ECU Turns The Page To 2015 Eyeing A Conference Championship
August 10, 2015 | Football
By Mike Grizzard,
ECUPirates.com
Zeek Bigger doesn't want to waste much time dwelling on last season.
That's not the style head coach Ruffin McNeill has employed in his first five years as East Carolina's head football coach.
It's move on to the next play, the next game. Control what you can control.
But Bigger can't help himself sometimes.
"One or two plays, one or two plays," said the senior linebacker who is a preseason All-American Athletic Conference pick. "That was the thing about last year. It wasn't too many mistakes. It just came down to one or two plays.
"That's something we've been thinking about and talking about this summer, being able to go out here and stop those one or two plays, and making sure that doesn't happen again."
An 8-5 season seesawed with highs and lows, ending with a 28-20 loss to Florida in the Birmingham Bowl. Magical moments were punctuated by a 70-41 blowout of North Carolina and record-setting performances by seniors Shane Carden and Justin Hardy, but the quest for a conference championship were derailed by stunning and gut-wrenching last-second losses to Cincinnati and Central Florida.
The Pirates were picked fourth this year in the East Division in the preseason media poll, but Bigger has bigger plans.
"We're going to work hard and try to give it our all," Bigger said. "Everybody wants the same thing and that's a ring, that's a championship. We've been here long enough where we think that we need one and we can get one. I think right now is that time."
The challenge is stern, with a schedule sending the Pirates on the road for four of their first six games, including non-conference visits to Florida, Navy and Brigham Young. ECU opens the season on Sept. 5 in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium against Towson, unveiling a team without Shane Carden at quarterback and Justin Hardy as his primary target. That duo eclipsed nearly every passing and receiving record in school history in leading ECU on the field, but also were the backbone of the team's leadership and among several valuable seniors who have to be replaced.
"We lost a great group of young men last year," McNeill said. "Those guys were embedded in the program, laid a magnificent blueprint to our program and mold. They provided a visual example of how we want this program to run, how to conduct themselves on a daily basis and preparation. The thing you can control is how you prepare.
"We will miss those guys," McNeill added. "They will always be a part of the family. They will always be my sons and those (assistant) coaches' nephews. We keep in touch now. A lot of those guys are still in NFL camps, and some of them have gone off into the business world. The family environment we have here is as strong as anything I've ever been around. That's not lip service when we talk about family environment. It's not coaching chatter. We mean that here, and that's the key."
Junior receiver Isaiah Jones, who already has 143 career receptions and 10 touchdowns in two years, tapped into what made those upperclassmen special. He especially had an eye on Hardy and fellow receiver Cam Worthy, who had 55 catches for 1,016 yards to cap off his career.
"Learning from Justin and Cam is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me as far as a football player," Jones said. "I learned from Justin to just enjoy the game and have fun. Sometimes we get caught up in statistics and this and that, but at the end of the day it's football. It's all just about enjoying the game and having fun."
And Jones is eager to see what this new-look Pirate team can accomplish.
"This allows us to show people we have something to prove," he said. "We have the same style of offense, but we have our own personality. It's a new chapter for East Carolina. The Shane and Justin era is past. It was great working with those guys and playing with those guys, but this is a new page for us.
"I'm excited to see this new football team," Jones added. "I'm a fan as well, so I'm looking forward to September 5 to enjoy it and see how well we do. It's going to be fun."
The biggest question is who will succeed Carden under center - and how an offense that relies on a fast tempo and spreading the ball around will function under new leadership. That also includes a new offensive coordinator with Dave Nichol taking over for Lincoln Riley, now a part of the staff at Oklahoma.
McNeill appears confident, at least in the offensive staff that also includes Brad Davis and Riley's brother, Garrett. He said Nichol's experience in the spread offense should make for a seamless transition.
"He has been in the offense since I've been in the offense, which is around 2000 when I was at Texas Tech," McNeill said. "So he understands and has been known for his great development of players. Everywhere he's been, he's done a great job of developing players - outside receivers and the same with our quarterbacks.
