CHRONICLING ECU & C-USA SPORTS
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View
from the 'ville
Thursday,
May 11, 2006
By Al Myatt |
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Look for O-line to be
ship-shape come Fall
©2006 Bonesville.net
East Carolina ran for an all-time program low
of 742 yards in 1997, a season that illustrated that the talent alone of a
star back like Scott Harley was not sufficient to overcome inexperience on
the offensive line.
Harley had run for an ECU season record of
1,745 yards behind a veteran offensive front in 1996. Harley was pretty much
left to his own devices in 1997 behind an inexperienced offensive line that
struggled to block sunlight on a cloudless day. Harley used his assortment
of moves just to get back to the line of scrimmage on many occasions that
season and managed a relatively paltry net of 457 yards.
Steve Shankweiler returned to ECU the
following season as offensive line coach and the ground game's production
more than doubled to 1,658 yards in 1998. Shankweiler has been in charge of
the blocking schemes in some of ECU's finest seasons, including 1991 when
the Pirates rallied past N.C. State for a 37-34 Peach Bowl win to finish
11-1. Shank also was around in 1999 when ECU beat Miami and the Wolfpack
during a splendid 9-3 campaign.
The first return of Coach Shank was a lesson
in Blocking 101 that has been repeated to a degree in his third term with
the program. ECU's running game went from 1,021 net yards in 2004 to 1,512
yards in 2005, a more than modest increase of 32.5 percent.
Shankweiler's crash course in blocking was
probably never absorbed better on the individual level than in the case of
converted offensive tackle Guy Whimper in his senior season in 2005 with the
Pirates.
The big hitter from Havelock went from
defensive lineman to tight end to academic exile to pro draft choice during
his ECU career, the latter transformation coming after Coach Skip Holtz
brought Shankweiler with him from South Carolina for his most recent stint
on the Pirate staff.
"He had flunked out of school," Holtz recalled
of Whimper's initial status. "There was a rule passed that gave him a
loophole to get back in. I told Cliff Snow (director of football
operations), 'Get on the phone, get hold of Guy Whimper and get his rear end
back up here.'
"He'd been out of it for about three months
and he walked through the door. I looked at him and I said, 'There's my
right tackle.' "
Whimper started the Holtz era on the sideline
but his stock soon rose faster than the price of gas.
"I didn't play him against Duke because it was
the first game and I didn't know if he was ready," Holtz said. "He had never
played offensive line. After the Duke game I saw enough of what I needed to
see to know that some of the other guys we were playing with weren't good
enough to get it done.
"We said, 'This guy's got the talent and the
only way he's going to get experience is to play him.' He started the next
game and played every play after that pretty much the rest of the year."
Whimper made one start at left tackle and nine
at right tackle for the Pirates in 2005. He was in for 712 snaps and was
credited with 30 knockdown blocks. He was invited to the Hula Bowl, along
with Holtz and longtime teammate and fellow Havelock product Chris Moore.
The New York Giants further validated his progress by making him a fourth
round draft choice last month.
The Pirates must replace three starters on the
offensive line in 2006, but given Shankweiler's track record of rescue,
repair and recovery, one can believe that the voids will be capably filled.
There were some snap problems in the spring game but Coach Shank vows that
those will be corrected.
"We'll eliminate that by the time we play," he
said. "This time last year we had the same issue going on and we got it
fixed. We'll be able to get it done this year."
It's also reassuring to hear Shankweiler say
that fullback converts Patrick Dosh and Kort Shankweiler (Shank's son) and
repositioned tight end Davon Drew will progress to a level of competency in
their blocking skills to be effective for ECU in 2006.
Shank's been there and done that numerous
times.
More on the offense
There are reasons to believe quarterback James
Pinkney will be better in 2006 than he was last season when completed 222 of
366 passes (60.7 percent) for 2,773 yards with 14 touchdowns and eight
interceptions.
Pinkney, of course, had to recover
academically in the summer of 2005 after missing spring ball. For the first
time in his career at ECU, there has been a continuity in offensive
coordinators (Shankweiler) and he had time this spring to deepen his grasp
of the offensive system.
The receiving corps should be even better than
last season with Aundrae Allison expected to return fully from a knee
injury. Bobby Good appears to have gotten better, plus the Pirates have
added some rangy, talented targets to the program.
One question has been the personnel at running
back and how much of an offensive balance the Pirates will be capable of
with the running game.
Chris Johnson, the leading rusher last season
with 762 yards, underwent neck surgery and missed spring practice. That
factor left Dominique Lindsay (5-foot-10, 175 pounds) atop the
post-spring depth chart ay running
back.
"Dominique Lindsay grew up a long way this
spring," Holtz said. "I think Dominique Lindsay has a chance to be an
excellent running back."
Holtz was impressed with the skills shown by
running back Edwin Burke in spring practice. Burke (5-9, 179) prepped at
Winston-Salem Reynolds and will be a junior in 2006.
"He's starting to learn what he's doing,"
Holtz said of Burke. "He's got speed and athleticism. He's probably the best
running back we have at making you miss. Having great speed is a detriment
when you're going the wrong way. A faster guy is farther away from where he
should be than the slower guy.
"If you don't know what you're doing it
doesn't matter what kind of talent you have but I think he's really starting
to develop and you're going to hear his name."
Brandon Fractious' tendency to lose the handle
has Holtz wary about the potential downside of his offensive involvement.
"I'm making a stance right now of protecting
that football," said the ECU coach. "You can not win if you turn it over. He
puts the ball on the ground too much. ... If we get that point across, I
think Brandon Fractious could help us."
Record-setting Richmond County back Norman
Whitley will be joining the Pirate program as a freshman after performing
for former ECU coach Ed Emory with the Raiders.
"One of those four is going to be your
tailback next year," Holtz told a recent Pirate club gathering. "Right now I
don't know who it is but if I had to play a game tomorrow I'd play with
Dominique Lindsay."
One of the most successful high school
programs in the nation, Charlotte Independence, produced Lindsay, who ran
for 221 yards on 41 carries, an average of 5.1 yards per carry, as a true
freshman during ECU's 5-6 season in 2005. Lindsay ran for an even 100 yards
in the Purple-Gold game against a defense that had seen ECU's offensive
scheme all spring.
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02/23/2007 12:30:16 AM
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