Media Event, Workout Highlight Second Day
August 02, 2008 | Football
Aug. 2, 2008
• Media Day Photo Gallery
• Press Conference 
• Holtz post-practice comments 
• Listen to the Press Conference
GREENVILLE, N.C. - After conducting its annual media day activities indoors during the late morning hours, the East Carolina Pirates returned to high heat and humidity levels on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex for a two-and-a-half-hour afternoon practice in shorts and helmets.
The session marked the Pirates' second workout of fall camp. East Carolina will enter its next stage of preparation Sunday by progressing to shoulder pads before putting on full gear Tuesday afternoon.
In addition to Saturday's practice, East Carolina also welcomed approximately 30 media members representing 25 different agencies to the Murphy Center for Media Day '08. Newspaper, radio and television personnel from local and regional outlets in North Carolina, Virginia and South Carolina conducted interviews with requested players and members of the coaching staff. A total of 27 players were made available for the opening segment of interviews which began at 11:00 a.m. at Harvey Hall.
NOTES: Head coach Skip Holtz announced that the following February signees reported to camp: OL Josh Clark, DL Allen Crowder, OL Dalton Faulds, WR Jacobi Jenkins, DL Robert Jones, QB Josh Jordan, DB Rahkeem Morgan, DB Leonard Paulk, DB Joe Venable and WR Joe Womack ... DL Anthony Garner is on ECU's 2008 roster but will open the season on the disabled list (physically unable to perform status) ... In addition, freshmen walk-ons Andrew Bodenheimer (WR), Brandon Carr (LB), Kemory Mann (OL), Hugh Parker (OL), William Smith (DS), Bill Wallace (DB) and Brad Wornick (QB) have all been invited to preseason camp as well ... 2007 signee DaRonte McNeill (RB) is also a member of ECU's 105-man preseason roster this year ... Holtz also announced that incoming freshman signee LB Max Joyner will not be a member of the program in 2008 due to a suspension for a violation of team rules ... Sunday's Practice Time: 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.; Season Opener: Aug. 30 vs. Virginia Tech in Charlotte (12 noon).
EXCERPTS FROM SKIP HOLTZ' MEDIA DAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Opening Comments: "It's that time of the year and it's great to be back on the grass. We talk about media day as an exciting time because it gives us permission to start talking and writing about college football and what we're doing. Everybody's got high expectations. Everybody's undefeated at this point and everyone has lofty goals with what they're trying to accomplish. There's a lot of excitement, enthusiasm, and interest. Then, all of a sudden, you get to that first day and you get to get on the grass. For coaches, that's when the real excitement starts because we have not had the opportunity to be on the field with our football team since the spring game. For us, this is an exciting time right now to get started. It was great to be back out there last night at practice."
On the Players' Physical Improvements: "I don't think you need to look hard to see the progress that a lot of these players have made. I think (strength and conditioning coach) Mike Golden did an incredible job with this football team in the off-season. Just watching them run around with their quickness and the size and the way some people have kind of changed their bodies a little bit. You don't have to look hard to see the progress that we've made. I think this team had a great summer, which I think was really important for us as we move forward."
On Previous Injuries: "It's encouraging as well to see almost everybody on the field again. To get out there and all of a sudden you line up at linebacker and you see Pierre Bell, Quentin Cotton and Jeremy Chambliss have the opportunity to all run out there together. To see Marcus Hands out there on the field in cleats again, as well as Norman Whitley and T.J. Lee. To see so many of the guys who missed spring practice who we had talked about. To have them back in the fold is really encouraging and to see those guys running around is putting the pieces of the puzzle together."
On First Practice Of The Season: "It's hard to evaluate a football team after one day in shorts. But we had great enthusiasm, excitement and a lot of electricity. I think this team is eager to go and ready for the season and the challenges that we have ahead of us. I thought practice was very upbeat and positive."
On The Freshmen: "When you look at the freshmen, there are some really good ones. But there aren't very many of them out there. I believe there are only 10 new freshmen in the mix right now. When you look at the two offensive linemen in Dalton Faulds and Josh Clark, they have done a nice job. They're going to be good players one day and I would expect they would redshirt this season. There are only two wide receivers (Joe Womack and Jacobi Jenkins) who are going through everything right now. I think those two guys have a chance and we are very encouraged by what we've seen from them.
"I think quarterback Josh Jordan has a strong arm. He has a long way to go right now mentally, but I think he has an awful lot of talent. You watch your freshmen run around and you see such a difference from the upperclassmen. The freshmen are all kind of long and gangly. They run around and don't exactly know what they're doing yet. But I do think there's a lot of talent there.
