|
Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
-----
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Scrimmage No. 1 fuels praise
aplenty
|
|
|
Order Bonesville Magazine Online Now! |
|
 |
|
Bonesville Magazine
ORDER ONLINE NOW! |
• PAT DYE: Short on Tenure, Long on Impact
• INSIDE PIRATE FOOTBALL
• Recruit Profiles
• Rookie Books
• Tracking the Classes
• Florida Pipeline
• NCHSAA & ECU: Smooth Sailing Again
• HIGH HOPES FOR HOOPS
• STEVE BALLARD:
New Leader Takes Charge
• SCOTT COWEN: Busting Down the Door
• KEITH LECLAIR on ECU's Field of Dreams
• BETH GRANT: Actress Still a Pirate
|
|
|
|
|
©2004 Bonesville.net
East Carolina coach John Thompson’s first words were the highlight of his
team's first intra-squad skirmish.
“This was our best day,” said Thompson after the situational scrimmage.
“Our offense got down the field, made some big plays on fourth down and did
some nice things on the goal line. Our defense made some stops and I felt
like early in the game the first team defense dominated. They really did
some good things.
"It was back and fourth, but I was really pleased.”
Quarterback James Pinkney had a huge day, completing 21-of-33 passes for
296 yards and four touchdowns. In all, the Pirate signal callers were
39-of-69 for 575 yards and seven touchdowns.
But if the offense was good, was the defense bad?
Not really.
Linebacker Chris Moore led the team with nine tackles, while another
linebacker, Durwin Lamb, had eight tackles and blocked a field goal. The
defense also had a total of ten sacks.
Moore is the obvious star of this unit, and he was pleased with the day’s
events.
“We played real good on defense,” said Moore. “The d-line, secondary,
linebackers all played good. We’ve got a lot of work because we’re not where
we want to be.”
Moore says this team doesn’t have the size of other defenses, so they
have to use their quickness to be effective.
“We’re small. We really have to get to the football. We’re doing well, we
just have to take it one day at a time, one practice at a time, one game at
a time.”
I had a chance to watch the first part of the scrimmage, and before that,
the last part of Monday night’s practice.
I was very encouraged by the way Art Brown was moving around. He may not
be at a 100 percent just yet, but he’s certainly getting closer, and I think
he’s going to be force to be reckoned with.
“I felt pretty good,” said Brown. “Every step is feeling good. I took it
from rehab, to the practice field, to the game field. Now, I just have to
keep going, giving it 100 percent at whatever I do.”
Brown is one of the team’s leaders and he has bought into the teachings
of Coach Thompson and first year offensive coordinator Noah Brindise.
“We just have to execute,” Brown explained. “We have to take what we
learned in the meeting room and put it into the scrimmages. The coaches want
to see if we’ll execute what we are taught.”
Brindise plans to spread the ball around and that was evident in the
first scrimmage. Fifteen players recorded at least one catch. Nine different
receivers had at least 25 yards in receptions and six different players
scored touchdowns.
Former Havelock star Will Bland caught five passes for 136 yards and
three touchdowns. Bland stayed after practice and worked on a couple of
routes with the coaches.
Chris Johnson caught three passes for 90 yards and a score, while Shawn
Levesque had six for 74 yards.
Fullback Jemarcus Veal caught three passes out of the backfield and two
of those were for touchdowns.
The Pirates will scrimmage again on a busy Saturday at ECU. The squad
will host a Charley-delayed media day for lunch, and then conduct a dinner
for Pirates fans at “Meet the Pirates” night that evening.
 Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
Click here to dig into Brian Bailey's Bonesville
archives.
02/23/2007 01:29:36 AM |
