That would be the man who signed the 2002 Homedale High School last summer — Billings Outlaws coach Heron O’Neal. “Hopefully we can keep him for the whole season, if he doesn’t move up right away,” O’Neal said of Eby in the days after the rookie free safety picked off two passes in Billings’ 82-12 thrashing of the Sioux City Bandits on March 15.

“He has that ability. If he continues to progress, he would definitely have an opportunity I would see — if they’re looking at the film that I’m looking at.”
O’Neal knows a thing or two about judging talent. He played in high school with future NFL Pro Bowlers Donovan McNabb and Simeon Rice, served two seasons in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears and had a three-year career in indoor football before turning his attention to a successful coaching career.

The Outlaws are on the road Saturday in Fort Collins, Colo., to play Intense Conferenc

e Pacific Division rival the Colorado Ice in Game 2. The game kicks off at 7 p.m., and live statistics and play-by-play charts will be streamed on www.billingsoutlaws.com.
Even though Eby has played just one game in the Indoor Football League, one after which he won the league’s Defensive Player of the Week Award, O’Neal says the 6-foot-1, 210-pound free safety could find himself on the fast track to shots in the Canadian Football League, Arena Football League when it resumes operation, the new United Football League and even the NFL.

Both O’Neal and Eby concede that the caliber of defensive linemen playing for the Outlaws helped the rookie excel in his first game. The league credits Eby with two first-half interceptions, four tackles and two pass breakups.

But the coach, a former cornerback and safety, said Eby’s “football IQ” went a long way toward the monster game in front of mom and dad — Gary and Vicki Eby — and girlfriend Jessie Morris earlier this month in Billings.

“You always expect to play well, and I always expect a lot from myself,” Eby said. “But after that first interception I was pretty surprised, but it also calmed me down and relaxed me because I was pretty excited for my professional debut.

“When I got that first interception, it was like, ‘OK I can do this. I can play with all of these guys, and I just kind of got into the routine of the game after that.’ “
Eby said his debut performance was a “dream come true”, but it also was the culmination of a methodical march from his first pro contract, signed last summer, to winning a starting job.

“When he got here, he was ready to go,” O’Neal said of Eby when he arrived for training camp in February. “He showed that he was even smarter than what he showed on the football field.

“As far as picking up things, he’s one of the smartest DBs that we’ve had in the four or five years of me being here.”

Those smarts paid off when Eby stumbled slightly during training camp. He was named to the first string within the first week, but slipped back to reserve status in Week 2.
“He came to me and asked me. ‘What do I need to work on so that doesn’t happen again?’ And it hasn’t happened again,” O’Neal said.

“That’s the thing I like about him. You tell him something one time, you don’t have to worry about that same thing re-occurring. That’s what I call that football IQ. You tell him how to get it done, he’s going to get it done for you.”

Outlaws owner and general manager Adam Steadman said the origins of that work ethic were driven home in a phone conversation with Michael’s father, Gary: "Gary asked me, ‘How’s Mike doing? Is he working hard for you? If he’s not working hard enough, you just let me know!’ “ Steadman said. “His parents are obviously proud of Michael and the rest of their kids.” The family upbringing makes Eby a perfect fit in Montana. “Michael Eby is exactly the kind of athlete we like to see on and off our field. Not only is he very dedicated to improving his already impressive football skills, he’s also polite, humble and a great public face for our organization.”

With that work ethic and attention to problem-solving, Eby was back on the first string by Week 3 of training camp and heading for a starting assignment in the team’s IFL inaugural.
Eby is a sponge when it comes to football technique. When O’Neal called to offer him a job last year, there were a few things the rookie needed to work on. So he did “He picked the scheme up real good,” O’Neal said. “He’s a great team player. He’s always positive. He has a memory that when he messes up he just lets it go and goes on to the next play and doesn’t harp on it. And that’s what you have to be when you’re playing football indoors in arena-style football.”

That makeup has created a rarity — a rookie in the pivotal role of free safety in the Billings defense. Eby’s predecessor — Travonti Johnson — now plays with the New York Giants.
“The free safety does a lot of things for us,” O’Neal said. “You got to have a lot of combo threats, so to say. You have to know how to hit, have great instincts, have great anticipation and you have to flat-out just be smart because you’re the quarterback of the secondary back there.”

Eby, however, knows there’s more to his initial success. It doesn’t hurt to practice against the league MVP in quarterback Chris Dixon and the top receiver from a year ago in James Walton. "Practicing every day against those guys, I was actually more comfortable in the game,” Eby said.

The presence of Arena Football League refugees on the defensive line put enough pressure of Sioux City quarterback Michael Spriggs to force early throws, which Eby broke on for his interceptions. "I’ve been working since July,” Eby said. “My first goal was to make the team, then it was to dress and then it was to start and have my family and my friends come watch me and then to be able to have two interceptions and have the game like I did, it just felt like that all the hard work has finally paid off.”

— JPB