that we lost to were teams that had that type of guy. If it's not Bodie, we've got to look at our depth."

He said Reynolds' skills offer the Panthers a chance to move to the spread because he is a bigger, stronger quarterback who ran the spread offense and option football in high school.

"I think there's going to be some changes in how we attack people, and I think it's going to give us a better chance to succeed," Spoo said.

Former Iowa red-shirt junior quarterback Jake Christensen had been a possibility according to the Times-Courier. Eastern and Illinois State were two of the schools he has been considering transferring to.

The senior is still attending Iowa this semester and would need to get a waiver from the NCAA after a rule change that restricts transfers from playing just one season at the next school.

Christensen is also on schedule to graduate this spring.

He passed for 2,269 yards and 17 touchdowns with six interceptions while completing 198 of 370 attempts for Iowa as a sophomore in 2007 when the Hawkeyes went 6-6.

The 6-foot-1, 215-pound former Lockport High School star is left-handed, and apparently an improved version of his father Jeff, who transferred from Northwestern to pass for 51 touchdowns in three EIU seasons - ranking third on the Eastern career list behind Tony Romo's 85 and Sean Payton's 76 - before playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns.



Eastern Pro Days set, Walters preparing for draft

Eastern linebackers coach Forrest Jackson has announced the Pro Days as Eastern football players prepare for their future.

Junior Pro Day will be at 11 a.m. on March 6 in Lantz Fieldhouse or O'Brien Stadium, depending on weather.

Eastern's normal Pro Day will be at 11 a.m. on March 13 in Lantz Fieldhouse or O'Brien Stadium.

Former Eastern defensive end Pierre Walters said he would attend Illinois' Pro Day, which is on March 18.

"I'm going to use the Pro Day here at Eastern as a tool gauge as what to expect." Walters said. "It is nerve wracking. Trust me, I think about it everyday. I just stay within myself. I'm not too worried."

Walters said within the last two weeks the San Francisco 49ers, the Miami Dolphins and the Cleveland Browns all have been in contact with his agent.

He is training at Eastern and living in Charleston after spending a lot of time in New Jersey.

"I'm just trying to stay humble, and I haven't made it yet," Walters said.


Kevin Murphy can be reached at 581-7944 or kjmurphy@eiu.edu.

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