EMU Spring Game: Light on Contact, Heavy on (Halftime) Competition

The weather? Perfect for the first time all week. There were some tornadoes in the area late Tuesday night (no deaths) and gloomy days after, but Friday was nice out.

The vibes: Up and positive after a productive spring game for Eastern Michigan.

The football: OK. It’s a spring practice, so they aren’t going to push things to the max, but it’s still fun to watch these practices.

The sports: Amazing.

Let’s get to the action that deserves some attention above the fold.

There was the spring football ‘game’, but the halftime show ended up being one of the best sporting events in one of the most unexpected times. In the middle of the spring game, the parents took the field. Offense vs. defense, some dads participated in a best-of-3 series of tug-of-war, moms participated in a relay race of a scoop-and-score drill, and two coaches’ newborn babies finished with a diaper race.

I’m telling you, it was perfect.

In tug-of-war, the defensive dads won the first match, but were probably reluctant to realize that it was a best-of-3 series. Offensive dads won the second round, and needed a rubber match to settle. While the defensive dads had an early lead in the third, the offensive dads pulled back hard and got enough of the defensive dads to lean forward and falter. Offense wins.

Speaking of falling, a couple of moms fell in their scoop-and-score game. The first mom in the defensive relay team stumbled and fell just before she got to the finish line to let the offensive team get an early lead. But the third offensive mom ended up having her own miscues, and allowed just enough time for the defense to come back and win in dramatic fashion.

So, there had to be a tie-breaker. The young babies of offensive coordinator Mike Piatkowski and co-defensive coordinator Tate Omli settled the score in a diaper race. As exciting as it was to finally see either of the little ones start to crawl towards their mothers at the finish line, the football team and crowd realized that adding loud cheers would only spook the kiddos to a halt. In the end, little Omli pulled ahead and won the race for the defense to win the intermission’s games.

My videos, posted to BlueSky:

I apologize for nothing for making you get this far before you actually got to read what you came to this newsletter for.

The EMU’s spring game, to wrap up the team’s springtime practices, was broken up into different parts. There were some, but not many, full-field drives. There was also some action that didn’t involve the offensive or defensive lines — 1-on-1’s, 2-on-2’s, and eventually 7-on-7’s were had with the receivers vs. pass defenders.

The offensive line group was thin at best. From left to right, Tyler Brumfield, Carter Miculka, Nicholas Gallegos, Cole Dellinger, and Dennis Strey Jr. played the vast majority of the snaps for the unit during the scrimmage.

Many in this position group stayed on the sidelines without pads on.

“We have a lot of guys where it's not a serious, long thing, but even just an illness from last night, a guy sick. Yeah, we had a small crew that went all the way through and hats off to those guys,” Chris Creighton said after the scrimmage.

The coach mentioned that of all the non-participants hanging on the sidelines Friday, there’s only one player’s health that he felt was a longer-term concern.

“That guy is going through something for a second time, and he texted me a picture of himself from his hospital bed, and was basically saying, ‘let's go,’” he said. “Just a total inspiration about his mental toughness and his keep going. So one's too many, but that's where we're at.”

Noah Kim, who returns as a 7th-year college QB (2nd with EMU), showed off his comfort level in Piatkowski and Creighton’s offense as he was 11 for 15 passing with 163 yards and a scrimmage-opening touchdown drive.

On a 4th & 2 situation near midfield, Kim ran the ball to his right and forced an EMU defender to bite and try and make a tackle. Kim quickly tossed the ball over the defender’s head and threw it to the wide-open returning All-MAC receiver Nick Devereaux, who ran off for the score.

“I love him leading our team,” Creighton said of his returning, starting quarterback. “You know, he's super talented... He's just, he's got a natural humility to him, super confident, super competitive, but it's, but it's a quiet confidence and competitive, fire or whatever. And Coach Pike was that way, too.”

Pittkowski, before his coaching days, was a former quarterback for Creighton at Drake from 2008-2012. As a senior, Piatkowski finished his final season as the conference’s top offensive player.

