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Pirates on pace to overachieve

By Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

It's hard to believe, but Saturday’s game at Brigham Young marks the midway point in East Carolina’s 2015 football season.

Considering the difficult front-loaded schedule, significant graduation losses and the season-ending injury to projected starting quarterback Kurt Benkert a week before the opening game, the Pirates can feel good about their current 3-2 record.

It’s still relatively early, of course, and ECU is still very much a work in progress. But as it moves forward into a promising second half, here are five things we’ve already learned this season coach Ruffin McNeill’s team:

1. The Pirates have stumbled onto a budding star in quarterback James Summers.

Benkert’s injury seemed like a crippling blow to ECU’s hopes when he went down with a torn ACL at practice on August 25. But with all due respect to Benkert, whose rehab appears to be coming along well, the bad break may just have been a blessing in disguise. That’s because a day later, junior college transfer James Summers was switched from wide receiver back to quarterback – the position he played while becoming a highly sought-after high school prospect in Greensboro and for the past two seasons at Hinds Community College in Mississippi.

It took awhile for Summers to learn the offense and get comfortable with the position switch, but since coming in to start the second quarter two weeks ago against Virginia Tech, the Pirates’ offense has suddenly transformed into a much more fluid unit than it was with Blake Kemp under center.

That’s not to say Kemp hasn’t played well. He’s actually done an admirable job under the circumstances. It’s just that Summers has done all the things he’s been able to do in the passing game while adding the element of a game-breaking runner to the equation. In the process, that rushing threat has also loosened things up for others in the backfield to give coordinator Dave Nichol far more options than he had before.

McNeill, probably out of loyalty to Kemp, still hasn’t anointed Summers as the full-time starter. But having rushed for 254 yards and passing for 276 with a 77.3 completion percentage while leading his team to 63 points in his last six quarters, that figures to happen sooner than later.

2. The receiving corps is deep and talented, even without Justin Hardy and Cam Worthy.

The Pirates lost 176 catches and 14 touchdowns with the graduation of college football’s all-time receptions leader and their top deep threat from a year ago. Remarkably, though, they haven’t missed a beat.

Isaiah Jones has taken over Hardy’s role as the go-to guy in the passing game, which is no surprise considering that he caught 81 balls as a junior last season. Tight end Bryce Williams has emerged as the big, reliable target over the middle with a knack for keeping the chains moving, while the group of Davon Grayson, Jimmy Williams and Quay Johnson has done a nice job of filling in the blanks and allowing whichever quarterback is in the game to keep defenses off balance by spreading the ball around.

As good as that group has been, it got even better once Trevon Brown finished serving his three-game suspension to start the season. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore has stepped right in to complete the equation by filling Worthy’s old role and giving ECU a big, physical downfield playmaker that’s tough to stop regardless of who’s covering him.

3. Although the defense has its share of issues, ECU’s linebackers are good enough to minimize a lot of its limitations.

Although the Pirates’ defense has improved from the group that ranked ninth in the 11-team American Athletic Conference against the pass a year ago, its secondary in general and corners Rocco Scarfone and Josh Hawkins in particular are still prone to giving up big plays. And even with the return of Terrell Stanley from a near-fatal car accident, ECU’s defensive line has accounted for only 3.5 sacks over the first five games.

Despite all that, the Pirates have been in every game they’ve played in which the opposition has run a traditional non-triple option offense thanks in large part to the play of a deep talented group of linebackers.

Everyone already knew how good Zeek Bigger was inside after an incredible 2014 season in which he was credited with 140 tackles, and he’s been as every bit as effective this season. But he’s had plenty of help.

Montese Overton, who has shown flashes of brilliance during his first three seasons, has consistently played at an even higher level this year – capped by his school-record tying four-sack performance at Southern Methodist last Saturday. Devaris Brunson, when healthy, has been solid, and since his injury, walk-on Jordan Williams has been just as good if not better. Outside, redshirt freshman Yiannis Bowden has been a revelation as a pass rusher whose role only figures to expand as the season goes on.

It’s safe to say that ECU will only go as far this season as its linebackers – who have combined for 152 tackles, 9.5 of their team’s 13 sacks, an interception and four pass breakups thus far – will take them.

4. Resiliency is one of this team’s greatest strengths.

One of McNeill’s favorite Ruff-isms is the one in which he tells his players to “remain dedicated to the vision and the goal” regardless of how much adversity they might face.

That’s exactly what they’ve done thus far.

They have yet to waver, even when faced with a series of bad breaks – including Benkert’s injury, Brown’s suspension, a potential game-tying pass that slipped from Kemp’s wet hand at Florida and a sound thumping at the hands of Navy in their AAC opener. They’ve been particularly adept at rallying from early double-digit deficits, digging their way out of a 14-0 hole in a monsoon at home in a win against Virginia Tech before spotting SMU a 23-7 head start on the road before roaring back with 42 unanswered points.

Though it’s never a good idea to make a habit of starting slowly, the ability to handle such situations without panicking is a solid ace for ECU to have in the hole just in case.

5. The AAC East title is there for the taking.

The thinking going into the season was that if the Pirates could survive their opening six-game gauntlet with at least three wins, they’d be set up nicely to finish strong once the competition eased – at least somewhat – during the back half of the schedule. Now that they’ve accomplished that modest goal with one game still remaining in those first six, it’s time to raise the bar just a little bit higher.

Given the way the AAC East is setting up, it’s not out of the question for ECU to legitimately contend for the division title it let slip away a year ago.

Just take a look at the standings. Outside of Temple, which is 4-0, everyone else other than ECU has a losing conference record. Long-time nemesis Central Florida has lost all five of its games so far while defending champion Cincinnati has spotted the rest of the division an 0-2 start. With arguably their most difficult remaining AAC games to be played at home in the friendly confines of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, the Pirates couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity to make this a memorable season.

Now all they have to do is take advantage of it.

Contact Brett Friedlander

PAGE UPDATED 10/08/15 03:57 PM.

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