Pirate Notebook No. 303 Monday, April 16, 2007 By Denny O'Brien

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When Greg Hudson studies East Carolina's two-deep chart along the defensive front, he can't help but notice a couple of distinct advantages.

First there is size. Averaged together, the Pirates' top eight measures in at an impressive 6'4", 270 pounds, and that doesn't include 6'6", 320-pound transfer Khalif Mitchell who missed much of spring practice with an injury.

Then there is experience. With the exception of promising newcomer Willie Smith, ECU's defensive line is packed with veteran performers who have logged hundreds of meaningful snaps throughout their careers.

When Hudson adds it all together, he's confident that the combination of stature and tenure will equate to a dramatic increase in quarterback sacks, perhaps the lone statistic in which the Pirates didn't experience significant improvement last year.

"We put pressure on the quarterback (last year)," Hudson said. "We just didn't sack him."

"Sacks are something that everybody in the stadium knows what it is," he added. "They see it. We'll get better in the sack area just because our front, I believe, will be faster."

East Carolina finished the 2006 campaign with 18 sacks, totaling 100 yards in losses. By comparison, the Pirates' opponents tallied 27 for 200 yards in losses.

ECU was led by freshman defensive end C.J. Wilson, who finished the year with four sacks and emerged as one of the breakout performers last fall. But aside from Wilson, none of the Pirates' rush ends reached the two-sack plateau, a number that defensive end Zach Slate is motivated to improve.

"We didn't cut loose like we can," Slate said. "I don't know what was holding us back, but we're coming back this season and we're an older crowd now.

"We're going to have to help the guys on the back out by putting some more pressure on the quarterback. We definitely need to get our sack count up, because I think we were ninth in the conference in sacks last year."

Since Hudson's arrival, there has been a departure from the chaotic blitzing mentality employed by former coach John Thompson. The former schemes were designed to confuse the opposing offense, but it was the Pirates who often appeared disorganized and out of synch.

With Hudson's changes, players have appeared more comfortable and in better position to make plays. As a result, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of big plays by Pirates' opponents and ultimately fewer points on the scoreboard.

"If we can get pressure with just our front four, we're going to stay with that, because our job is to not put our offense in a bad position, also," Hudson said. "Blitzing and creating sacks and stuff like that are good, but it's high risk, high reward.

"We did not want to have to play catch-up with our offense and put them in a bad position. So, we've made a disciplined game plan every week, and we've stuck to it. We actually blitzed at the percentage that we wanted to. It's just that our base defense looked like a blitz if we played it right."

The evidence is in the numbers.

East Carolina concluded last season statistically ranked near the top of almost every defensive category in Conference USA. That included pass defense (184 ypg, 3rd), total defense (329 ypg, 3rd), and scoring defense (20 points per game, 3rd).

The Pirates finished sixth in C-USA in rushing defense (145 ypg), but that statistic is misleading when you factor that much of the damage occurred in the season opener against Navy's option-heavy attack.

It was a stark contrast to ECU's defensive performance under Thompson's watch, during which the opposition regularly eclipsed the 40-point mark. Only Tulsa surpassed 30 points against the Pirates last season, and ECU surrendered more than 20 on just four occasions.

"Coach Hudson just said we were going to play our ball," Slate said about last season. "We're going to line up and play our defense. We're going to line up and play zone on them.

"We just pretty much told the players that we played against to bring it. We're going to play our defense. We're going to do what we do, and that's what we did. Everybody just picked it up well."

So well that it could be the start of a new tradition of solid defense at a school historically known for offense. With eight starters returning, including the entire front seven, touchdowns could come at a minimum for ECU opponents.

And with the talent Hudson has stockpiled on the defensive front, there should be no shortage of sacks.