All Hands On Deck In Birmingham - Day 5
January 02, 2015 | Football
PirateNation - welcome back to the All Hands On Deck blog from Birmingham, Ala., home of the 2014 Birmingham Bowl.
It's hard to believe that tomorrow is GAME DAY as the week has flown by for the East Carolina Pirates (coaches and players), family members, support staff and all others that headed south to Birmingham for the game.
Friday was a packed day for the Pirates as they had an early wake up call starting at 8 a.m. for breakfast and then went right into meetings. The entire team, coaches, band, cheerleaders and support staff took part in the annual Monday Morning Quarterback Club Luncheon at the Sheraton Hotel.
Following lunch, ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge conducted interviews with ECU Head Coach Ruffin McNeill and Florida Interim Head Coach D.J. Durkin before keynote speaker Trevor Matich spoke to both teams and their traveling parties.
McNeill along with seniors Shane Carden, Justin Hardy, Chrishon Rose and Brandon Williams then headed over to Historic Legion Field to participate in the pregame press conference, where nearly 40 media members conducted interviews before the Pirates returned to the hotel to continue positional and team meetings.
The Pirates closed the evening with their weekly in-season tradition of going to a movie, as they went to see UNBROKEN, an epic drama that follows the life of an Olympian and war hero Louis Zamperini.
Well that's all for this year's bowl blog from Birmingham. Next up is the Ninth-Annual Birmingham Bowl between the Pirates and Gators on Saturday, Jan. 3 with a 12 noon (EST) kickoff scheduled on ESPN.
Thanks for reading and please checkout our Facebook, Twitter and Bowl Central Page for all the latest images and sounds from Birmingham, Ala.
