Around the Big Sky Conference, it was a primary topic of conversation for almost 10 months.
Eric Barriere went out with a bang. The record-setting Eastern Washington quarterback went down swinging, throwing a Big Sky Conference-record 80 passes (and completing 47, both league records). He threw for 530 yards and five touchdowns in EWU’s 57-41 loss at Montana in the second round of the FCS playoffs last season.
Barriere finished his career with 13,809 passing yards and 121 touchdowns, setting the all-time record in both categories for the conference and an Eastern program that has had as many historic quarterbacks as anyone in the FCS.
So one of the favorite conversations of the off-season centered upon life after Barriere for the Eagles. Barriere, who won the Payton last season and earned Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year his final two seasons, is the last quarterback recruited by Beau Baldwin, a signal caller savant who helped develop many of the most prolific passers in Big Sky history. Baldwin also coached receivers Cooper Kupp and Kendrick Bourne, the former the Super Bowl MVP for the Los Angeles Rams and the latter a starter for the Patriots.
EWU entered this season without a brand-name quarterback for the first time since Jordan West played ¾ of a season before giving way to future Walter Payton Award finalist Gage Gubrud. Barriere replaced Gubrud midway through Gubrud’s senior year and led the Eagles to the national championship game that season while Gubrud transferred to Washington State in the off-season.
EWU begins Big Sky Conference play for the first time since 2018 without Barriere’s name written in sharpie atop the depth chart at quarterback.
“The loss of their quarterback is monumental,” said Montana State head coach Brent Vigen, who last season led MSU to its first win in Cheney since 2012. “I don’t know if you would say a generational player, but he was the player of the year in our division and he really made them go for a long time.”
So, by the way…who is Gunner Talkington?
You might not know his name. But if the trend of the last two decades carries, Talkington is just the next in line to operate Eastern’s Maserati. It’s a certainty that Talkington won’t equal the 143 total touchdowns Barriere contributed. But he will absolutely be A if not THE key if EWU is to return to the playoffs for the 13th time since 2004 or chase its 11th Big Sky title.
“He’s a special individual,” Eastern Washington head coach Aaron Best said. “He is a former walk on turned full scholarship starter. Again, arguably behind the best, most illustrious career in Big Sky and Eastern Washington University history with Eric Barriere. So the bar was set very high. And he didn’t grab the bar and try to lower it. He knows that was set high for reason and needs to stay high. And he’s looking to achieve that.”
And Talkington has a front-row opinion on Barriere, watching Barriere instantly burst onto the scene and then stay there, ultimately starting 42 games at EWU. Eastern’s new quarterback is fully aware of the standard he is trying to live up to.
“I don’t know how he makes half of those plays,” Talkington said. “It was pretty incredible. Just watching him play ball, it was awesome and it was nothing new to him. He was incredible.”
It’s been hard to evaluate Talkington so far. He was the Big Sky Conference offensive player of the week in his debut after amassing more than 400 total yards in Eastern’s 36-29 win over Tennessee State. TSU went 4-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference in Eddie George’s first season. Yes, that Eddie George, the former Heisman Trophy winner.
The following week was a 70-14 loss to Oregon without many takeaways other than Oregon is a Top 20 FBS team.
About the only comparable mystery in the Big Sky is Montana State, the Eagles’ opponent this week.
Internally, the Eagles have full belief in the walk-on turned full scholarship sixth-year senior who entered this season with one career start.
“He’s a very good football mind,” Best said. “I think he understands what he’s capable of and he takes calculated risks, but he’s also going to get rid of the ball when he needs to get rid of the ball.”
Talkington showed good ability to move inside and outside the pocket plus a quick and high release that releases a ball with very good velocity in the win over Tennessee State.
On Eastern Washington’s first possession, Talkington completed his first two passes and threw incomplete on third down, leading to an EWU punt. On the second possession, he threw first-down strikes to Efton Chism III and Freddie Roberson, Eastern’s two leading receivers from a season ago. EWU turned the ball over shortly after.
