Jake Garcia is no relation to Mason Garcia although he will start the season at quarterback for East Carolina as Mason Garcia did for the Pirates in 2023.
After seasons as an apprentice to Holton Ahlers, Mason Garcia struggled as the linchpin in the ECU offense and his replacement, Alex Flinn, was not the answer.
The 2-10 season a year ago was a learning experience for Coach Mike Houston.
“Last year didn’t go too good in that (quarterback) room,” said Houston at media day on Monday. “If you wanted to pinpoint one piece that — we lost a lot of close ball games last year. We were in the situation to win virtually every game in the fourth quarter, but we did not operate very well at that position.
” … I think that, going back, if you could have it do over again, I’d probably worry less about keeping the players I had on the roster, and I’d focus more on making sure that we had more known commodities.
“We’d hoped that Mason was going to be a guy that could step in and lead the offense, and it turned out that that was not the case. But trying to play two quarterbacks the way we did last year is not something that anybody has in their vision of something that’s going to be successful.”
With new offensive coordinator John David Baker from Ole Miss installing an up-tempo offense, the Pirates did bring in some known commodities. Garcia is a former starter at Miami of Florida, who came to ECU from Missouri and Katin Houser arrived in Greenville after starting a portion of the season at Michigan State in 2023.
Houser apparently finished a close second in the competition that spanned spring and preseason practice.
“I do anticipate both Katin and Jake will play this year,” Houston said. “There’s no doubt, college football, you never know from one day to the next. We are blessed to have both of them. I would say you’ve got a chance to see Raheim Jeter at some point this year. He’s improved drastically.
“But I do feel comfortable that we have the talent in that room, that we did not have a year ago, to successfully lead a highly productive, highly explosive offense.”
On Jake
Garcia appeared in eight games at Miami in 2022. He threw for 803 yards, completing 68 of 115 attempts with five touchdowns and four interceptions.
“Just speaking on Jake, I felt like, particularly in the scrimmage settings, I saw a lot of the same things I saw in his film from Miami,” Houston said. “He is very poised and very cool and confident when things break down around him.
“He does not panic and he’s able to make throws and make decisions in the middle of chaos, which as soon as that ball kicks off on August 31st, virtually every snap of the season, there’s going to be some level of chaos.
“Your ability to execute in that setting is going to go a long way towards us being successful, when you’re the quarterback.”
Norfolk State’s situation
As ECU begins classes this week, the team’s focus turns to preparing for the season opener against Norfolk State at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31, at 6 p.m.
The Spartans announced over the weekend that their starting quarterback will be Jalen Daniels, who began his college career as a walk-on at South Carolina before playing last season at Garden City Community College in Kansas.
Otto Kuhns, who started the majority of the season during a 3-8 campaign in 2023 was suspended the first four games by the NCAA for academic issues. Kuhns was a first team preseason selection in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Spartans have their fourth offensive coordinator in four years, Jason Phillips, who coach Dawson Odums brought in from Alcorn State.
The Pirates will have the opportunity to watch Daniels and Norfolk State as they take on Florida A&M in Atlanta this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (ABC).
Redemption looms
Last season was an ordeal, but it has provided motivation to improve.
“For me, personally, most of the returning players would feel the same and the returning staff would feel the same — that was very difficult to go through last year, and it’s not something that any of us want,” said the sixth-year Pirates coach. “It’s certainly not an acceptable won-loss record.
“I think that fueled all of us. I love Eas. t Carolina University and I’m blessed to be here and I don’t want that to be the product we put on the field. It’s driven me all offseason. I think that the players feel the exact same way, it’s driven them, and I think we all feel confident in our ability to go out and play it at a much higher level this fall.”
“…as soon as that ball kicks off on August 31st, virtually every snap of the season, there’s going to be some level of chaos.” Coach is saying the right things, but if this is in fact the case vs. Norfolk, then Pirates Nation is in for another very long season. ECU cannot admit it, of course, but inarguably their first game in effect should be no more than a scrimmage vs. the JV; anything less than a decisive win will be a major red flag.
Even after Norfolk, ECU’s schedule this year is soft, with the exception of the Ap-Liberty-UTSA stretch, and Army. Here’s hoping for a semblance of an offense this year, and a similar d to last year.
I could not agree more. Let’s give NS credit for 1-1/2 quarters of spirited play, coupled with some 1st game jitters by the Pirates. By halftime, the game should be decided, in favor of the Pirates. Anything less will be interpreted as an ill omen, and Pirate Nation would be right to do so. In this moment, I BELIEVE the glass is half-full. GO PIRATES!!