Terry Myrick, junior linebacker, has been a force for the Eagles defense in 2019. He has a total of 18 solo tackles and 31 total tackles, both third best on Eastern Michigan. Myrick also had a forced fumble in the Week 2 game against Kentucky.
This year is also Myrick’s first year playing as a regular starter. He started his first career game last year against Monmouth.
Week 4 was a thriller at home for the Eagles, as they won over Central Connecticut State 34-29 with a blocked punt returned for a touchdown. Eastern Michigan’s defense started that game by giving up 15 points in the first quarter.
“I feel like that we came out flat,” Myrick said regarding the outing. “We are a very tenacious and charismatic team, especially our defense. We didn’t come out with that energy and explosion that we normally come out with.”
The next Central Connecticut State score didn’t come until 8:20 left in the fourth quarter. Then with under three minutes left, the Blue Devils took the lead 29-28. Myrick mentioned that there was a player’s only meeting initiated by the senior captains. Going into conference play against Central Michigan, EMU had extra preparation with the bye week.
“We want to point out our weaknesses and strengthen those,” Myrick said. “As a locker room, we just want to come out and fire on all cylinders from now on. I’d like to go undefeated for the rest of the season; we’re very capable of that.”
The Eagles weren’t able to defeat Central Michigan on the road, though, falling 42-16. Following the conference opener, the Eagles will host Ball State on Saturday, Oct. 12 for their homecoming game. The next game after that is Oct. 19 against rival Western Michigan. The Eagles will try to improve to 5-2 over the next two weeks, and Myrick will be a big part of that.
The game in Mt. Pleasant was difficult for the Eagles as they faced the fourth highest passing offense in the MAC and allowed 308 rushing yards on the ground. Defensively, the Chippewas have the second-best rush defense in the conference. Although the pass defense isn’t as good, they allowed only one passing score from Mike Glass III and also forced a crucial interception.
