Pirates Complete Last Spring Practice Session
April 05, 2006 | Football
April 5, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina wrapped up the practice portion of its spring schedule in near-perfect weather conditions Wednesday at both the Cliff Moore Practice Complex and Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, working for two hours under abundant sunshine and temperatures in the low-70s.
While the lively full-pad session completed the Pirates' weekday workout slate, it also served as a final tune-up for the program's annual spring game scheduled for Saturday beginning at 3:00 p.m.
"I believe we made a lot of progress this spring," said ECU Head Coach Skip Holtz. "I think we all want to be in a position to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together but we missed arguably four of our most productive players this spring in Pierre Bell (LB), Marcus Hands (DE), Aundrae Allison (WR) and Chris Johnson (RB). At the same time, it forced a lot guys to step up at those particular positions. There were many positives that came out of the spring and I'm really pleased about that."
Holtz and staff will define their current depth chart Thursday morning to identify the first and second units in an effort to establish game rosters for Saturday's contest. Similar to last season, the two teams will be divided up as "East Carolina" and "Pirates" and each will feature either the No. 1 offense or the top defense in order to display competition between equal units of the two-deep.
Holtz also indicated the format of the scrimmage will resemble a true game as much as possible with the utilization of a game clock throughout all four quarters with live hitting permitted in all positions. The only exception to the norm will be the elimination of kickoff, punting and return situations. In addition, the Pirates will attempt all extra-point and field goal tries.
"I think we're all looking forward to Saturday," Holtz continued. "We really need another scrimmage situation with live tackling, executing our offense and defense. Lining up and playing in a game-day environment is critical because there are so many new faces in our two-deep."
Along with the game and festivities of the two-day Pirate Purple/Gold Pigskin Pig-Out Party, many former Pirate greats and current or retired National Football League performers such as Rod Coleman, Terrance Copper, Damane Duckett, Vonta Leach, Brian Rimpf, Vinson Smith and Keith Stokes will be in Greenville this weekend and present at the game.
Tickets, which are priced at $5.00 for the contest or $10.00 with the addition of a plate of bar-b-que from the Pirate Purple/Gold Pigskin Pigout Party, can be purchased at the ECU Athletics Ticket Office or by calling (252) 328-2300 locally or (800) DIAL-ECU outside the Greenville area.