"On the defensive side of the ball, I think Allen Crowder and Robert Jones, two defensive linemen, have a chance to help us this year. They're both running around well and it's going to be encouraging to see what they do in pads. There's also Justin Venable in the secondary. Out of those couple of young players out there, I'm very encouraged by what I see."
On Defensive Returners: "Not having many freshmen usually means you have a great returning group. We have a good nucleus of guys who have played a lot of football that are coming back. Our defensive line has a chance to be something special, if we can get everybody out there and healthy. We have Linval Joseph coming off his back surgery from the offseason. But I think there's an awful lot of talent on the defensive line. At defensive end, there's a big log-jam with Marcus Hands coming back along with C.J. Wilson, Scotty Robinson and Zack Slate. There's a lot of players there with a lot of playing experience.
"At the linebacker position, we just talked about the three guys there [Bell, Cotton and Chambliss] who are coming back and they obviously have a lot of experience. There's also a lot of young guys and a lot of capable bodies. The secondary has a chance to be extremely improved. We came into the season last year with three new starters who had not played for us. Now, you look out there and there are a lot of secondary guys who have played a lot of football. We got better and better last year as the season went on."
On Offensive Returners: "Our offensive line probably has as much depth as we've ever had. We still have a long way to go in order to put it all together, but there are more bodies to work with than we've ever had. Both Patrick Pinkney and Rob Kass have done a great job. They both had great summers and have taken leadership roles, which they are excelling in.
"I am really pleased in the progress that tight end Davon Drew has been making. To see him running around and running routes with the retention that he's had, is good to see. He's really doing all the little things it takes from being a good receiver to being a great one. He's really making some strides. We're looking for a lot of encouraging things out of Davon this fall.
"There is a stable of running backs that we will use this year and there's an awful lot of talent back there. Everybody asks how you're going to replace Chris Johnson. Obviously, it's not going to be easy when you look at his productivity and all the positive things he did for this football team. But when you look back there, there are a lot of names and a lot of talent. We have a good combination of young guys and older guys, size and strength and speed and athleticism.
"The wide receiver position, coming out of spring, was one of our biggest concerns. Jamar Bryant, Dwayne Harris and another couple of guys are doing a nice job. I'm really anxious to see how Darryl Freeney, D.J. McFadden, Reyn Willis, Alex Taylor and some of those guys are going to continue to develop and the role they're going to play on this team.
"Probably the other area that would be a little bit of a concern coming to camp is that Ben Hartman pulled a muscle in his leg in June. It has been very slow in healing. Right now he's still kicking in some pain, so we've got him on hold where he's not kicking. Matt Dodge and Ben Ryan are handling the kicking duties right now and it's going to be interesting to see how they come along. It's also interesting to see how long Ben is going to be out. Right now Matt will handle the punting duties as he did last year.
"I am encouraged with what I see from this football team. The key is to see how much we can improve from where we are right now until August 30, which is only 28 days from this point. We have some pieces of the puzzle together, but we still have a long way to go in order to get there."
On If The Offense Will Change Without Chris Johnson: "It won't change a lot. We had some sets where we were in two backs and two tight ends, then some sets where we were in four wide. Our offense is very multiple. You'll start to see different formations utilized a little bit more but the offense will remain pretty much the same as it was. You'll just highlight different things and you may not give it to that one guy as many times."
On the Physical Differences Between Freshmen and Upperclassmen: "The biggest thing is when you see the freshmen come in, and there are some very talented freshmen, but you see how far away they are from the juniors and the seniors who are stepping on the field. You see the differences physically, shape-wise and in body tone. That's where you see the difference in Coach Golden's program."
"Being a strength coach, a lot of people think it's just about lifting weights and getting big. They say, `wow look at how big that guy is - your strength coach is doing a great job.' But really, you notice it more on the football field when you see them running around with their quickness, agility, athleticism and they way that they can recuperate from one practice to the next. Doing their job during the course of the summer gives me the opportunity to really push these guys for four days in a row because their recuperation is so strong because of the way they run and stay in shape.
"It goes back to the way Coach Golden trains them, in a high-intensity atmosphere. We're not going to a weight lifting competition. They're not in there taking 10 minutes in between each lift just trying to push a lot of weight. It's more about speed, explosion and strength. There are a lot of things that go into that equation. Over the years, that's really where you can start to see the differences. You see the seniors and the juniors and where they are compared to those younger players coming in."
