By
Al Myatt
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Thumbnail sketches:
ECU's football
recruiting class of
2016...
GREENVILLE — Certain elements of a real
pirate's lifestyle such as attacking, plundering and escaping probably
had to be done with a relatively high degree of speed.
Time was of the essence
as Scottie Montgomery assembled his staff and put together his first
recruiting class as East Carolina football coach.
Montgomery was named to
lead the ECU program on Dec. 13 and helped Duke prepare for its
44-41 overtime win over Indiana on Dec. 26 in the Pinstripe Bowl as
the Blue Devils' offensive coordinator.
He's been a busy man and
so have all of his coaches. Montgomery said his staff had not taken
a day off in the last month.
With the signees safely
in the cargo hold of the Pirate ship, Montgomery talked about the
incoming players Wednesday afternoon on the club level of
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
The new staff went
through the old staff's commitments, evaluated their potential and
added some new recruits of their own, screening for football ability
as well as how they would fit in to the college world in Greenville.
The process included a
half dozen from whom ECU gained commitments in the last weekend of
the talent sweep.
ECU announced a class of
22. Jarred Dorton, a junior college offensive lineman, is the only
one of those who did not play high school football last season.
Montgomery credited
offensive line coach Geep Wade as the Pirates signed five to the
blocking corps along with two tight ends.
"Offensive lineman are
the bedrock of every great football program," Montgomery declared.
Story
continues after the following picture... |
|
ECU head coach Scottie
Montgomery gestures while speaking with the press on
Wednesday about a recruiting class that includes 21 high
school players and one from the junior college ranks.
(Photo by W.A Myatt) |
ECU went for length and
speed in replenishing the talent pool in the secondary. Defensive
backs coach Rick Smith was the sole retainee from the previous
staff. Incoming defensive back Javontay Smith of Carver High in
Columbus, GA, reportedly was pursued by Alabama and Nebraska among
other nationally-prominent programs.
Montgomery noted that
three defensive line signees weighed 900 pounds combined.
Linebacker Aaron Ramseur
of Shelby Crest is from Montgomery's neck of the woods in Cleveland
County. Ramseur further legitimized his credentials as MVP of North
Carolina's winning effort in the Shrine Bowl.
The Pirates put a
priority on recruiting in-state. Seven players are within a
90-minute drive of campus. Four more call North Carolina home.
Williamston Riverside
defensive lineman Jalen Price was listed at 228 pounds last year.
ECU found he was significantly bigger on a personal visit.
Montgomery said that's
one advantage of recruiting close to home when some schools may not
want to invest the time and effort to fly in and drive to see
players face to face.
Among the players ECU
retained from previous commitments were backs Keyshawn Canady and
Johnnie Glaspie from NCHSAA 1-AA champion Wallace-Rose Hill as well
as premier passer Reid Herring of Raleigh Millbrook.
Montgomery had a
relationship with Herring that helped the Pirates keep him in the
signing class.
Quarterback search
ECU begins spring
practice on March 16 and offensive coordinator Tony Petersen will be
evaluating quarterbacks.
"I haven't seen anybody
play as of right now but between Kurt (Benkert) and Philip (Nelson),
it looks like I've got two upperclassmen," Petersen said.
"Supposedly, they are pretty good players and we're excited about
them. I look forward to it. I think it's going to be a great spring
and then we've got the freshman, John Jacobs, right now. Those are
kind of the three kids who'll be going at it. It's nice to have a
couple of upperclassmen. I know Philip started at Minnesota his
first two years and from what I understand Kurt was supposed to be
the starter going into the season. They're great-looking kids. From
what I hear, they're great quarterbacks. They're always coming in
and wanting to talk ball."
James Summers may be
headed for a position change after splitting time at quarterback
last season with Blake Kemp, who is transferring.
"He's probably going to
move back to a hybrid type of receiver," Petersen said. "He's just
so talented. He's a guy we've got to get the ball in his hands. You
never know, he could also come back in a Wildcat. He's a special
player."
Petersen, a former
quarterback at Marshall, was offensive coordinator for former
Pirates coach Skip Holtz at Louisiana Tech for the last three years.
The Bulldogs were 9-4 overall and 6-2 in Conference USA in 2015,
averaging 37.5 points and 482.8 yards of offense per game. Louisiana
Tech had 687 yards of offense in a 47-28 bowl win over Arkansas
State.
"We're going to be a
spread offense," Petersen said. "We're going to be similar to what I
think East Carolina has seen. ... We want to be able to run the
football and we want to be able to throw the football. I wouldn't
say it's a run-first or a pass-first. ... You've got to be able to
get big plays and you've got to be able to score in the red zone.
That's kind of where we start from."
The Pirates will be
dealing with a learning curve on offense.
"We'll be doing a lot of
teaching," Petersen said. "All of a sudden, I'm starting over again
with assistant coaches on the staff and players as far as
installing. ... I was about to go into year four at Louisiana Tech.
It's a lot easier when you've put the offense in and you've been
rolling. Starting over is challenging but it's also exciting."
Petersen got positive
feedback from Holtz as he considered the career move to ECU.
"He said it's a great
place and you're going to love it," Petersen said. "He really
enjoyed his time here."
What will Petersen be
looking for from his quarterbacks?
"I'm looking for a guy
who is going to make great decisions with the football," Petersen
said. "That's always been No. 1 for me in all my years. If you can't
make the decisions with the football, you're going to put the ball
in harm's way and we're going to lose football games, so they have
to make great decisions with the football. After that, I'm looking
for guys who can make the plays. When I've made the right decision
to throw the ball to the curl, I'm looking for a guy who can make
the throw. They've got to have enough God-given ability to do it."
