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News Nuggets, 08.18.06
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Compiled from staff reports and electronic dispatches

Goal line work livens up flat practice for ECU

The East Carolina football team continued preparations for its second intra-squad scrimmage of preseason camp with a three-hour practice in full pads Thursday at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex, according to a report from the university's athletic media relations department.

After a light fine-tuning session Friday afternoon, East Carolina will head over to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday afternoon to engage in perhaps its most important internal test of the preseason, a scrimmage which will determine the depth chart heading into game-plan mode for the season opener at Navy on Sept. 2.

"I think that the excitement and the energy of the newness of camp has finally worn off," head coach Skip Holtz said. "Today we came out flat and did not have that zip we had earlier in the week. Today we wanted to have a lot of team sessions due to some players out with injuries."

The Pirates opened their workout with special teams drills and reviewed their option scheme before spending the remainder of the practice conducting scrimmage-like, team-on-team ball movement, which somewhat mirrored Wednesday's efforts. ECU capped off the session with its traditional goal line situational work.

"We had to cut the team portion of practice early and decided to work on goal line situations in hopes of firing up some of the guys," Holtz added. "I think that last session really woke some people up. Now we will go and look at the tape from today's practice and see who got better."

Senior offensive tackle Eric Graham (back), freshman offensive lineman Andrew Farr (ankle), junior receiver Derehl Staton (ankle) and senior receiver Bobby Good (leg) sat out Thursday's practice with injuries.

ECU welcomed back senior safety Jamar Flournoy (leg) and sophomore offensive lineman Paul Walsh after the pair had missed recent workouts.

The Pirates will take Sunday off after the scrimmage before conducting their final two-a-day practice of camp Monday morning and afternoon.

Saturday's scrimmage will be followed by the 12th Annual Meet The Pirates Night, ECU's preseason football fanfest, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. (dinner) and 7:00 p.m. (fan session, autographs) at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Friday's practice time is from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

'Pack third sacker defects to Cowboys

Oklahoma State has added North Carolina State transfer Matt Mangini to its roster, it has been announced by Cowboys baseball coach Frank Anderson through the OSU athletic website.

A 6-foot-4, 222-pound third baseman, Mangini spent two seasons at N.C. State. He is a junior and eligible to play for the Cowboys in the upcoming 2007 season.

Mangini was recruited to N.C. State by former associate head coach Billy Jones, who is now a member of the OSU coaching staff and was instrumental in bringing the transfer to Stillwater.

“Matt adds a left-handed bat with a lot of pop to our lineup and is a guy who has a lot of experience against top competition having played in the ACC,” Jones said. “He had a tremendous sophomore season and followed that up by being one of the top players in the Cape Cod League over the summer, and we expect him to continue that type of production for us.”

As a sophomore for the Wolfpack in 2006, Mangini started 60 games and hit .343 with seven homers and a team-high 60 RBIs. He was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks as he started the season 27-for-37 (.730) with three doubles, three triples, three home runs and 21 RBIs in his first 10 games.

Mangini followed his successful collegiate season with an all-star performance this summer in the Cape Cod League. He won the Thurman Munson Award as the CCL batting champion as he hit .310 for the Hyannis Mets.

In the summer of 2005, Mangini was named the top prospect in the Northwoods League after hitting .344 with six homers, 13 doubles and 43 RBIs. With that performance, he was named a Summer League All-American by Baseball America.

Mangini chose the Cowboys over Oregon State and Arizona State.

Indiana's Sampson in hot water with NABC

Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson has been reprimanded by the National Association of Basketball Coaches for recruiting violations when he directed the program at Oklahoma. According to a report at espn.com, Sampson is the first coach to be disciplined by the group.

A Robeson Country, NC, native, Sampson is a UNC-Pembroke alumnus.

Sampson's NABC membership was placed on probation for three years. During that time, Sampson — a former member of the group's board of directors — is prohibited from serving in an official capacity with the organization.

He is also ineligible for district and national coach of the year awards and will lose his Final Four ticket privileges through the NABC.

Sampson said he respected the group's decision.

The action comes nearly three months after the NCAA banned Sampson from calling recruits or making off-campus visits until next May because of excessive phone calls to recruits. The NCAA ruled Sampson and his Sooner assistants made 577 extra phone calls to 17 recruits between 2000 and 2004.

News Nuggets are compiled periodically based on material supplied by staff members; data published by ECU, Conference USA and its member schools; and reports from other sources. Copyright 2006 Bonesville.net and other publishers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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