Offense Takes On Defense in Wednesday's Practice Session
April 02, 2003 | Football
The Pirates held another two and one-half hour practice session at the Cliff Moore Practice Facility on the ECU campus, with the second half of today's drills being devoted to semi-live snaps with the first and second string offenses and defenses matched up. The snaps were taken under the watchful eyes of several visiting referees, who called penalties and spotted the ball in preparation for the fall.
The competition for starting positions in the Pirate camp continue to intensify, particularly on defense where ECU lost six of its 11 starters from last season.
"Every position's open and we've had great competition," defensive coordinator Jerry Odom said following today's drills. "What's hurt us some is that we've got about six DBs out now with various ailments. It limits us a little bit so we've had to be creative in some of our other packages. It worked well today."
Among the notable Pirates that have missed part or all of spring drills are Conference USA All-Freshman linebacker Chris Moore (knee), defensive end Ike Emodi (shoulder), cornerback James Tyson (foot) and safety Mickey McCoy (back). On offense, veteran receiver Marcus White and lineman Hagen Mason are both out with shoulder injuries.
"It's not a huge setback as long as they mentally prepare," Odom said of the injured players, "and from what I've seen, they've been doing a good job of that."
The Pirate offense and defense swapped two players on Wednesday as sophomore Dashaun Stephens, who saw limited game action at fullback in 2002, moved into a linebacker position and sophomore Jermarcus Veal, a letterman at linebacker last season, will be given a shot at fullback.
Thursday will be the Pirates' routine day off and the team will return to the practice field on Friday afternoon. Another situational scrimmage, the program's third of the spring, is set for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and is open to the public at no charge.
