By Al Myatt
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

View the Mobile Alpha version of this page.

The running game may be just what East Carolina's Air Raid offense needs to get off the ground in 2013.

The Pirates have a veteran offensive line, an experienced quarterback (Shane Carden), a proven back among a stable of ball carriers and depth at receiver, although the eligibility of Justin Jones and Jabril Soloman appears to be in jeopardy.

All of that gives offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley an array of weaponry.

It's hard to predict just who and how the Pirates will move the ball. Last year at this time, junior college transfer Vintavious Cooper was an unknown quantity but he emerged with 1,049 yards rushing during an 8-5 season when Reggie Bullock and Michael Dobson were limited by injuries.

Bullock completed his eligibility with 104 yards on 17 carries with two scores in a 43-34 loss to Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl and Dobson has moved to the secondary, but Cooper returns along with a bunch of potential breakout ball carriers.

The running game boosted the Bucs after ECU quarterback Dominique Davis moved on to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

"It was a big part last year, being able to do that," Riley said as Pirate players and coaches met with media on Saturday. "That made things a lot easier on Shane, especially early and maybe helped him progress at a rapid rate. ... Everybody always asks, 'How much do you want to run it and how much do you want to throw it?' We don't really care. I'm a believer that whatever defense is called, there's weaknesses there. You have to be able to attack it.

"If you have a weakness offensively, eventually good defenses and good defensive coordinators are going to find that and they're going to expose that. We want to be capable of attacking whatever defenses give us. ... Having that running game obviously is a big part of it."

The Pirates certainly have personnel that can turn touches into touchdowns as Riley enters his fourth season making the calls for head coach Ruffin McNeill.

"We liked the skill players we had when we got here," Riley said. "We've certainly tried to recruit even better and I think we have. The biggest area we had to push was the offensive line as far as just recruiting a totally new type of player. It's not as much the 6-2 or 6-3 guys who were road graders, but more the longer athletic guys who can pass protect and get out in space, make things happen and also get movement at the line of scrimmage."

The Pirates remain in transition in terms of the makeover on the offensive front.

"That's starting to take hold," Riley said. "We're not there yet but I think we're certainly making strides there. As those guys have gotten better, they've increased our ability to do whatever we needed to do to move the ball, whether it be running, throwing, screening, whatever. I think that evolution has helped more than anything. We feel like we're going to be better running the ball than we were last year. I think that's going to be a big part of who we are."

Riley has said the Pirates were determined not to get caught short on running backs when injuries beset that position in 2011. Chris Hairston and Cory Hunter are listed behind Cooper on the preseason depth chart, but junior college transfer Breon Allen and true freshman Marquez Grayson appear to have the ability to have an immediate impact.

Hairston flashed his potential during spring ball in 2012. Hunter is a promising walk-on whose dad, C.J. Hunter, was a world class shot putter who was married at one time to former Olympic sprinter Marion Jones.

Allen (5-8, 190) led the juco ranks in rushing last season with 1,632 yards. Grayson (6-1, 200) played in just seven games as a senior at Lexington but had offers from an impressive list that included Clemson, Duke, Minnesota, N.C. State, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

"It's a little tough to tell with running backs until you put the pads on but both of them. ... (Allen and Grayson) look to be what we thought they were, maybe even a little bit better," Riley said. "Sometimes you get a guy in there and 'Well, he's not quite as ready as I thought he was going to be' or maybe he doesn't do this as well as you'd hoped, but both those guys (Allen and Grayson) have got us pretty excited."

Hunter Furr and Torrance Hunt are not playing football this season. Hunt was ECU's leading rusher in 2011 with 489 yards and broke loose on a game-winning 56-yard touchdown run in a 38-31 victory over Central Florida on the Pirates' 2011 Senior Night. Furr was used primarily as a kick returner after transferring from North Carolina but averaged 3.6 yards on 12 carries. Furr is running track for the Pirates as a senior.

Numbers are not a problem in terms of the running backs, who are coached by ECU alumnus Kirk Doll. Riley and Doll have ample personnel to sort through. That makes for a very competitive situation as the season opener at home against Old Dominion at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 approaches.

Cooper has acknowledged his poor judgment that led to an offseason marijuana charge. He has met the disciplinary measures of the ECU program and worked out on his own while he was suspended from the team during spring practice. He is focused on making the most of his second chance in the program in a situation that includes plenty of competition.

"As far as our running back corps goes, we have a very talented group of guys," Cooper said. "It's very competitive in the running back room. We're about 10 or 11 strong in the running back room. We're looking to be very competitive every day in practice. Everybody wants to be that guy so you have to step up. You wouldn't be a football player if you didn't have the competitive nature in you. You definitely have to step up and be productive in every opportunity that you get."

Cooper has put his homegrown work ethic to use.

"I've never been the type who was complacent," he said. "I've always wanted to be the best. That's always come from my parents, preaching to be humble and always try to outwork anybody in anything that I do. ... To be able to come in and step into that role as the primary guy carrying the load for the team, it was a huge honor for me my first year. I'm definitely looking to duplicate or exceed everything that happened last year."

The value of competition and ECU's ability to generate offensive balance will have value as the Pirate defense prepares as well.

"We're not going to play an offense that is much better than our offense that we practice against," said ECU junior linebacker Jeremy Grove. "Our offense is going to help us out a lot this year because we play a lot of teams that run the same type of offense."

The Pirates have a scrimmage at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday morning.

"They've changed a little bit on offense," said ECU defensive coordinator Rick Smith of the Pirates' offense. "They're running the ball a little bit more."