Spring Football Notebook No. 4
March 07, 2007 | Football
March 7, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - After enjoying a day off Tuesday, East Carolina Head Football Coach Skip Holtz and his Pirate football program resumed its spring practice schedule Wednesday afternoon. The two-and-half hour workout, conducted on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex, was the Pirates' fourth overall and second in full pads.
While continuing focus on the delivery and execution of offensive and defensive fundamentals through different assignments such as a full-speed simulated 11-on-11 controlled scrimmage drill, Holtz and his staff continued the process of developing the program's first official depth chart, which will be released after the playing of ECU's initial full intra-squad scrimmage, scheduled for Friday, March 23.
Holtz would like to identify the Pirates' top two units after the first two weeks of work in order for selected personnel to take the majority of the repetitions during the last three weeks of drills, including the Purple-Gold Spring Game April 14.
"We had a much better effort today," Holtz said. "Our attention to detail was at a higher level and we came out more focused. It's important for us to get five good days in prior to the break with a lot of work in the fundamental, drill and team aspect of the spring."
One of the areas hardest-hit by personnel losses is ECU's defensive secondary, where only senior cornerback Travis Williams returns as a starter off a unit which helped the Pirates to a No. 35 national standing in pass defense (184.2 ypg) and a No. 21 rating in interceptions with 16 in 2006. On the other hand, in addition to Williams, East Carolina does welcome back a total of six lettermen who experienced game-day action as a defensive back a year ago. In addition, Holtz has moved sophomore Van Eskridge from linebacker to one of the safety positions to bolster ECU's depth. Eskridge finished his freshman campaign as the Pirates' fifth-leading tackler with 60 stops last year after playing in all 13 games and making six starts.
"Getting reps is our main priority at this stage with the amount of redshirts, walk-ons and other young players we currently have in our program," Holtz added. "I'm certainly pleased we're making progress, but again, we have got a lot of work in front of us."
East Carolina will return to work Thursday beginning at 4:45 p.m. before taking a week off to enjoy Spring Break March 12-16.