Similar to Vandy
Defensive coordinator
Kenwick Thompson felt the Pirates did a good job of addressing
personnel losses down the road.
"Being a new staff, you
really need a complete class," Thompson said. "You don't want to
leave holes in the class from year to year. We felt like we needed
to address, especially on defense, several positions because of the
fact that next year it will be a veteran crew coming back. The
following year, there will be a lot of people walking out the door
so we wanted to make sure we had some depth at several positions to
make sure that we didn't have holes within the classes as we moved
forward."
Thompson came from
Vanderbilt, where he was associate head coach and linebackers coach.
"You just try to look
for the player that fits the program and culture that you want at
your university," Thompson said. "At Vanderbilt, we were used to
looking at a lot of players because of the fact that we had to find
players to be able to fit that mold, whether it be academically or
physically. Here at East Carolina, we did the same thing. We tried
to make sure we looked under every stone, looked behind every tree
to make sure we got the best player that we possibly could. ...
Recruiting is about relationships, regardless of where you're at. We
feel like if players trust that you're going to help them on and off
the field, they'll come play for you. We did that at Vanderbilt and
we kind of took the same idea here."
Scheme-wise, Vanderbilt
had a 3-4 alignment. Thompson is more focused on how his unit plays
as opposed to what scheme ECU employs.
"Some of the things will
be similar," Thompson said. "Of course, some of the things will not.
We'll try to get our best football players on the field. I've been
doing it long enough to where I've done several different things.
The thing that we want to concentrate on is we want to make sure we
do the things that we can do. It's not going to be about what I did
at other places. It will be specifically fitted to what we have here
at ECU. ... Regardless of scheme, how we play will be our calling
card – how hard we play, effort, pad level, technique, how physical
we are. We'll also do some things to put guys in position to make
plays.
"I came from a 3-4
family so our base will be that. Again, the goal is to get the best
football players on the football field, guys who are smart, play
physical, fast and very aggressive on a consistent basis."
AD likes schedule,
recruiting approach
Season tickets for
football went on sale this week.
"I think we have a great
home schedule, with N.C. State here (Sept. 10), having Western
Carolina here (Sept. 3)," said ECU athletic director Jeff Compher.
"Two in-state schools is huge for us. I think that will help.
Obviously, with the recognition that the American Conference got
last year, two Top 25 teams, a Top 10 team, a New Year's day team."
Houston got a bowl win
over Florida State. The Cougars were No. 8 in the final rankings.
"That kind of
competition in our league and what it could mean for us, I think
people are beginning to recognize what a strong league we have,"
Compher said. "I think that will bring people out as well."
Compher liked the new
staff's diligence and efficiency in putting together its initial
recruiting class.
"My reaction is more
toward the work ethic of this group of new coaches, how they came
together as a staff," Compher said. "Some didn't know each other at
all before they started working together. I liked seeing how Coach
Mo brought everyone in, created this can-do attitude of we're going
to get the best players we can and fill the needs we have. He enjoys
the recruiting process and all of these coaches do. To see some of
the creativity they've put into the process also was really
gratifying as well."
Compensation for
assistants and coordinators was an issue with ECU's previous staff.
"As far as that pool of
dollars goes, there's been some adjustments, but for the most part
it's about the same amount," Compher said.
'Shank' encourages
Moore
Special teams
coordinator Shannon Moore was encouraged by former Pirates offensive
line coach Steve Shankweiler to make the move to ECU. Shankweiler
and son, Kort, worked with Moore at Florida International.
"He was like, 'Go. You
gotta go,' " Moore said. "Everybody said that's a great place to
live. He told me how Kort used to walk over to the practice field
after he got out of (Elmhurst) school. There he was every day."
The older Shankweiler is
offensive coordinator at FIU, which opened the season with a
stunning 15-14 win over Central Florida. Kort Shankweiler coaches
quarterbacks and wide receivers.
"We want to keep things
simple," Moore said. "We want to allow our kids to play fast. ...
We're going to start from ground zero. We're going to be a big
technique team. We're going to be easy with our schemes and allow
ourselves to make adjustments. ... If you're a receiver and you're
going to play special teams, you remember all the run plays, all the
pass plays. Then we do a ton of different stuff on our punt team,
our kickoff team, our punt return and our kickoff return and you're
on those also, at some point you're going to get overloaded. If
you're a receiver, if you're a linebacker, if you're a DB or a
running back, probably the first thing that is going to start
slipping or get a little gray is what's your special teams job?
"We've got to make sure
we are just as sound and just as good on special teams as we are on
offense or defense so we're going to try to keep those things as
simple as we can.
"We're going to put kids
in position for them to succeed. We're going to go out and compete
and play fast and we're going to play good."
Connors working
conditioning side
Jeff Connors continues
to direct strength and conditioning for football.
"Workouts are going
great," Connors said. "I really like the new system that Coach Mo
brought in for winter conditioning. It's highly disciplined and
detailed, more than any I've ever seen. It's exciting because I
think what we're focusing on is what our team needs right now.
Things are going very well in the weight room as well. We've got
guys putting up pretty decent numbers already, particularly our
linemen. I'm very excited about the strength of the defensive
linemen.
"I think the whole
mentality of our team is going to be raised by the time we get to
March because of the way that Coach Mo's system works."