John Thompson has a blueprint for the East Carolina football program, and recruiting comprises a large part of the foundation.

Wednesday in Greenville, the Pirates coach unveiled the future groundwork for ECU football during a festive Signing Day party in the Murphy Center. Highlights and high-fives punctuated the occasion, which was the culmination of 12 months of persistent courtship that sent Pirates coaches as far west as Arizona and as far south as Miami.

The result was a 28-man class — easily one of the nation's largest — that Thompson says filled immediate needs and also helps build for the future. Addressing both short-term and long-term needs is just a small part of the meticulous game plan the staff has developed for recruiting.

"We have a plan and a strategic thing that we do, but one thing that we don't do is we don't recruit off recruiting services and recruiting lists," Thompson said. "We go and we evaluate them ourselves and we have a lot of coaches who look at them.

"I look at every guy, the position coach, the recruiting coach, the coordinator, and then we'll get a bunch of guys in there. We've had (recruits) that one guy may not like him, or I may not like him. Let's get four or five guys in and get everybody's opinion."

While individual player evaluations weren't always unanimous, Thompson says the staff was 100 percent in agreement on the big picture. Specifically, Pirates coaches didn't place quotas on certain positions.

"Early in recruiting, we did not put any numbers (on positions), like we needed to sign x number of offensive linemen, x number of wide receivers, or x number of quarterbacks and running backs," Thompson said. "I think what that allowed us to do was, let's go keep working and get the best guys.

"The last couple of weeks we had to shake things out a little bit. But, if you start numbers on and you start cutting your numbers down — so instead of having quality numbers all the way down — we never got in a panic mode because we didn't have enough scholarships. It's go get the best guy and don't worry about what else is doing."

In other words, Thompson used a formula that has been highly successful at East Carolina, which is identifying the best athletes available, regardless of position. From there, he ran through a long checklist of qualifications before offering a scholarship prospective players.

"(Athleticism) gets your attention," Thompson said. "Then the next thing is, you've got to check academics and see where he stands in that regard. Character... his background there.

"One thing that is vitally important to me and our staff: Is winning important to him? Does he have a burn in his belly to win? These guys who have one know what that feeling is like. I want that to come out of a guy. I throw him some bait when I'm talking to him early about how he feels about that. And if he's just playing the game, taking the trip, or taking a ride, we might want to throw some other bait to somebody else. I want winning to be important."

And winning certainly was a prevalent theme in this year's class.

"So many of these players came from winning programs," Thompson said. "Davon Drew was 30-3... That means a whole lot. Pierre Bell won. You look at our guys from Florida — state championships and going deep in the playoffs.

"That means a lot to us. If you can find good football players, great character, winning programs, that want to be Pirates... it's all good."

In addition to Drew and Bell, two of the three in-state products who cast their lot with the Pirates, Thompson lured a bounty of championship experience from the Sunshine State.

Defensive end Durwin Lamb and defensive back J.J. Millbrook were part of a package deal from renowned Pace High in Miami, which captured the 3-A title. Millbrook earned MVP honors in the title game after recording two long-distance scores.

Defensive tackle Fred Hicks was one of the centerpieces of Armwood High's state title run, while rangy defensive back Ted Riley keyed a 13-1 finish for Boynton Beach American Heritage.

All totaled, the Pirates received 16 signatures from talent-rich Florida, which is receiving a ton of emphasis from Thompson and his staff.

Defensive coordinator Jerry Odom has been the Pirates' primary database for Florida talent, drawing on the relationships he built as a player and coach.

"'Florida.com,' Jerry Odom," Thompson said. "That's what we call him. He knows every player, every coach.

"He either played with; was in their wedding; or they were in his wedding; or his father coached them in little league; or he got in a fight with them in elementary school; or something. It's amazing. It's like a photographic memory of all these guys. Jerry Odom is phenomenal down there."

Heavy emphasis in Florida isn't the only new direction Thompson has taken with recruiting. The Pirates inked seven junior college players Wednesday, a dramatic increase from ECU's traditional level of involvement with transfers.

Thompson says the reason for the huge influx was due to some holes in the Pirates' depth chart generated by graduation.

"There were some immediate needs that we had to face and we had to fill," Thompson said. "And I think we did. You know, (seven) JUCOs, that's probably borderline high end. I didn't know that we'd be able to get (seven) quality guys that we did. There are still one or two out there that we're still flirting with a little bit.

"There's a reason that you go out and find junior college guys. It used to be that there was a lot of baggage in junior college. Now there's not a lot of baggage. They're just there for another reason and wanted another shot, or maybe they didn't qualify. We got great kids with this class."

ECU didn't sign its normal quota of in-state players, but that doesn't appear to be part of the long-range plan.

In fact, Thompson firmly stated his intent to win the backyard battles, which has grown tougher since the formation of the Bowl Championship Series. In a recent survey conducted by USA Today, an overwhelming majority of high school players surveyed indicated that BCS affiliation weighed heavily into their college decision.

That has increased the presence of out-of-state schools in North Carolina, creating an additional obstacle for the ECU staff.

"We want to sign more North Carolina players," Thompson said. "Absolutely. But our job is to sign the best players.

"If you want to go and compare, look at how many the other schools in this state signed in terms of Division I players. I think that would be quite telling to you — how many there are in this state and how it is divided. None of the schools really had a boatload of them. We want to get the best ones. We need to get more of the best ones visiting this place. The guys who visit get excited and we do very well with the visits here."

Once on campus, Thompson woos recruits by focusing on East Carolina's first-class facilities, quality academics, and friendly atmosphere.

"We try to sell what we have here," Thompson said. "We compete against everybody, but I don't go out there and say, 'Well, Carolina's doing this or North Carolina is doing that.' That's their deal, good for them.

"We've got enough to sell right here and we've got to keep building relationships and keep doing that. That's taking time. We're going to a high school clinic this weekend and all of our coaches will be there. We'll put on a big clinic here. I'm looking forward to some spring recruiting and getting into some high schools."

And so the cycle continues for Thompson, who is taking little time to rest and reflect on the hard work put forth by the Pirates staff over the past year. Anything else would be a diversion from the roadmap the he hopes will soon land the Pirates a conference title.