On Eastern’s third possession, Talkington kept throwing on time and throwing Chism and Roberson open. Then he hit sophomore Nolan Ulm up the sideline with a beautiful back shoulder throw and a few plays later, hit Ulm for a 7-yard touchdown to tie the game.
“He’s got a cannon,” Chism said. “His arm strength is crazy. I don’t think people realize how strong his arm is. And very sneaky elusiveness, he can actually run really well. We see it in practice all the time. A lot of people don’t see it, but he can really get out and run a little bit.”
Talkington finished his first start, a moment he called “a true blessing,” 29-for-46 for 348 yards and five touchdowns. He also rushed for 60 yards on the way to winning his first weekly award, an honor Barriere claimed 12 times in his career.
“He’s been putting the ball in good spots and just letting us play, you know, he’s not trying to do anything out of his character,” said Chism, who finished with 73 yards and two touchdowns, putting him over 1,000 yards for his career two games into his sophomore year. “He’s just giving us the ball and letting us go.”
Montana State and Eastern Washington have engaged in a whole collection of offensively prolific battles over the years, particularly the last 11 or 12.
One of the all-time classic games in the history of Bobcat Stadium, particularly since the venue’s 2010 renovation and expansion, came in 2014 when Vernon Adams and Cooper Kupp lead EWU past Dakota Prukop and the Bobcats, 52-51. The following year, punters seemed illegal and touchdowns came in a constant barrage as EWU set a Big Sky Conference record for yards per play and scored every time they touched the football on the way to a 55-50 win over MSU the following season in Cheney.
Those games characterized perfectly who Montana State and Eastern Washington used to be. Sure, EWU enters Saturday’s Big Sky opener against MSU in Cheney with a largely similar goal – spread the ball around, play fast, eat up grass (and yards) like a lawnmower and light up the scoreboard.
But for the first time in a long time, the man playing quarterback at Eastern Washington isn’t all the men that came before him. But what else could he be besides Talkington?
That’s what has Vigen on high alert entering this weekend’s matchup.
“He has to become the best version of himself,” Vigen said. “And as a coaching staff, and as a team, kind of figuring out what that is, that’s challenging sometimes, because I think you’ve had a guy like they have for so many years, everything you do is kind of modeled around his ability,” Vigen said.
“Their success was so dependent on the plays he (Barriere) made. The easiest thing is to say is, if we can replace him with something that’s as similar as possible, that’s the best thing. But that puts a lot of pressure on that person to try to play the way that previous person did, as opposed to, you know, how he can play.”
Vigen has answered the questions before. When he was the offensive coordinator at North Dakota State, people asked who would be able to live up to Brock Jensen. Well, even though Vigen left for Wyoming, Carson Wentz, Easton Stick and Trey Lance — all in the NFL now — quarterbacked NDSU’s unprecedented run.
At Wyoming, Vigen’s next stop, they asked who would come after Josh Allen.
“In my experience, that next person has to be the best version of himself. And to that measure, I think the guys around him have to realize that and then probably raise their game up to that. I’ve lived through that on a couple occasions.”
Eastern has lived through it since 2002 Big Sky MVP Josh Blankenship graduated. But who would live up to Erik Meyer? Matt Nichols. Who could ever compare to Nichols, the league’s all-time leading passer until Barriere broke the record? Oh, Bo Levi Mitchell, who led the Eagles to the 2010 national championship and won the Payton Award the following season.
And on down the line. Vernon Adams, Gubrud and Barriere kept EWU’s string of Payton-worthy QBs rolling along. Saturday, Talkington will get his first test in the Big Sky Conference.
Is No. 15 Eastern Washington a contender or a pretender coming off an early-season bye? Much of it relies on Talkington finding the best version of himself.
“I have to take what I’ve learned from previous quarterbacks, but all I can do is really be the best version of myself and try and help my team and put them in the best situation to be successful,” Talkington said, speaking almost like he’d talked to Vigen. “So I think that’s just being the best version of myself and helping my team out when they need me and them helping out when I need them.”
Montana State and Eastern Washington open Big Sky play in Cheney at 2 p.m. MST on Saturday afternoon.
