ECU Officially Opens ’24 Preseason Camp
July 31, 2024 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Sixth-year East Carolina Head Football Coach Mike Houston officially opened the 2024 campaign Wednesday morning after guiding the Pirates through their first official workout of the season on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.
The day began with a 6:15 a.m. wake-up call, breakfast, treatments and positional meetings before turning in a fundamentals-oriented 110-minute practice in shorts and helmets reinstalling schemes with humid temperatures in the lower 80's. ECU follows Wednesday's workout with daily sessions through Saturday before its first scheduled off day of camp Sunday.
"It's always an exciting time of year across the country," Houston said. "The guys have been itching for this and they were excited last night and this morning. When the sun comes out and the humidity kicks in, it hits you that it's camp. I'm glad we got some heat and humidity because we'll need that to acclimate us here in August.
"It was a good first day as far as getting the practice in. It looked like a first day, sloppy as all get out. The heat comes out and you lose some discipline with your young guys. Then your old guys - Rahjai Harris, Dustyn Hall, Casey Kelly, Tae Johnson, Suirad [Ware], Elijah [Morris], Chad [Stephens], Hampton [Ergle] - the guys who have been there. The old guys who have practiced a lot, they just go because they've been through it. They have the mental capacity and toughness to handle it no matter what. That's what we have to have from our whole program.
"Good first day. We'll get meetings in this afternoon and a walkthrough tonight. We'll be ready to go tomorrow morning. We'll switch things up going into the weekend and practice in the afternoon on Friday and Saturday to give them a little more rest between Thursday's practice and Friday. The Appalachian State game is a 4:00 kickoff so we'll need to be prepared for that. We'll have a night practice next week to get ready for the opener. Three of our first four games are at night so we'll have plenty of night practices during preseason camp. We're off and rolling."
Of the Pirates' 120-man camp roster, they return 12 of 22 positional starters (six offense, six defense) and four on special teams while welcoming back 43 lettermen from a year ago (17 offense, 22 defense, 4 specialists). ECU also returns 22 new student-athletes from the spring, while adding 29 for fall camp.
East Carolina is scheduled to progress to shells (shoulder pads) for the first time Friday before a full gear workout Tuesday per NCAA rules. ECU will close camp on Saturday, Aug. 17 with its second scrimmage before returning to a customary in-season early morning schedule in preparation for its season and home opener against Norfolk State on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Fans can follow the Pirates throughout camp on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and X).
The day began with a 6:15 a.m. wake-up call, breakfast, treatments and positional meetings before turning in a fundamentals-oriented 110-minute practice in shorts and helmets reinstalling schemes with humid temperatures in the lower 80's. ECU follows Wednesday's workout with daily sessions through Saturday before its first scheduled off day of camp Sunday.
"It's always an exciting time of year across the country," Houston said. "The guys have been itching for this and they were excited last night and this morning. When the sun comes out and the humidity kicks in, it hits you that it's camp. I'm glad we got some heat and humidity because we'll need that to acclimate us here in August.
"It was a good first day as far as getting the practice in. It looked like a first day, sloppy as all get out. The heat comes out and you lose some discipline with your young guys. Then your old guys - Rahjai Harris, Dustyn Hall, Casey Kelly, Tae Johnson, Suirad [Ware], Elijah [Morris], Chad [Stephens], Hampton [Ergle] - the guys who have been there. The old guys who have practiced a lot, they just go because they've been through it. They have the mental capacity and toughness to handle it no matter what. That's what we have to have from our whole program.
"Good first day. We'll get meetings in this afternoon and a walkthrough tonight. We'll be ready to go tomorrow morning. We'll switch things up going into the weekend and practice in the afternoon on Friday and Saturday to give them a little more rest between Thursday's practice and Friday. The Appalachian State game is a 4:00 kickoff so we'll need to be prepared for that. We'll have a night practice next week to get ready for the opener. Three of our first four games are at night so we'll have plenty of night practices during preseason camp. We're off and rolling."
Of the Pirates' 120-man camp roster, they return 12 of 22 positional starters (six offense, six defense) and four on special teams while welcoming back 43 lettermen from a year ago (17 offense, 22 defense, 4 specialists). ECU also returns 22 new student-athletes from the spring, while adding 29 for fall camp.
East Carolina is scheduled to progress to shells (shoulder pads) for the first time Friday before a full gear workout Tuesday per NCAA rules. ECU will close camp on Saturday, Aug. 17 with its second scrimmage before returning to a customary in-season early morning schedule in preparation for its season and home opener against Norfolk State on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Fans can follow the Pirates throughout camp on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and X).
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