"The offense we run is what we run here. It's East Carolina's offense, but like I told Lincoln, add your own flavor to it, but the concept is there. The guys understand Nichol because he's been a part of it, so the transition was smooth."
Nichol said he may add a few "wrinkles" to the offense, but the basic philosophies remain unchanged.
"Coach Ruff's pretty good about giving us some freedom," Nichol said. "He lets us kind of dabble in this and that."
Neither McNeill nor Nichol would hint at a starter, although sophomore Kurt Benkert appears to be next in line. He, junior Cody Keith and junior Blake Kemp are sharing reps in fall practice. Nichol said he would like to have a starter named at least two weeks before the opener.
"Everybody in the quarterback group has the ability to be a leader," Nichol said. "They've been it before. I told them the other day, everybody's just cows. You're just leading them around. You're still the quarterback. Even if you're younger than everybody, you've just got to tell them where to go. You've got to herd them."
Benkert saw action in three games last year and experienced moderate success but his final play still gnaws at him - a fumble at the goal line in the bowl game against Florida.
"Fumbling on my very last play of the season and then going the whole offseason with that being my last play has really helped fuel me," Benkert said "It's on my mind all the time."
He believes he can take a page from Carden's book to move forward.
"You knew that when he stepped on the field he was always ready to go. His mind was always in the right place," Benkert said. "Whether it was a good play or a bad play, he was ready for the next play."
Keith also has experience in three games but it was in 2013 before having surgery on his right elbow. He said he has fully recovered and ready for an opportunity.
"It's just really exciting to be in the rotation and getting reps and working toward being the starting quarterback here," Keith said. "I think as an offense, everybody is comfortable with each quarterback.
"We're all different quarterbacks, and everybody kind of brings something different. It's been a long time since I've been in a team situation - 20 months since my surgery - and kind of getting back into the swing of things is one of the things I've been working on."
Kemp redshirted last year after transferring from Mesa Community College in Arizona.
Whoever emerges as the starter will step behind an experienced offensive line and have a bevy of skill around him. Three of the top four rushers return (Chris Hairston, Marquez Grayson and Anthony Scott) and six receivers with at least 14 catches are back as well.
Nichol said he knows what he will get from Jones but wants to see more consistency from Davon Grayson, Jimmy Williams and the rest of the receiving corps.
"Other than Isaiah we need some of that ridiculous consistency every day," Nichol said. "Those guys need to step up. They've been in bigger stadiums, they've played and made catches in big games. Now they need to do it kind of all the time. That's the goal."
Defensively, the Pirates lost one of its stalwarts in Brandon Williams but returns Bigger along with linebacker Montese Overton, interception leader Josh Hawkins, Terrell Richardson and Johnathon White as the core. Terrell Stanley also is back for his senior year after missing a full season due to injuries sustained in a car wreck.
Defensive coordinator Rick Smith touted the unit's speed but most of all a commitment to play for one another.
"That's what defense is," he said. "It's 11 crazy guys playing together and doing what the hell they're supposed to do. If one guy doesn't do it right on defense, it's usually the band playing on the other side."
Bigger said the Pirates need to develop a take-away mentality.
"Greedy, stingy," he said. "We talked about getting more turnovers. That's something we have to work on. I know we get a lot tackles and a lot of plays, but being more greedy and stingy is a big key for us to score, not only the offense scoring but getting a pick six and fumble recoveries to the house will help the offense also."
McNeill is unsure what personality traits this team will develop this year. But there is something he believes he can bank on.
"Six years ago, I stood here and told you that we were going to build this program brick by brick and step by step," he said. "We're not going to microwave it. We were going to build it with a dedication to the team, first, last and always. The concept will not waver. Within that, everybody is embracing their role and everybody understands their job. Everyone takes pride in doing everything they can to make the team better. We talk about effects - positive effects, negative effects. Everyone is taught, recruited and hired to have a positive effect on their dedication to the team concept.
"Six years ago was also the dedication to stay focused on a mission and a vision, and not waver from that. Yes, we know the end of the season (Dec. 5) is a championship game for our conference, but what we said six years ago was to make sure we stay focused, stay in the moment and don't waver."
