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FOOTBALL |
Superman to the Rescue |
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All James Summers needed was a red
cape. Superman came to the rescue
again this week for East Carolina.
Summers came off the bench to lead
the Pirates to 42 unanswered points
in a resounding 49-23 win over
Southern Methodist ...
More from
Brian Bailey... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
Audio: Ruff Weekly
Presser |
ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
met with reporters on Monday
in his weekly press
conference.
(Audio courtesy of
Pirate Radio 1250; archive photo):
Select audio clip... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
Audio: The Brian Bailey
Show |
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guest this week was ECU
outside receivers coach Garrett
Riley (right):
Replay
show... |
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Ruff post-game
audio |
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ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
after the
Pirates defeated
Southern Methodist
(recorded by Al Myatt):
Select audio clip... |
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FOOTBALL |
Kevin's Keys to the Game |
East Carolina
comes into today's game at
Southern Methodist with a
hard-to-decipher 2-2 record.
After opening at home with a
with a win over FCS opponent
Towson in a game that was a
lot closer than expected,
the Pirates traveled to
Gainesville and outplayed
expectations in a close loss
to the Florida Gators. It
has been that type of season
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More from Kevin Monroe... |
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FOOTBALL |
Pirates look to build on big win |
Coming
back from an early 14-0 deficit to
defeat Virginia Tech 35-28 at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday
was a huge step for an East Carolina
football team that had dropped
preceding games at Florida and Navy.
...
More
from Al Myatt... |
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By
Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
It's hard to believe, but Saturday’s game at Brigham
Young marks the midway point in East Carolina’s 2015 football season.
Considering the difficult front-loaded schedule,
significant graduation losses and the season-ending injury to projected
starting quarterback Kurt Benkert a week before the opening game, the
Pirates can feel good about their current 3-2 record.
It’s still relatively early, of course, and ECU is still
very much a work in progress. But as it moves forward into a promising
second half, here are five things we’ve already learned this season
coach Ruffin McNeill’s team:
1. The Pirates have stumbled onto a budding star in
quarterback James Summers.
Benkert’s injury seemed like a crippling blow to ECU’s
hopes when he went down with a torn ACL at practice on August 25. But
with all due respect to Benkert, whose rehab appears to be coming along
well, the bad break may just have been a blessing in disguise. That’s
because a day later, junior college transfer James Summers was switched
from wide receiver back to quarterback – the position he played while
becoming a highly sought-after high school prospect in Greensboro and
for the past two seasons at Hinds Community College in Mississippi.
It took awhile for Summers to learn the offense and get
comfortable with the position switch, but since coming in to start the
second quarter two weeks ago against Virginia Tech, the Pirates’ offense
has suddenly transformed into a much more fluid unit than it was with
Blake Kemp under center.
That’s not to say Kemp hasn’t played well. He’s actually
done an admirable job under the circumstances. It’s just that Summers
has done all the things he’s been able to do in the passing game while
adding the element of a game-breaking runner to the equation. In the
process, that rushing threat has also loosened things up for others in
the backfield to give coordinator Dave Nichol far more options than he
had before.
McNeill, probably out of loyalty to Kemp, still hasn’t
anointed Summers as the full-time starter. But having rushed for 254
yards and passing for 276 with a 77.3 completion percentage while
leading his team to 63 points in his last six quarters, that figures to
happen sooner than later.
2. The receiving corps is deep and talented, even
without Justin Hardy and Cam Worthy.
The Pirates lost 176 catches and 14 touchdowns with the
graduation of college football’s all-time receptions leader and their
top deep threat from a year ago. Remarkably, though, they haven’t missed
a beat.
Isaiah Jones has taken over Hardy’s role as the go-to guy
in the passing game, which is no surprise considering that he caught 81
balls as a junior last season. Tight end Bryce Williams has emerged as
the big, reliable target over the middle with a knack for keeping the
chains moving, while the group of Davon Grayson, Jimmy Williams and Quay
Johnson has done a nice job of filling in the blanks and allowing
whichever quarterback is in the game to keep defenses off balance by
spreading the ball around.
As good as that group has been, it got even better once
Trevon Brown finished serving his three-game suspension to start the
season. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore has stepped right in to
complete the equation by filling Worthy’s old role and giving ECU a big,
physical downfield playmaker that’s tough to stop regardless of who’s
covering him.
3. Although the defense has its share of issues, ECU’s
linebackers are good enough to minimize a lot of its limitations.
Although the Pirates’ defense has improved from the group
that ranked ninth in the 11-team American Athletic Conference against
the pass a year ago, its secondary in general and corners Rocco Scarfone
and Josh Hawkins in particular are still prone to giving up big plays.
And even with the return of Terrell Stanley from a near-fatal car
accident, ECU’s defensive line has accounted for only 3.5 sacks over the
first five games.
Despite all that, the Pirates have been in every game
they’ve played in which the opposition has run a traditional non-triple
option offense thanks in large part to the play of a deep talented group
of linebackers.
Everyone already knew how good Zeek Bigger was inside
after an incredible 2014 season in which he was credited with 140
tackles, and he’s been as every bit as effective this season. But he’s
had plenty of help.
Montese Overton, who has shown flashes of brilliance
during his first three seasons, has consistently played at an even
higher level this year – capped by his school-record tying four-sack
performance at Southern Methodist last Saturday. Devaris Brunson, when
healthy, has been solid, and since his injury, walk-on Jordan Williams
has been just as good if not better. Outside, redshirt freshman Yiannis
Bowden has been a revelation as a pass rusher whose role only figures to
expand as the season goes on.
It’s safe to say that ECU will only go as far this season
as its linebackers – who have combined for 152 tackles, 9.5 of their
team’s 13 sacks, an interception and four pass breakups thus far – will
take them.
4. Resiliency is one of this team’s greatest strengths.
One of McNeill’s favorite Ruff-isms is the one in which
he tells his players to “remain dedicated to the vision and the goal”
regardless of how much adversity they might face.
That’s exactly what they’ve done thus far.
They have yet to waver, even when faced with a series of
bad breaks – including Benkert’s injury, Brown’s suspension,
a potential game-tying pass
that slipped from Kemp’s wet hand at Florida and
a sound thumping at the hands of Navy
in their AAC opener. They’ve been particularly adept at rallying from
early double-digit deficits, digging their way out of a 14-0 hole in a
monsoon at home in
a win against Virginia Tech
before spotting SMU a 23-7 head start on the road before
roaring back with 42 unanswered points.
Though it’s never a good idea to make a habit of starting
slowly, the ability to handle such situations without panicking is a
solid ace for ECU to have in the hole just in case.
5. The AAC East title is there for the taking.
The thinking going into the season was that if the
Pirates could survive their opening six-game gauntlet with at least
three wins, they’d be set up nicely to finish strong once the
competition eased – at least somewhat – during the back half of the
schedule. Now that they’ve accomplished that modest goal with one game
still remaining in those first six, it’s time to raise the bar just a
little bit higher.
Given the way the AAC East is setting up, it’s not out of
the question for ECU to legitimately contend for the division title it
let slip away a year ago.
Just take a look at the standings. Outside of Temple,
which is 4-0, everyone else other than ECU has a losing conference
record. Long-time nemesis Central Florida has lost all five of its games
so far while defending champion Cincinnati has spotted the rest of the
division an 0-2 start. With arguably their most difficult remaining AAC
games to be played at home in the friendly confines of Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium, the Pirates couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to
make this a memorable season.
Now all they have to do is take advantage of it.