Pirates Prep For Scrimmage No. 2
August 20, 2010 | Football
Aug. 20, 2010
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GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina put the finishing touches on its preparation for Saturday’s scrimmage with an approximately two-hour practice in shells Friday morning at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.
At the beginning of the session, first-year head coach Ruffin McNeill’s message to the squad was to make routine plays and to be quick.
To ready ECU for its second scrimmage of preseason camp, McNeill and his staff conducted 47 minutes of practice in skeleton drills or against early-designated scouts with an additional 20 minutes spent on special teams.
During Friday’s 21 minutes of team-on-team work, which was held on Hight Field, McNeill put the offense and defense in a variety of situations.
“We did some things today with game situations,” McNeill said. “We made [offensive coordinator] Lincoln Riley and [defensive coordinator] Brian Mitchell use timeouts. We backed up the offense and made them get a first down. We also worked on having a minute or so left on the clock and using our timeouts wisely.”
McNeill closed the session with 10 more minutes of skeleton work, which featured many of the team’s true freshmen.
Saturday’s scrimmage is scripted to be shorter than last week’s with approximately 80 plays planned.
“Tomorrow’s focus will be execution of offense, defense and special teams,” McNeill said. “One of the mantras of this camp has been to play the next play. There will be some good plays, but you have to play the next play. There will be some tough plays, but you have to play the next play. That’s one thing a team has to make sure it’s very good at.”
Notes: The Pirates’ scrimmage Saturday inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium precedes the 16th annual Meet The Pirates Night, ECU’s preseason football fan fest, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. ... Fans are asked to enter through Gate 6 on the north side of the stadium … Posters and schedule cards with game information will be available for all in attendance … The first 1,000 fans at the event who donate a canned good will receive one of the free 2010 Pirate Football autograph books.
Saturday’s Scrimmage Time: 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Season Opener: Sept. 5 vs. Tulsa in Greenville (2:00 p.m.)
