Spring Football Notebook No. 14
April 11, 2007 | Football
April 11, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina wrapped up the practice portion of its spring schedule in cool and damp conditions Wednesday on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.
While the spirited 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. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
"There have been many positives that have come out of the spring and I'm pleased with that," said ECU Head Coach Skip Holtz. "We've made a lot of progress but understand that we still have the summer workouts and fall camp ahead of us. There's a lot of work left for us to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together and get guys healthy before we can even entertain the idea of getting ready to play."
Holtz and staff have spent the last few days defining their current depth chart to identify the first and second units and conducted a player draft Wednesday morning to select roster positions for the Purple-Gold Game.
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.
"As is the case every year, we're all looking forward to Saturday," Holtz continued. "The opportunity to have another scrimmage situation, lining up and playing in a game-day environment is critical to our continued development because of the inexperience we have in many key areas."
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 Earnest Byner, Reggie Branch, Tony Collins, Terrance Copper, Vonta Leach, Brian Rimpf and Jody Shulz, along with former coach Ed Emory, 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 Pigskin Pig-Out Party, can be purchased online at www.ECUPirates.com or by calling (252) 328-2300 locally or (800) DIAL-ECU outside the Greenville area.
