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ECU trawls Florida, JC ranks for ready-made
talent
Bonesville.net Staff Report
©2004 Bonesville.net
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In a quest to stoke the return of East Carolina's football program to its
traditionally successful status, John Thompson and his staff cast a wide net
for new players.
On Wednesday, after months of scouring much of the country for talent,
Thompson hosted a harvest festival of sorts for hundreds of fans who
gathered in the Murphy Center to celebrate the bounty of the catch with the
Pirate coaching staff.
Thompson, entering his second season as ECU's head coach, accelerated the
shift away from ECU's long-entrenched strategy of focusing on North Carolina
prep talent, netting more than 90 percent of his haul from outside the state
with a quarter of the newcomers coming from the junior college ranks.
Quarterbacks Davon Drew of New Bern and Patrick Pinkney of Fayetteville Pine
Forest along with Vanceboro West Craven running back Pierre Bell are the
only in-state signees among
the 28-man class announced by Thompson.
Pinkney is the son of ECU football great Reggie Pinkney, who had an
honors-filled career for the Pirates during the 70's under former coach Pat
Dye.
The bulk of the class — seven defensive lineman, seven defensive backs and
six offensive linemen — reflects a vigorous effort by Thompson and staff to
address last season's defensive deficiencies and to plug the gaps left by a
wave of graduations along the offensive front.
The incoming group features 16 players from the state of Florida and seven
junior college transfers. Recruits were also signed from Arizona, Alabama,
Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina.
Thompson, whose criteria in targeting prospects was geared towards quickly
shoring up weak spots in the wake of a 1-11 season in 2003, indicated the
Pirates' recruiting objectives were met.
"We are extremely excited about the quality and quantity of this recruiting
class," Thompson said. "We had some immediate needs which we feel we have
addressed with a number of players that could make contributions right away.
Moreover, these guys are quality people that will fit well within the Pirate
football family."
The athletic department's media relations office noted that the 28 signees
represent one of the largest recruiting classes in the program's history.
Though the NCAA limit is 25 scholarships in any given year, ECU coaches said
the Pirates will be in compliance with that restriction because some of the
junior college transfers in the class are already enrolled in school on
grants that are counted against last season's scholarship allotment, while
not all of the other signees are likely to qualify academically.
Following is the complete list of incoming
players as announced by Thompson on Wednesday:
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EAST CAROLINA'S FOOTBALL RECRUITING CLASS
OF 2004
NAME
POS HT WT HOMETOWN
LAST SCHOOL
Zach Baker S 6-2
205 Tucson, Ariz.
Pima College [Ariz.]
Steve Belford DE 6-4 240 Royal
Palm Beach, Fla. Lake Worth HS
Pierre Bell RB 6-2 205
Vanceboro, N.C.
West Craven HS
Quentin Cotton LB 6-4 220 Kernersville,
N.C. Glenn HS
Zach Davis C 6-4
250 Jacksonville, Fla.
Trinity Christian HS
Davon Drew QB 6-4 215
New Bern, N.C.
New Bern HS
Jamar Flournoy LB 6-0 220 Valley, Ala.
Hutchinson CC [Kan.]
Josh Grier DT 6-3 315
Daytona Beach, Fla. Atlantic HS
Sean Harmon TE 6-3 264
Edmond, Okla.
NE Oklahoma A&M College
Fred Hicks DL 5-11 275
Seffner, Fla.
Armwood HS
Demetrius Hodges DB 5-10 175 West Palm Beach, Fla.
Georgia Military Acad.
Wes Hofacker LB 6-2 235
Allen, Tex.
Allen HS
Chris Johnson WR 5-11 175 Orlando, Fla.
Olympic HS
D'Mario Kelly S 5-11 201 Norcross,
Ga.
Norcross HS
Durwin Lamb DE 6-2 230
Miami, Fla.
Pace HS
Shawn Levesque TE 6-4 260 League City,
Texas Kilgore College
J.J. Millbrook DB 5-10 180 Miami, Fla.
Pace HS
Patrick Pinkney QB 6-1 189 Fayetteville, N.C.
Pine Forest HS
Joel Renaud OL 6-7 325
Pompano Beach, Fla. Reedley College
[Calif.]
Tony Richardson LB 6-2 205 Sandersville, Ga.
Washington County HS
Ted Riley DB 6-0
184 Boynton Beach, Fla. American
Heritage HS
Mark Robinson DE 6-4 208 Longwood,
Fla. Lyman
HS
Richie Santos OL 6-6 295 Deltona
Beach, Fla. Deltona HS
Chris Sellars OL 6-5 310 Newport
News, Va. New Mexico
Military Inst.
Zach Slate DE 6-5 210
Melbourne, Fla.
Melbourne HS
Stacy Walls DB 5-9 170
Sandersville, Ga. Washington
County HS
Paul Walsh OL 6-5 300
Tallahassee, Fla. N. Florida
Christian HS
Jarrett Wiggins DE 6-4 215 Camden, S.C.
Camden HS
Mike Williams OL 6-3 287 Orlando,
Fla.
Boone HS
Travis Williams DB 5-11 175 Daytona Beach, Fla.
Atlantic HS |
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02/23/2007 01:24:55 PM
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