By Al Myatt
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DaShaun Amos's junior football season at East Carolina was followed shortly by the announcement that Ruffin McNeill would not be returning as coach.

Some stormy seas ensued for the Pirates but Amos and his fellow upperclassmen helped steady the ship. The level of effort in East Carolina's spring game was a testimonial to the resiliency of youth and the recruiting job new coach Scottie Montgomery has done among returning players.

Amos had a 38-yard interception return Saturday, one of the defensive highlights on a day that featured a continuation of the battle for the quarterback job between Kurt Benkert, who has been recovering from a knee injury that kept him out in 2015, and Philip Nelson, a former Minnesota player who started 16 games as a freshman and sophomore for the Big Ten Gophers.

Amos was named defensive MVP for spring practice when Montgomery presented a number of awards at halftime of the Purple-Gold game.

If there was an award for keeping team chemistry from boiling over, Amos might be eligible for that as well. He put the coaching transition in the past and he's not looking in the rear view mirror. A Dean's List student, Amos got some first-hand experience relating to his major in management.

"That's something that we overcame a long time ago," Amos said Saturday on a post card of an afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. "When everything first changed, it was up to the old guys on the team, the leaders, to get the young guys to buy in with the new staff.

"The way we changed is the way of life. Things like this are going to happen later on in life after college. It was like a business. We had to get used to it. We couldn't really dwell on the past. We had to move on and make sure we stayed together as a team and get ready for the new season that's coming forward."

ECU opens the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 3, against Western Carolina.

"As far as things changing, it's still football," Amos said. "It's different bonds with the coaches, which is getting better as time goes. It's a little more detail but other than that the guys bought in. We're up and rolling now. We don't really look back on the big change now as we're wrapping up spring ball."

New defensive coordinator Kenwick Thompson came from Vanderbilt. Secondary coach Rick Smith was the lone retainee from the previous staff. Smith served as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach for McNeill. There have been some tweaks to the ECU scheme and new labels to learn.

"It's a lot more detail but all in all, it's still football," Amos said. "It's still defense so it's either going to be a run or a pass. If it's a pass, it's going to be quick, medium or deep. We try not to put too much difficulty into what we do. But, like I said, a little bit more detail. Different terminology. It's more of a pro style defense so we're running what a lot of teams in the NFL run. So it's just getting used to the new terminology, new detail, paying attention to different keys that the offense gives us. But it's defense, all in all.

" ... It all comes together when I'm out here on the field and it allows me to make plays."

Montgomery has emphasized competing for possession against opposing receivers. Amos illustrated the concept for the 7,322 on hand Saturday as he picked off a deep ball from Benkert.

No doubt, the play made Montgomery happy although the positives and negatives ultimately balance out in an intrasquad situation.

"I think I made him happy a few times," Amos said. "I was a little disappointed at other times."

The secondary occasionally was maligned as ECU went 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the American Athletic Conference in 2015.

"A lot of the outside noise would like to say that we're the weak link of the defense," Amos said. "It's kind of getting old to us. We plan on making a change in that."

A 75-yard scoring pass from Benkert to Trevon Brown on the first snap of the last scrimmage of the spring didn't exactly get the secondary off on the right foot.

"We made a few errors (Saturday) but we know how to bounce back and make plays as well," Amos said. "A lot of credit goes to the offensive wide receiver corps. They're a great team. ... We're allowed to make plays back there. We're going to do that. We're going to make sure we stay focused, make sure we get better in the offseason. Come fall, we're going to make sure we're a strength and not a weakness."

Amos wouldn't say absolutely that he didn't think about transferring when the news broke Dec. 4.

"At first, I was a little disappointed," he said. "A lot of things ran through my head because it was an emotional time, but after you sit down and think about how much time you put into this university, how much sweat, blood and tears you put into this with the guys that you play with, ... it's just not in our character as a Pirate. It's not in our character to give up and leave guys hanging. A lot of guys were emotional but when it came down to it, we saw that we were a team, we were a brotherhood and we weren't going to leave each other hanging. A lot of guys can say that they thought things but we were never going to do it."

The most significant player to leave the program was quarterback Blake Kemp and that may have been as much about the quarterback competition at ECU and how Kemp might have perceived his role as factors relating to the coaching change. Kemp was behind the stronger-armed Benkert late in preseason camp a year ago.

Nelson had some baggage in the form of a bar brawl before he joined the Pirates as a transfer from Rutgers. That element of his past hasn't been an issue with the new staff.

"We built our relationship just like anybody else," Nelson said. "The coaching staff did a good job of getting to know everybody, getting to know their stories. I was no different. Coach Mo came in here and he told everybody that everyone starts at ground zero and we went from there."

Kemp gave the Pirates a serviceable performance in an offense that also was adjusting to a new coordinator, Dave Nichol, after Lincoln Riley left for Oklahoma. Kemp split time with James Summers, who provided some highlights, notably in a win over Virginia Tech. Summers transitioned from receiver after playing quarterback in a run-oriented offense in junior college, joining the Pirates in preseason camp and getting the CliffsNotes version of the offense.

Benkert gained some vicarious confidence while he was sidelined.

"Honestly, watching Blake do it and watching him on TV as I wasn't allowed to travel and everything, it was easier to see somebody that I competed with the entire time after Shane (Carden) left and to see him do it knowing that I can do it, too," Benkert said. "I took as many mental reps as I could in that six-month period. It helped."

Benkert rated his physical capabilities at 80 percent and said he is still three to four months from being fully recovered. He has adjusted his approach to the game according to his diminished agility.

"I felt like I developed my passing game inside the pocket a lot more this spring because I'm not 100 percent yet, like mobility, so I would definitely try to hone in on that and focus on just staying in the pocket and making every throw and not extending plays with my feet as much because that's kind of a part of my game," Benkert said. "As long as I get close to 100 percent I'm going to try to work on that a little bit more."

The Purple-Gold game was an end to the spring and a start for preseason preparation. Benkert was far from satisfied.

"We left a lot out there," he said. "We did a lot of really good things but we definitely left a lot out there. As a quarterback you kind of focus in on what you weren't able to accomplish more than what you did accomplish. We had a few deep balls that we almost connected on that I really wish we would have but I mean it's a good starting point."

Benkert and Nelson combined to pass for 437 yards on Saturday and that was without proven target Isaiah Jones, who is recovering from shoulder surgery.

Brown had three catches for 95 yards with the opening TD.

"We worked so hard in the spring on the timing between the quarterbacks and the receivers becoming good so all of this new offense and new routes is becoming like second nature," Brown said.

Brown is among the playmakers who established their credibility with Montgomery during the 15 spring sessions.

"He's in tremendous shape right now," Montgomery said of the 6-feet, 2-inch, 210-pounder out of New Hanover. "We've got to keep him going physically, mentally and socially and get him on the football field and doing everything he can to help the Pirates."

Brown makes quarterbacks better.

"I know where he's going to be," Benkert said. "I have a really good feeling for how he uses his body to get separation. I know that if it's tight coverage he's going to ... give me a little bit more room for error so he helps me a lot."

The Pirates are a work in progress but they have rolled past the potential pitfall of a coaching change. Spring ball was a learning process. The coaches learned the players' capabilities and the players learned what's expected from them by the new staff.

"Coach (Jeff) Connors (assistant athletic director for strength and conditioning) has us in great shape and I'm looking forward to the offseason," Montgomery said. " ... We know the guys that we can lean on. Now we've got to make sure that we have our team put together from a depth standpoint. We've really got to work on putting together a good 1-A and a good 1-B team, offensively and defensively."