Spring Football Notebook No. 14
April 15, 2015 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina completed the weekday practice portion of its spring schedule in cool conditions Wednesday inside the Cliff Moore Complex, working for two hours under cloudy skies and temperatures in the low-60s.
While the shorts and helmets session wrapped up the Pirates' weekday workout slate, it also served as a final tune-up for the team's annual spring game scheduled for Saturday beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Included on the agenda was a 25-minute team-versus-team period, a pair of special teams segments and 15 minutes of skeleton work.
"Overall, I thought things went very well this spring," head coach Ruffin McNeill said. "We have a great group of older guys who have been around and understand what we want. The lettermen have been through it and young guys are competing for positions. I know I keep mentioning my staff, but they have been magnificent and I want to make sure that gets played all across Pirate Nation. The staff here is one of the best I've had."
Similar to his first five ECU spring contests, McNeill said Saturday's Purple-Gold Game will again resemble more of an offense-versus-defense scrimmage like those played earlier this spring and will primarily feature the top three levels of ECU's current depth chart. Live hitting will be permitted for all positions, except quarterback and during kickoff, punting and return situations. In addition, the Pirates will attempt all extra-point and field goal tries.
"I know it's the spring game, but I consider it another practice day where we can evaluate," McNeill explained. "We're going to go offense vs. defense, one's versus two's and threes on threes. I want to get the young guys more reps, so I'm looking forward to seeing them be competitive. Most of all, I want us to be injury free."
NOTES: Wednesday's outing represented the last official drill-oriented position coach-supervised team practice until the Pirates conduct their first workout of fall camp on Tuesday, Aug. 4 - just 111 days away.
EAST CAROLINA'S 2015 SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Next/Last Workout: Saturday, April 18 (Purple-Gold Game, 2:30 p.m.)
SEASON TICKETS
Season tickets for all six of ECU's 2015 home games are now on sale via ECUPirates.com or by calling (800) DIAL-ECU. Packages start as low as $165, a 50 percent savings off the collective single-game price.
