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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
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By Brian Bailey |
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Kass a natural in high-profile position
By
Brian Bailey
©2007 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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At 6-4, 247, quarterback Rob Kass, a sophomore
from Longwood, FL, has the stature to stand tall
in the pocket. At ECU's Media Day on Saturday,
he also demonstrated the poise to stand on his
own in dealing with a flock of reporters. Kass
is the designated successor to James Pinkney as
the Pirates' starting QB. (ECU SID photo) |
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Media Day
One of my favorite days of the
football season is media day. It’s always exciting to see the veteran
players and meet the new ones who will be out there on game day at East
Carolina.
The Pirates practiced for the
first time on Friday, and then faced the cameras and microphones. I was
especially impressed with the confidence and poise shown by the new ECU
quarterback, Rob Kass.
Kass is a big boy. But he’s
dropped a few pounds and hopes to drop a few more before the season starts.
He knows he’s not an option quarterback, but he hopes that he can improve on
his mobility.
“That’s probably what I work
on the most,” Kass said. “I know I have to be able to move sometimes, so I
work on it everyday.”
Kass has the height to stand
tall in the pocket. He also has the poise and quiet confidence to stand tall
when answering questions. Kass had a large group of writers around him for
the better part of an hour.
To my knowledge, Kass never
dodged a question. He seemed at ease with his answers. He never blinked,
answering questions on a variety of topics.
Kass knows that his will be a
baptism by fire. The entire nation will watch his debut in the opener at
Virginia Tech. Kass hopes to be up for the challenge.
“I’m looking forward to it,”
he said. “I know we’ve all been working really hard, and I know we’ll all be
ready. It will be a tremendous challenge, but I can’t wait.”
Pirate Coach Skip Holtz agrees
that Kass has the personality to lead at quarterback.
“Obviously Rob is very big and
physical but
the thing that impresses me most about him is the kind of young man he
is,” said Holtz. “He looks you in the eye and is polite, respectful and
hard-working."
"Rob is probably his biggest
critic and that leads him to push himself really hard," added Holtz. "When
you build a program, you want to bring in guys that not only have the
physical talents but also the intangibles as well."
Holtz also knows that the next
three weeks will go a long way in determining how much early success Kass
has this season.
"We need to get Rob as many
live reps as possible. We can sit there and talk about different receiving
routes and what not in practice," said Holtz, "but it becomes so much
different when you have to make the decision to throw the ball away.
"Rob is not as mobile as some
of the other quarterbacks we have had and that will show because in the past
we have had to rely on just a few players.”
Holtz says Kass will also have
an advantage, throwing to a much deeper receiving corps this year.
“When Aundrae Allison was on
the field, he was our primary target because we did not feel that we had the
depth to spread the ball around,” Holtz explained. “Rob will have more
throwing options than guys that played before him."
The Pirates will really get to
work this week. Holtz calls practices with pads a form of “basketball on
grass.” This week, though, the hitting will carry the workouts to a
different level.
Holtz had scheduled practice
for the heat of the day, to prepare for that noon start on Sept. 1. But this
week’s extreme heat, with temperatures expected to reach the century mark,
may force Holtz to move the workouts to later in the evening.
Stokes watch over
Last Thursday, Bonesville.net
carried
a column by Al Myatt and we ran a
story on WNCT-TV 9 on possible changes in the Pirate basketball program.
The speculation and waiting game ended Monday with
ECU athletic director Terry Holland's announcement
that Ricky Stokes would leave his coaching position to become the Pirates'
associate athletic director for basketball.
Holland named associate head
coach Mack McCarthy acting head coach for 2007-08 and elevated assistant
coach and recruiting coordinator Chris Ferguson to associate head coach.
BB
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08/07/2007 03:17:57 AM |