On Elevated Expectations In 2008: "As a staff I think we have the same expectations this year that we've had every year. They're probably a little more attainable this year when you look at our football team. We were picked dead last our first year. When we first came in here and started writing goals on the board, we talked about winning a conference championship, and having the opportunity to play in the Liberty Bowl, as well as winning a bowl game. We had those same lofty goals in our first year. I said then I thought we had an obligation to set the tone for where we wanted to go, and not to sell it short. I believed in baby steps. After year two, people asked if I thought we could get to a bowl game so quickly. I said then that was in the hands of the players and how far they would progress in two years. But I don't think you can get there in two years if you have a four-year plan.
"What we've got to do is set that lofty goal. We've had lofty goals every year we've been here. I think the players feel those goals are a little more attainable this year. We've had the opportunity to play for the conference championship the last two years. We went to Rice and lost the last conference game of the season and went to Marshall last season and lost the next to last game of the season, which kept us out of that championship game. But we've been right there. We just have to turn and close that gap and maintain that focus a little bit more than we have late in the season the last few years. I don't think the expectations from the outside effect what we're trying to do from the inside. We've had these lofty expectations every year. I think there's just a lot more excitement and enthusiasm due to the reality that we have a better chance of accomplishing those goals than in years past."
On Learning from Previous Late-Season Defeats: "We'll find out how much we learned this year. I don't know that you can say we learned and grew until we see how we react to it and then go from here. I've always said one of our battle cries is, `Humble and Hungry'. Everybody talks about how the win against Boise State was a great momentum builder and created a lot of fan support, enthusiasm and excitement. From a football standpoint, though, they're not satisfied. Our goal was not just to beat Boise State. Coming off the Rice defeat two years ago, we really sat down and talked about the possibility of championships and where we were trying to go and what we were trying to do.
"Hopefully that has put a bitter taste in everybody's mouth. When I talked about the schedule last night at our team meeting and brought up Marshall, I think everybody felt like we went up there and didn't put our best foot forward and didn't play our best game. Yet, give Marshall a lot of credit, they played well at home. But I think this football team hopefully has learned something from it - not only the players but the coaching staff as well. We'll find out how much we learned as we move toward the end of the season. Staying healthy is going to be a big part of that as well."
On the Importance of the Improved Secondary: "It has been huge. We say this time and time again. When the defensive line misses a tackle, it's 2nd-and-6. When the linebackers miss a tackle, it's 1st-and-10, when the secondary misses a tackle, it's seven to nothing. There's a lot riding on every mistake that they make.
"One of the concerns going into last year was that Jerek Hewett and Leon Best hadn't played. There were a lot of guys back there who hadn't had a lot of time. Van Eskridge had been a linebacker and all of a sudden was a safety. Chris Mattocks hadn't played. You look at a lot of young guys who had never played before and now you see guys who are battle tested and have been seasoned for a year.
"Last year they just wanted to get on the field and play. Now, it's what do we have to do to win? I left this office a number of times in the summer at 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. and every time I walked by the defensive staff meeting room, Leon Best was in there watching film on his own in the middle of the summer. It's not enough just to play, but he's watching game film finding out what he has to do to get better and what they have to do to improve.
"That's the maturing process that a lot of people go through. As freshmen and sophomores, they just want to play. As juniors and seniors they get to the point where they want to win. I think that's the progress that group is making. They're very responsible and want to be good. They made some mistakes early last year that hurt us a little bit. But last year they got better week to week. We got better in the spring and hopefully, this fall, we make the same type of progress to the point where the secondary can be one of our strengths."
On Winning The Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl: "It goes a long way in creating energy and excitement in your fan base. It's great for your players, but I think how you react to it is more important than winning the game itself. If you come off that win and you lose your edge because that was the goal for your program (to win a bowl game), then you start to get content. When you're content, you don't work as hard and you feel like you've arrived. That's a trap a lot of teams fall into. It's one thing to learn how to win, but it's a whole other step to learn how to handle winning.
"I think with the goals we have in our program and what we're trying to do (win a championship) and knowing how close we've come the last two years has put a little fire in everybody's belly. As a football team, we're probably operating more on the one that got away, than what we accomplished last year. I don't think now is the time to pat ourselves on the back and talk about going to a bowl game and beating Boise State. Right now, what we have to do is find out what we have to get done to close those last games out at the end of the year in order to win a conference championship.
"It goes a lot further with your fans and the excitement, enthusiasm, season tickets, the outlook and the projections of your football team than with the football team itself. I would like to think that losing that Marshall game at the end of the year is a pit in everybody's stomach and that's keeping the fire burning and making sure that we go out there and do what we have to do in the offseason to be ready to go and take that next step."
