Progress Continues in Pirate Preseason Camp
August 20, 2003 | Football
The Pirates spent more than two hours in the summer sun at the Cliff Moore Practice Facility on Wednesday morning and were scheduled to return for a late afternoon session as part of a two-a-day schedule.
Head coach John Thompson, entering his first season at ECU, had encouraging comments following the morning session.
"I think we're getting better," he said. "I don't think there's any question that each day we're seeing progress. We're working really hard. These guys have put their heads down and they're bringing it. You don't get more deep into practice than where we are right now, going two-a-days -- it's a 16- 17-hour day for them and it's hard work , but they're responding. I see us executing better on both sides and it goes back and forth and that's good. One drill the offense has a lot of success and the next drill the defense comes back, so I think that's a good thing right now."
Thursday's scrimmage will be situational in nature with the players placed in a variety of scenarios to sharpen their execution as well as provide evaluation data for coaches to decide upon starting roles. In addition to high-profile battles for starting jobs at quarterback and running back, several other positions are also up for grabs, including that of kicker.
"We've got to make a hard decision on that soon," said Thompson, who has five kickers in camp to choose from. "Those guys have really done well, but the best guy's going to win that job."
Thursday's scrimmage is closed to the public.
