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Center of
attention:
ECU senior quarterback Shane Carden gives reporters his
outlook on the upcoming season at the American Athletic
Conference Media Day in Newport, RI, last month. (Photo by
W.A. Myatt) |
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Leader of the band: Shane Carden, the acknowledged "Captain"
of the Pirates, playfully employed his leadership skills to
help conduct the ECU band in the alma mater after the team's
victory over North Carolina last season in Chapel Hill. (Photo by
W.A. Myatt) |
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OLYMPIC SPORTS |
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Pirates relish being underestimated |
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 Preseason coaches� polls are a rite of
late summer for fall sports, but that doesn�t mean coaches,
players or fans have to put much stock in them. If anything,
East Carolina soccer coach Rob Donnenwirth looks at his
team�s name, sitting at No. 8 out of 10 teams in their new
American Athletic Conference, and he is delighted. ...
More from
Bethany Bradsher... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: The
Brian Bailey Show |
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  The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. Brian's
guest this week was
East Carolina
strength and
conditioning sage
Jeff Connors
(right):
Replay
show... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Tide transfer punting
for Pirates |
Worth Gregory spent a year
in the storied football
program at Alabama before
bringing his punting ability
to East Carolina. When Trent
Tignor completed his
eligibility in 2013 with a
42.8-yard average for two
seasons, Gregory gave the
Pirates someone ready to
continue providing an edge ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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FOOTBALL SPECIAL
FEATURE |
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15 Questions
for Devaris Brunson |
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 Devaris Brunson
(6-1,230) heads into
his sophomore year
with the Pirates
after a true
freshman campaign in
which he helped the
team in several
different roles. The
South Carolina
native played all
four years of high
school football on
the varsity level
for Lake City High
School. He was rated
a four-star prospect
by Scout.com ...
More from W.A.
Myatt... |
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Pictured: Devaris
Brunson basked in
the glow of victory
after East
Carolina's win over
Ohio in last
December's Beef 'O'
Brady's Bowl in
Tampa, FL. The blue
chip recruit
experienced action
on offense, defense
and special teams in
11 contests as a
true freshman. (W.A.
Myatt file photo) |
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FOOTBALL RECRUITING |
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Mom knew best for Strozier |
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 Justin
Strozier grew up around a
father with experience as a
college football player. But
it was actually a mother's
influence that started
Strozier on the road to
gridiron success in spite of
his own protests. ...
More from Sammy Batten... |
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By
Al Myatt
�2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Shane Carden provides quite a few advantages for East
Carolina. A fifth-year senior, Carden has an intricate understanding of
the Pirates offense. If Lincoln Riley, ECU offensive coordinator,
doesn't feel comfortable dialing up any call in the playbook, he never
will.
Carden's physical skills and precise relationship with
the receiving corps, Justin Hardy, in particular, allowed the Captain,
as coach Ruffin McNeill and others within the program call Carden, to
complete 70.5 percent of his passes last season.
Carden connects on aerials in the flat with the virtual
security of a handoff, and defenses must respect his ability to go
vertical on every snap, thereby opening lanes in the running game. That
helped Vintavious Cooper run for more than 1,000 yards in each of the
last two seasons.
The ECU quarterback is the consummate collection of
talent desired in the modification of Texas Tech's Air Raid offense that
Riley and company imported with their arrival in 2010.
Carden was an original in the McNeill regime, redshirting
on the scout team in 2010. He did whatever was needed to get the Pirates
ready at that time. He has played running back and tight end on the
preparation unit.
He made one game appearance as a redshirt freshman in
2011 � as a receiver � on the last series in the eighth game of the
season against Tulane,
a 34-13 ECU win. Maybe that
experience helped him latch on to a scoring pass from Cam Worthy near
the end of
last season's 37-20 bowl win
over Ohio.
Carden gradually proved himself worthy of the starting
designation in 2012.
In spring practice, he was competing with Rio Johnson and
Brad Wornick for the job. He sustained a hand injury when he hit a
teammate's helmet in a scrimmage situation and missed the latter portion
of the offseason sessions.
Johnson ended up winning the starting assignment in the
season opener against Appalachian State. Johnson threw for 242 yards and
two touchdowns in
a 35-13 win over the
Mountaineers.
It could be considered a blessing in retrospect that
Johnson was intercepted three times
the following week at South Carolina
because that opened the door for Carden to get a look after the game had
been decided.
