Rosters, Format for Spring Game Announced

Rosters, Format for Spring Game Announced

04/08/2003

Pigskin Pig-Out Schedule of Events

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina's spring football roster will be evenly split into two distinct teams, each with its own set of coaches, as the team's plans for the upcoming Purple/Gold Spring Game were announced on Tuesday.

Saturday's game, which kicks off at 3 p.m. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, will be trimmed down to four 12-minute quarters, but otherwise will maintain the same format used for official games in the fall.

Toyota and area Toyota dealers, presenting sponsors of the Pigskin Pig-Out Party, present Dennis Young with a check for $20,000 in support of the 20th annual Pig-Out fundraising event to support student-athlete scholarships through the ECU Pirate Club. Pictured, left to right are Dennis Young, Executive Director, The Pirate Club; John Thompson, Head Football Coach: Brian Pecheles, Pecheles Toyota (Washington N.C.), Perry Houck, District Manager Southeast Toyota, Tim Martin, Bobby Murray Toyota (Rocky Mount). Not pictured: Craig Goess, Greenville Toyota and Toyota of New Bern; Randy Kelly, Massey Motor Company (Kinston). (photo by Greg Eans, The Daily Reflector)

"It is going to be exactly like a game in every regard," first-year head coach John Thompson said. "We will place-kick, kick-off, return kicks, punt and return punts. Obviously, we will hold back some so that no one gets hurt, but it will be like a real game."

Held in conjuction with the 20th annual Great Pirate Purple/Gold Pigskin Pig-Out Party presented by Toyota, the Spring Game is being held as an open, public event for the first time in five years. Tickets to the game cost $2 in advance or $4 at the gate. Advance tickets may be purchased by calling the ECU ticket office at 1-800-DIAL-ECU (inside N.C.) or (252) 328-4500.

A detailed schedule of events of the Pigskin Pig-Out Weekend, which begins Friday, is available at www.ECUpirates.com.

The rosters for Saturday's game were determined on Monday afternoon by a draft conducted by six ECU senior players. The results produced two evenly matched squads, each with its own set of coaches to call the plays.

The purple team features six returning starters from 2002, including offensive linemen Doug White and Brian Fox, wide receiver Terrance Copper, defensive lineman Damane Duckett, linebacker Josh Chilsom, and cornerback Reicko Jones. Junior letterman Desmond Robinson will be the purple's starting quarterback and tailback Marvin Townes will likely see most of the carries.

Defensive line coach Art Kaufman has been designated as the head coach of the purple team.

The gold squad includes incumbent starting quarterback Paul Troth along with returning starters Brian Rimpf and Charlie Dempsey on the offensive line and Travis Heath in the defensive secondary. Dominique Hatcher and Vonta Leach will star at tailback and fullback, respectively.

ECU's assistant head coach and offensive line coach J.B. Grimes will serve as head coach of the gold team.

"One good thing that our guys haven't done that has occured at a lot of places that I have been at, when you get to that eighth, ninth and 10th practice, they think it is over," Thompson said. "They haven't done that and did a great job this past weekend performing and we want to make sure that they are looking forward to Saturday. We will practice Tuesday as divided teams and have another practice on Wednesday and make sure that all of our personnel is ready to go for the game on Saturday."

The complete roster breakdown for the Purple/Gold Spring Game, as of Tuesday, is as follows (listed by position in alphabetical order, * denotes lettermen):

PURPLE TEAM	GOLD TEAM
Offensive Linemen
72 Brian Fox* 65 Eric Graham 60 Trey Magee 61 Brandon Pope* 78 Matt Wareham 68 Doug White*	76 Charlie Dempsey* 64 Gary Freeman* 62 Joseph Parsons 69 Brian Rimpf* 66 Corey Schmidt* 77 Drew Sutton 73 Thomas Wingenbach 67 Hunter Wood*
Tight Ends
30 Paul Kaplar 8 Kort Shankweiler	92 T.R. Holland 42 James Myrick*
Quarterbacks
2 Desmond Robinson* 5 Sakeen Wright*	12 James Pinkney 4 Paul Troth*
Running Backs
35 Jason Pender* 25 Marvin Townes* 44 Jermarcus Veal*	19 Dominique Hatcher* 31 Vonta Leach*
Wide Receivers
82 William Bland 84 Bryson Bowling* 86 Josh Campbell 7 Terrance Copper* 89 Garett Peterkin* 88 Michael Sunday	17 Damarcus Fox* 83 Tyrece Hayden 81 Richard Hourigan* 87 Edwin Rios* 80 Kevin Roach
Defensive Linemen
32 Josh Crowell 99 Damane Duckett* 97 Derek Helms* 34Richard Koonce* 58 Lance Neisz	59 Dontr? Brown 95 Eric Foushee* 71 Sammie Walden 90 Guy Whimper*
Linebackers
50 Eric Butler* 43 Josh Chilsom* 57 Chuck Elmore 53 Shawn Hodges 26 Chris Marrow	52 Dustin Bowden 56 Terrell Henry 41 Kent Nealy* 23 Dashaun Stephens 55 Chris Wasielewski
Defensive Backs
48 Wes Herlocker* 12 Percy Jones 39 Reicko Jones* 22 Markeith McQueen* 37 Brandon Rainer* 15 Mar'Ques Woolford	49 Cameron Briggs 38 Jared Brogden* 13 Matt Cox 20 Travis Cox 45 Travis Heath* 27 Curtis Hughes 11 Richard Moton*
Kickers
10 Cameron Broadwell	1 Chris Baglio 3 Jeremy Jones
Punters
14 Woody Schmidt	9 Ryan Dougherty
Deep Snappers
51 Mike Yartin*	74 Brandon Howard*
Coaches
Art Kaufman (head coach) Matt Graves Steve Janski Rick Stockstill Larry Shannon	J.B. Grimes (head coach) Jerry Odom Jerry McManus Fred Tate Lonnie Galloway Shep Campbell

INJURED - OUT FOR GAME
Art Brown*, TB
Ike Emodi*, DE
David Jorgensen*, OL
Hagen Mason*, OL
Mickey McCoy*, S
Chris Moore*, LB
Tutu Moye*, TE
Antonie Nealy, S
Lorenza Pickett*, DE
Terrence Pleasants, DE
Allieu Seisay, S
James Tyson*, CB
Chris White, WR
Marcus White*, WR
Donald Whitehead*, CB

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