1981 FOOTBALL PROSPECTUS ..

The 1981 edition of the NCAA Division I-A A national runner-up Eastern Kentucky University football team returns 31 lettermen from last year's squad which came within 55 seconds of producing a second consecutive national championship. (The Colonels lost 31-29 to Boise State in the I-AA finals la st year, after winning the national title in that division i n 1979.)

Headi ng the list of returnees for E K U head coach Roy Kidd, who will be beginning his 18th season at the he lm oft he Colonels and who was chosen as Chevrolet's 1980 NCAA Division I-AA national coach of the year, will be sen io r All-Americans George Flo yd and Kevin Greve.

F loyd , a 5- 11 senior defens ive back who was named to th e first-team Kodak and Associated Press I-AA All-American t eams, was also the recipient of the 1980 Ohio Valley Conference's Most Valuable P layer on Defense trophy. He fini s hed as the third leading tackler on the team (7332) and tied with second-team All-OVC defensive back R odney Byrd for the league's interception lead with five .

Greve, a 6-1, 240-pound offensive guard, was a seco nd-team All -A meri ca n pick by AP in 1980 as he and his offensive line cohorts led EK U to its eighth straight 2,000-yard rushing season (2,662 yds and 31 ru sh ing TD's)

Other returni ng line m e n in the offensive line include se nior tackle David Dihr,kop, jun ior guard C hris Taylor, and ju nior center-tackle Steve Coleman.

Second-team AII-OVC quarterback Chris Isaac, a 5-11 senior, finished last season in a flurry and was the only quarterback in the OVC to hit 50 or more percent of his passes Isaac hit 92-177 (.520) passes for 1,318 yards and seven TD's, while running the ball I 31 times for 302 yards and seven TD's.

Isaac's ma in targets for the '8 1 season will be senior flanker Jerry Parr is h ( 19 catches for 254 yards and one TD in I 980);junior split end Steve Bird ( 18-316-3); senior tight end Cris Curtis ( 17213-2); junior tight end T ron Armstrong (4-55-0); and senior flanker Rana rd McPhaul (8-79-0). Parrish also led the nation in kickoff returns with his 25.1 average.

Senior tailback Tony Braxton and junior fullback Nicky Yeast head the list of returning rushers for the Colonels. Braxton led Eastern last year with 800 yards rushing on 15 I carries and a t eam- high IO TD's. Yeast co llec ted 143 yards o n 42 carries and two touchdowns.

Other runners who contributed to the Colonels' offense which led the league in scoring with their 25.5 per game mark and who will return in 1981 arc sophomore tailbacks Terence Thompson and Ed Hairston and sophomore fullback Jon Sutkamp.

The defensive line, where four of the five starters were lost through graduation, will be perhaps the biggest area need i ng rebuilding. Juni or defensive tackle Mark Willoughby is th e lone starter returning, but he should receive ample help from junior Allen Young, and Richard Bell at end, juniors Randy Taylor an d Bobb y Woods at tackle and sop homores Rich Francioni and Mike M cS hane and senior Henry Robinson at noseguard.

The linebacking corps returns intact, including second team AII-OVC junior Alex Dominguez, sophomores David Hill and Mik e Bobek a nd junior Mik e W age rs Dominguez and Hill finished the season as Easte rn's top two tacklers with 90-60 and 71-74 tackle s and assists, re s pectively.

F loyd and Byrd h ead a defensi ve backfield which lost only one pla ye r through graduation. Returnees include junior Cliff McCullough , se ni o r s T om Whit e a nd Frank Hardin, junior Gus Parks and sophomores Mike Mims, Gabriel Lewis and Bryan Robinson.

Defensively last season, Easte rn yielded but 289 yards of total offense an d 13 .3 points pe r game, while tiei ng the school record for interceptions it had set in 1979 of 22.

Easte rn compiled a 10-3 overall and 5-2 OVC mark in 19 80.

Offens e: I- P r o-Set.