Carden's first college pass was picked off by the
Gamecocks but he persisted on a warm day at Williams-Brice Stadium. He
drove ECU for a 23-yard field goal by Warren Harvey to get the Pirates
on the board and connected with Hardy for a 34-yard touchdown.
With ECU in need of some offensive leadership, Carden
emerged as the prime candidate.
South Carolina won, 48-10, but Carden had done enough to
reopen the quarterback competition and he got his first start the
following week at Southern Miss.
Carden was hoping he would get a chance to meet Brett
Favre in Hattiesburg. He bears a resemblance to the NFL great in his
appearance and playing style. Carden didn't get to meet Favre but he
eventually engineered
a 24-14 Pirates win in a
contest the Pirates trailed 7-3 at the half. He hit Hardy for a 55-yard
go-ahead score on the same pattern that produced the TD in Columbia the
preceding week. Carden ran 8 yards for ECU's ensuing score.
The star was not yet born but the labor pains had
started. Carden struggled in the red zone the following week in
a 27-6 loss in Chapel Hill.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have
greatness thrust upon them as William Shakespeare said.
Carden embodies all three avenues. His genetic makeup is
solid. His dad, Jay, was a minor league baseball pitcher of some note.
His mom, Scotti, a volleyball player and track athlete, was the first
female at Cal-Poly to receive an athletic scholarship. Carden's
brothers, Austin and Christopher, pitched collegiately. An uncle, Gordon
Adams, was a quarterback at Southern California.
As far as achieving greatness, Carden has spent his
offseasons improving himself under the watchful supervision of Jeff
Connors, assistant athletic director for strength and conditioning.
Carden achieved a body makeover before passing for 4,139 yards and 33
touchdowns en route to earning Conference USA's Most Valuable Player
Award in 2013.
He worked on his abdominal rotational core with Connors
this summer. Carden also spent some time with Blaine Kinsley of the
strength staff, who works with baseball players. The focus was on
developing the throwing muscles.
He has watched more film than Roger Ebert.
Carden may have come to ECU from Texas but he's no lone
star. He has worked on building relationships with teammates. He and
Hardy have a special bond as alumni of the scout team. It's not a
coincidence that Hardy is within range of the FBS career receptions
record. The pair's timing is impeccable yet they continue working to
make it better. Hardy can make the final cut in a pattern to find the
football approaching simultaneously.
When junior college transfer Quincy McKinney arrived in
summer school, Carden became the offensive lineman's big brother. Carden
occasionally takes the blocking corps out for a meal.
He is the embodiment of McNeill's edicts regarding no
egos and no entitlement.
He was hidden from almost everyone but Harvard when ECU
found him in the recruiting process. The Pirates discovered a buried
treasure.
He has already taken his place among great ECU
quarterbacks such as Jeff Blake and David Garrard. Blake's senior season
in 1991 produced the still cherished 11-1 season that culminated with a
37-34 win over N.C. State in the Peach Bowl. Garrard's final campaign
was not as celebrated after a 64-61 double overtime loss to Marshall in
the GMAC Bowl in Mobile left the Pirates 6-6.
Carden's concluding chapters in his rise at ECU are yet
to be written but he could go up there on the university's mythical
Mount Rushmore with greats such as Sandra Bullock, Pat Dye, Blue
Edwards, Vonta Leach, Leo Jenkins, Robert Morgan, Clarence Stasavich and
Walter Williams.
The Pirates have an experience edge at quarterback over
practically all of their opponents in 2014 and that's significant.
The schedule is sufficiently challenging that ECU could
legitimately get its senior quarterback into the Heisman conversation.
That would just be outside noise to the team-oriented Carden, the moral
antithesis of Johnny Manziel.
Former Alabama coach Bear Bryant said he didn't have a
hobby. In his spare time, he contemplated how the Crimson Tide might
lose. Then he addressed those issues in preparing his team.
The Pirates have a process, too. Preseason camp will soon
transition to game week for ECU's opener at home against N.C. Central at
8 p.m. on Aug. 30.
That's when the Pirate ship will set sail ... with
Captain Carden in command.
The 2014 season could become a very productive voyage.
East
Carolina football
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke briefly with
the press after
Thursday's practice
session. (Recorded
by Brian Bailey;
archive photo by W.A.
Myatt.) ...