Football | August 12, 2019

Western Michigan defensive seniors Drake Spears and Stefan Claiborne had fun during the Broncos' scrimmage at Saturday's Fan Fest at Waldo Stadium, helping stop squad's offense several times during the scrimmage portion of practice.

Then they really had fun afterwards, interacting with the hundreds of people who came down for autographs of the team poster.

There was one youngster who wanted the two to autograph a poster, but not his small football.

''Come on…don't you want us to sign the football, too?'' Spears said as Claiborne waited with pen in hand.

The youngster explained that if the two signed the ball, he couldn't play with it. But after about 30 seconds, he was back with a big smile on his face, letting the two seniors gladly sign the ball.

Or there was Brady Meyer, age eight, who couldn't wait to get as many autographs as he possibly could. He was there with his parents, Mike and Amy. Mike Meyer played football at Western Michigan with WMU head coach Tim Lester.

''It was fun to get to meet the players and get signatures,'' Mike Meyer said. ''Brady was loving it."

Many of the people attending went on a tour of the Waldo Stadium and Seelye Center facilities.

''He went into the Seelye Center and he said it was heaven and he didn't want to leave,'' Amy Meyer said. ''He wanted us to get the autographs for him because all he wanted to do was play football in there. This Fan Fest is great because the players are interacting with the kids, asking them what they like to do.''

''Brady sees the players and now he wants to come to a game and watch them,'' Mike added.

And there was Tom Spisich and his wife, Katie, both of which are Western Michigan grads who drove two hours from the metro Detroit area to attend their first Fan Fest. Their two small children, Brady and Taylor, were having too much fun on the Waldo Stadium, crashing into each other at one point with Taylor coming up spitting out artificial turf.

''We really like how family friendly this was,'' Tom said. ''Brady had a chance to run around on the indoor field and get his football autographed.''

Another happy person was Lester, who saw his offense put together a 13-play scoring drive at one point, but he also saw his defense stop the offense multiple times.

''I was proud of the way we played,'' Lester said. ''We're a veteran team and have had great practices so far. We have to keep it that way, which is my job. For the first time in a long time, this wasn't any different than it was a couple of days ago. It was a lot of fun to watch.''

The top three quarterbacks - senior starter Jon Wassink and sophomores Kaleb Eleby and Griffin Alstott – all had a lot of reps with the offense.

''Jon started slow and missed two reads early and I was on him pretty good,'' Lester said ''Then he got better. That 13-play drive was a big one because he overcame a penalty and a sack, which is a good sign. I thought Kaleb was sharp at the end and Griff had some good throws. Nick (Kargman, freshman QB) ran himself into some sacks, but made some good throws.''

Lester said that the Broncos still have a lot of room to grow, but that next week is vital.

''I call it Moving Week because it's time for people to move on the depth chart,'' he said. ''We're going to learn a lot.''

Lester has been happy with several of his wideouts, like senior transfer Keith Mixon Jr. from Mississippi State, and freshmen Corey Crooms, Skyy Moore and Cameron Coleman.

''Those four are a lot of fun to watch,'' the coach said.

Redshirt freshman Keni-H Lovely also made an impression with several interceptions from his cornerback position.

''Overall, we had some good competition, which is fun to watch, and that means we have pretty good depth,'' Lester said.