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Pirates conclude spring despite absences

By Al Myatt
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GREENVILLE — There were some conspicuous absences as East Carolina finished spring football with its Purple-Gold game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Coach Ruffin McNeill noted that the mother of defensive coordinator and secondary coach Rick Smith had passed away.

"He had to drive home," McNeill said. "John Wiley, my associate head coach, took control of that. We wish Rick well. ... We didn't lose her. We gained another angel."

Special teams coordinator Kirk Doll was in Wichita, KS, to be inducted into his hometown's sports hall of fame.

"Ruff wouldn't let him miss that," said Tom McClellan, ECU's assistant athletic director for media relations.

Offensive linemen Ike Harris and Tre Robertson were out the entire spring with shoulder ailments. Harris started every game at left tackle in 2014 as the Pirates went 8-5 overall and 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference. Robertson started the first two games last season at right guard and the last three games at right tackle.

On a negative note, it was announced that three players had been dismissed from the program for team rule violations — senior offensive lineman Will Foxx, junior running back Chris Mangus and redshirt freshman outside linebacker/defensive lineman Markel Winters. Foxx had seen action in eight games in his career. Mangus, a transfer from Virginia Tech, and Winters had not seen playing time for ECU.

The dismissal of sophomore tight end Darren Dowdell had been announced earlier this month.

Running back Cory Hunter was the latest addition to the injury list with a head ailment.

A lot of last season's star power, quarterback Shane Carden, receiver Justin Hardy and receiver Cam Worthy, have exhausted their eligibility.

Hardy was on hand to receive NCAA recognition from McNeill at halftime for averaging 9.3 catches per game last season. That number led the Football Bowl Subdivision. Hardy had 387 career catches, an FBS record.

Carden was Offensive Player of the Year in Conference USA and the AAC in his last two seasons at ECU, finishing with a bundle of school records. Like Hardy, Worthy had over 1,000 yards in receptions as a senior.

One big question for 4,852 fans at the spring game was how effectively Kurt Benkert will fill the void left by Carden.

Benkert directed two scoring drives against the second defensive unit.

The first covered 65 yards at the close of the first half and featured a 44-yard completion to Trevon Brown in a 3rd-and-6 situation. Chris Hairston scored two plays later from three yards out.

The first unit offensive group went 75 yards in six plays to score on an 11-yard pass from Benkert to Isaiah Harris to start the second half.

Anthony Scott had an 8-yard run to get the drive started. Benkert hit Brandon Bishop for 11 yards before Marquez Grayson had a 23-yard run. A pass to Quay Johnson netted three yards to the defense's 19-yard line. Jones had an 8-yard reception before taking a Benkert pass on the right side and angling to the middle of the end zone.

Benkert said the offense didn't make any adjustments at halftime.

"We just started having fun," said the rising sophomore quarterback.

Benkert finished with completions on 11 of 17 attempts for 125 yards with one score and no interceptions.

Blake Kemp, the left-handed junior college transfer, faced the first unit defense and completed six of 10 for 33 yards.

Scott led the rushing with six carries for 55 yards. Bishop had five catches for 76 yards.

True freshman cornerback Corey Seargent had a scrimmage-high eight tackles. Mike linebacker Zeek Bigger had four tackles and one of eight sacks by the white-clad defenders. Third unit defensive backs Travis Phillips and Nhyre Quinerly picked off passes.

Connor Torruella and Davis Plowman kicked extra points after the scores by the first unit offense on their last two possessions. The first unit defense held the second unit offense scoreless.

Worth Gregory averaged 50.5 yards on two punts.

The offense had three penalties for false starts. The defense drew two flags from the AAC officials.

"I was pleased today," McNeill said. "A lot of guys got reps and that's an important evaluation opportunity for us. I saw some of the young guys do some things well today. Penalties were a big emphasis for us and we only had one in the second half, which was a goal."

The Pirates coach said that strength and conditioning under the direction of Jeff Connors would be the next phase for the program.

ECU opens the 2015 season at home against Towson on Sept. 5.

E-mail Al Myatt

PAGE UPDATED 04/19/15 02:15 PM.

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