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News Nuggets, 08.16.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Bucs have depth chart heading into scrimmage

After releasing the Pirates' first two-deep of the 2006 season, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz and staff emphasized a heavy dose of team work during a two-and-a-half hour, full-pad session at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex Tuesday afternoon.

ECU completed its 13th practice of preseason camp, beginning preparations in earnest for Saturday's pivotal intra-squad scrimmage game, according to a report issued by the university's athletic media relations department.

Holtz continued to stress team-on-team work and spent the majority of Tuesday's session keying on situational drills such as down-and-distance and redzone efficiency before wrapping up the workout with a two-minute simulation.

"We've put in a lot more team work earlier than we have in the past," Holtz said. "We hope this will help with our inexperience. We dragged a little today and perhaps it was a little less spirited than some of our past days. Yet, they've continued to work hard although it might not have been represented in the traditional vocal aspect."

Part of the inexperience Holtz referred to was clearly evident on East Carolina's initial depth chart, which listed a total of seven freshman on the offensive line � including projected starter, tackle Terence Campbell. While three of ECU's top four secondary positions are manned by seniors, 14 underclassmen currently hold starting or backup jobs at the remaining seven defensive slots.

After evaluating Saturday's scrimmage on tape and making additional personnel adjustments, Holtz and his staff will look toward implementing a game plan for the season opener at Navy (Sept. 2, 5:30 p.m.) early next week.

In addition to Orlando Farrow (lower leg), Derehl Staton (knee) and Jay Ross (knee), the Pirates worked without sophomore cornerback Stacy Walls (leg) and freshman wide receiver Alex Taylor (leg) on Tuesday.

Holtz announced that Wednesday's practice time has been moved back two hours to 5 p.m. and indicated that the squad would spend the majority of the workout in an 11-on-11 scrimmage mode.

True freshman Chris Atkins, who signed with ECU as a linebacker out of Chattahoochee (West Gadsden, FL) High School, was moved to a defensive end slot and is listed on ECU's first depth chart.

Because of Farrow's apparent season-ending injury, true freshman Lorenzo Osborne (Atlanta, GA, Mays High School) has been elevated to a two-deep standing at the weakside linebacking spot.

VIEW THE ECU FOOTBALL PRESEASON DEPTH CHART...

Calipari assistant named UTEP hoops coach

Texas-El Paso Director of Athletics Bob Stull has named Tony Barbee as the school's 17th men's basketball head coach. Barbee succeeds Doc Sadler, who recently accepted the head coaching position at Nebraska, according to an announcement on the Conference USA website.

Barbee, 35, joins the Miner program following a successful six-year run (2000-06) as an assistant coach at Memphis. During that span the Tigers won 148 games, an average of nearly 25 victories per season. Memphis has also made six consecutive postseason tournament appearances (2003, 2004 and 2006 NCAA; 2001, 2002 and 2005 NIT) and enjoyed six straight 20-win seasons.

During Barbee's stint at Memphis, the Tigers earned final Associated Press top-25 rankings on three occasions � 19th in 2003, 24th in 2004 and fourth in 2006.

The Tigers are coming off a banner 2005-06 campaign, having posted a 33-4 record and reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. Memphis captured C-USA regular season and tournament crowns, and had two players chosen in the first round of the NBA Draft � Rodney Carney (Philadelphia 76ers via the Chicago Bulls) and Shawne Williams (Indiana Pacers).

A native of Indianapolis, Barbee has had a long-standing relationship with Memphis head coach John Calipari. He played for "Coach Cal" at Massachusetts, before reuniting with him as an assistant coach at Memphis.

Barbee, regarded as one of the nation's premier recruiters, was named the top assistant in C-USA in Street & Smith's 2005-06 preseason college basketball yearbook. He was recently honored by Rivals.com as the no. 3 recruiter in the country. HoopScoop magazine tabbed him as one of the nation's top assistant coaches in 2004.

Clemson gives Leggett new five-year contract

Clemson baseball coach Jack Leggett has signed a new five-year contract. Terms of the contract were not released, according to an announcement on the university's athletic website.

Leggett coached the late Keith LeClair, former East Carolina baseball coach, when LeClair was an All Southern Conference player at Western Carolina. Leggett also brought LeClair onto the Catamounts' coaching staff following LeClair's playing career.

Leggett has been the head coach at Clemson for 13 years and has taken the program to the NCAA Tournament all 13 seasons. Five times he has brought the Tigers to the College World Series, including 1996 and 2002 when he guided the program to the Final Four of the event.

In 2006, he led Clemson to a 53-16 record, the ACC Championship, the Clemson regional, the Clemson super regional championship, and a berth in the College World Series. Clemson also had the best regular-season record in the ACC (24-6). It marked the first time since 1991 that Clemson won the ACC regular season, an NCAA regional and reached the College World Series in the same year.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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