CHENEY, Wash — The Eastern Washington Eagles had four players named to the preseason All-Big Sky team ahead of this season. Among them is tight end Blake Gobel, a player with a strong winning pedigree who wants to help return EWU to its winning ways in his final season in Cheney.
Gobel's athletic story begins in Banks, Oregon where he grew up playing football, baseball and basketball.
"I was around a really good group of kids growing up that all wanted to compete and win. I just got around the right people and we dominated in sports, that's kind of how it all began," Gobel said.
Dominant is the exact word to describe Gobel's prep career. In his senior season at Banks High School, Gobel played on three state championship teams in three different sports en route to being named the Oregon 4A Prep Athlete of the Year.
"It's tough because you get close to overlapping in sports in high school, so right after the state championship, it was right into the next season. We really took weightlifting and conditioning super seriously. We had a tight group of guys, about ten of us were just on it all the time. It was a really fun year," Gobel said.
Despite Gobel wanting to go to college for basketball, he ended up accepting a football scholarship at Eastern Washington. He brought that same strong work ethic to EWU and focused on just football, which was a new experience.
"I wouldn't say it was more difficult, it was just a little different transitioning from the short seasons over here. We do football stuff here year round, but I love it, it's a blast," Gobel said.
After three successful seasons with Eric Barriere at quarterback, last season's disappointment was a shock to the system for Gobel and his teammates, but he believes this year's team has what it takes to turn things around quickly.
"We are trying to change the culture. We struggled last year and we are trying to build abck what the past has been here. It's one step at a time, one workout at a time, one winter ball at a time and now one practice at a time. We are just trying to get back to where we used to be because we have the guys to do it, it's just about us being together, buying in and moving forward," Gobel said.
Heading into his final season at Eastern, Gobel wants one thing.
"All I want to do is win. We need to stack wins, win on the road and just enjoy the time with our brothers. We spend so much time and work so hard together that the pay off is winning and that is what we all want to do," Gobel said.
The Eags will begin the season with a great experience, playing North Dakota State at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Gobel cannot wait for week one.
"It's going to be awesome. I have a lot of family there who will get to watch me play for the first time, so it will be a really cool experience," Gobel said.
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