Kim led another drive that quickly went from the offense’s 25-yard line to the defense’s 3. After Kim’s lone red zone completion to tight end Josh Long to get near the goal line, EMU’s coaching staff ended the drive and the team broke into some punting simulations. Daniel Hull was the team’s lone punter who had a couple of kicks downed inside the 5-yard line (three inside the 20).

With last year’s punt returner Juan Salas on the sidelines, EMU had three guys field punts: returning receivers Benson Prosper and Harold Mack, and freshman defender Fa’Rel Carter.

Kim and graduate transfer Brogan McCaughey each threw 15 balls on their drives. McCaughey was 10 of 15 for 137 yards and two touchdowns, including a 60-yard throw and catch to freshman Carl Jean-Bart to finish the day. Jace Stuckey, in his third year with the team, struggled some of the day, but was recorded completing 3 of 5 passes on his simulated drives and a TD throw.

At kicker, Rudy Kessinger is the returning leg for field goals while Nathan Dibert was a kickoff specialist last year. But if Friday’s spring game meant anything, it might mean that Dibert now has the upper hand (er, upper leg?) in this group. Kessinger went 0/5 on his field goal tries while Dibert was 4/6 with makes 38, 43, 47, and 48 yards. His two misses were from 45 and 55 yards out.

Through the spring game windows, it’s always easier to see offensive receivers make plays than defenders, considering the lack of contact in these events. Still, Caleb Coley, Johnah Flowers, Hector Gonzalez, Milan Colvin, and Brandon Simmons Jr. all finished with recorded, simulated sacks on the quarterbacks.

For receivers, Deveraux was recorded with 91 receiving yards, followed by Jean-Bart at 63, but Harold Mac, Decorie Johnson, and Mekhi Fox all finished with three receptions on the night.

Of all the guys that didn’t suit up for Friday’s action, and for all the full contact that’s sometimes prevented in this time of year, Creighton singled out Makhi Gilbert as one to watch for in the future.

“I was talking to one of our staff guys two nights ago in the locker room, and I just said, ‘Who do you think our best player is?’ And he said, ‘I'm taking Makhi Gilbert.’ I mean, Makhi Gilbert has impacted our football program so positively, and he's not taking a single rep because he's he's rehabbing, but just an amazing job. We just can't wait to get him back,” said the head coach.

Also included in the spring game fun was the addition of another name to EMU’s Ring of Honor: Dylan Drummond.

Drummond spent his rookie year in 2023 with both the Detroit Lions and New York Giants, but has ultimately found work playing for the Atlanta Falcons. He’s played in 10 total games in the NFL (1 in 2023 with Detroit, 9 last year in Atlanta) and has a career 7 catches for 42 yards, along with four kick returns for 110 yards.

With EMU from 2018-2022, Drummond was an immediate contributor as a true freshman and finished with 52 games played, 183 catches, 2,028 receiving yards, and 14 touchdowns.

Before Drummond, Eastern most-recently added the names of offensive lineman Sidy Sow and kicker Chad Ryland, who were both drafted by the New England Patriots in 2023 and honored by 2024. So made 13 starts with New England as a rookie in 2023, and was cut by the team ahead of the 2025 season. He quickly found work with the Houston Texans, signing to a reserves/futures contract. Ryland, likewise, also only had one season played with the Patriots, where he struggled with a 64% field goal percentage. The last two years, though, he’s been with the Arizona Cardinals and signed another one-year contract with the team last month.

Drummond, Sow, and Ryland are all former Eagles on active NFL rosters, but they’re of course not the only ones.

Maxx Crosby, of course, is still in the league. Andrew Wylie, a two-time Super Bowl champ, is still in the league. Pat O’Connor has been between Tampa Bay and Detroit. Jose Ramirez, EMU’s only MAC Defensive Player of the Year honoree, is with Philadelphia on a futures/reserve contract.

But also, Freddie McGee III, former EMU walk-on turned scholarship defender, is worth mentioning here. No, he’s not in the league. But after the publicity he got this week for holding a sign in front of the Detroit Lions’ practice facilities.

“I do think that we, that we all share that, I don't know, maybe a little bit of an underdog [mentality],” Creighton said, “just, you want to prove people right or prove people wrong. And [having] belief.”