Pirates Tackle First Two-A-Day
August 12, 2009 | Football
Aug. 12, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina completed its first two-a-day schedule of preseason camp Wednesday, working a little over two hours each during the morning and evening on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.
The Pirates, who have one more double practice day remaining during camp, also began their in-season preparation work in earnest after five introductory sessions which stressed fundamentals and an orientation-based review of head coach Skip Holtz' offensive and defensive schemes.
"Our first two-a-day is in the books and I thought we had a great day of practice," said head coach Skip Holtz. "This morning we emphasized the passing game and tonight was about full team work, which I thought went real well. Now we just need to keep improving from day-to-day and keep getting better."
After coming out in shells (helmets, shoulder pads and shorts) and working on passing elements both offensively and defensively during the morning session, the Pirates worked in full pads under the lights and much cooler temperatures keying on teamwork. East Carolina also spent its first significant time of the preseason stressing its two-minute package as the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 units devoted the last four periods of the morning to clock management.
NOTES: ECU will return to its single workout schedule Thursday and Friday in preparation for the program's first intra-squad scrimmage Saturday afternoon which will produce the season's initial depth chart ... OL Sean Allen, DB Van Eskridge, K Ben Hartman, LB Nick Johnson and DE C.J. Wilson were all named Preseason All-Conference USA by CBSSports.com ... In addition, Wilson was tabbed by that organization as the C-USA's Preseason Defensive Player-of-the-Year ... Dodge, Eskridge and Wilson were also Preseason Honorable Mention All-America selections by CollegeFootballNews.com ... Ben Hartman was named to the initial preseason Lou Groza Award Watch List Wednesday afternoon ... WR Michael Bowman (arm) and WR Justin Ruffin (back) were removed from 105-man camp roster ... RB Norman Whitley and OL Doug Palmer were activated from rehabilitation list to ECU's official preseason roster ... Although the pair was limited to shorts and helmets per NCAA rules, both participated in the Pirates' workout Wednesday night ... Five players missed a part or the entire workout Wednesday because of injuries or rehabilitation work - TE Justin Jones (concussion), RB Dominique Lindsay (concussion), OL Travis Melvin (concussion), DL Josh Smith (ankle), LB Kyle Tudor (ankle) ... Thursday's Practice Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.; Season Opener: Sept. 5 vs. Appalachian State in Greenville (12 noon).
