The intriguing possibility that outside linebacker Samuel Dankah, running back Marlon Gunn Jr. and defensive lineman J.D. Lampley could play another season for East Carolina was expounded on Monday by Coach Blake Harrell.
The Pirates are monitoring the situation that involves court rulings and the NCAA’s response. A judge in Colorado found that players from the Class of 2022 were entitled to a fifth year of eligibility.
“J.D. Lampley, Sam Dankah and Marlon Gunn would fall in that category,” Harrell said. “They did not red shirt. … Just like every young man on our field, that they get five years to play.
“A little bit of something about the five-year rule now. If you got hurt in your fifth year, you cannot take a medical and get another fifth year.
“The NCAA appealed it last week. It’s going through the appeals process and, hopefully, that’s getting expedited. So we’re hoping to hear something any day and time.
“We’re staying on top of that. Administration, all those folks are kind of in touch with that. … ”
Some programs have already brought players back.
“Indiana’s added a couple,” Harrell said. “I saw Texas, Virginia, I think, has added a couple now. North Carolina’s added one. Marshall, New Mexico. … There’s several.
Harrell said potential returning players must have maintained their amateur status.
“The one thing you’ve got to be careful about is amateurism,” he said. “If I go to a (pro) rookie camp and I’m there less than 48 hours, my amateurism is still intact. If I stay more at a camp, rookie, OTA (Organized Team Activity), whatever it is, more than 48 hours, I have to sign a pro contract, an NFL contract. Once I do that, then I’m off the table as far as my amateurism. …
“I can’t come back. … Let’s say there’s a young man at the University of South Carolina who didn’t get drafted, but he’s been in camp all summer or he’s currently in preseason camp. He cannot go back. The amateurism, from what I understand now, I’m sure there’s a judge that’ll have to file an injunction on that somewhere and do something with it, but that’s kind of where we’re at.”
There are still logistics to consider for eligible players.
“As you go forward, you’ve got to evaluate what’s best for your football team,” Harrell said. “We are not using our whole entire 105 House settlement roster. I think we’re using 96 of the 105 spots. We do have some designated student athletes that puts us up around 119, I believe, in our total roster. … ”
“In our conference, I think 12 of the 14 teams or 10 of the 14 teams are over 110 on the roster. Everybody’s running the same ballpark with that number.
“You’ve got to be very careful about when you add guys back to your program. No different than in January, no different than when you bring freshmen in.
“Do they fit who we want to be in our locker room? Do they fit who we are? Do they fit our goals? Do their goals meet the team’s goals? We’ve got to be very cautious about that. We’ve got to make sure it’s the right move and we’ve got to have the best interest of the program moving forward.”
Dankah, Gunn and Lampley are proven.
“Those guys can help win championships,” Harrell said. “We all know those young men from a fan base to a locker room to a coaching staff, to everybody in the building. So, we feel good about that piece. It’s a little bit of a waiting game right now. School does start a week from today.
“That is a kind of a timeline there that we’re up against. Obviously, we have a game in 26 days. Now they’re older guys. They’ve played a lot of football, so I don’t know how much to the ground contact they need, but at some point, they do need to be playing football and getting in football shape and getting ready to progress and be able to play on a field.
“At some point you’re going to pass a deadline to get them in school or pass a deadline that you may not be able to get them ready for a game.
“Some schools brought their guys in. Some of those are a little bit more aggressive. We’re just kind of seeing what the NCAA comes up with and their approach. Just kind of sitting and waiting on how to proceed with that.”
Harrell said programs would not be required to bring back former players.
“Obligated? No, you’re not,” he said. “It’s really a coaching staff decision and how you want to proceed with that for your football team. …
“If I’m at X university and I’m already at my 105, to take a young man back, I may have to cut somebody or I may just have to tell that young man, ‘Hey, I don’t have room.’ …
“What’s fair to him? He has a fifth year. If he would’ve known the transfer portal, he had a fifth year, maybe he would’ve went in the transfer portal back in January. …
“We control what we control. And that’s the young men in our program, our locker room right now. We’ll kind of see where this other piece goes.”
Productive trio
Dankah, Gunn and Lampley were productive during a 9-4 season for ECU in 2025.
Dankah was the third leading tackler for the Pirates with 30 solo stops and 28 assists. He had seven tackles for losses.
Gunn was the second leading rusher with 112 carries for 601 yards with six touchdowns.
Lampley had eight solo tackles, seven assists, 6.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble.
Five years, five seasons
The NCAA approved a rule in June that allows players five seasons of eligibility in five years. The previous regulation permitted four seasons over five years.
“If we go all the way back to January at the AFCA (American Football Coaches Association) convention, you’re in the room with all the head coaches,” Harrell said. “I think there’s about 60 of the 136 head coaches in there within G6 (Group of Six conferences), P4 (Power Four), all those.
“The big thing that the NCAA was saying was like, ‘We can’t have five for five.’ At the time it was four years plus four games. Well, a young man was getting to his fifth game and just saying, ‘Hey, I don’t want to play anymore. I’m going to red shirt. I’m going to make that decision.’
“Because he wanted five years of earning eligibility or earn his revenue share, whatever it may be. So we said, ‘Well, that’s the case. Let’s go 10 games. Let’s make it a little bit longer because we can go plus the playoffs, whatever it may be.’ So that was kind of our recommendation because the lawyers at the NCAA were saying we couldn’t do it.
“Then five months later that we got the five for five. I didn’t care one way or the other, five for five, four for four.
“Just take out the gray area to me, like everything in life. Let’s take out the gray area. Let’s make it black and white.
“But I think you’re through with the waivers and all those things. So guys playing six, seven years, 25 years old. Yeah, we love it right now because it adds a lot of experience to our roster, but it makes a lot of things gray, too.
“I think it is tough for a young man who’s in his fifth year who suffers an injury in that year, can’t play the season, and he’s done with his career. There are some aspects to it that are a little bit tough. …
“Is it better than what we had? Yes. Is it perfect? Maybe not, but is it better? I think that’s what we always push for, better than the way we had it with any rule of eligibility, whatever it may be.”
Pads on Tuesday, early risers
The Pirates were off on Sunday. Heat will be a factor as the preseason shifts to pads on Tuesday.
ECU will be going earlier in the mornings in deference to the temperature. That means adjustments for support personnel
“A lot of times we think about the football program or football team,” Harrell said. “We just think about the players and we think about the coaches. But somebody’s got to unlock the building extra early this morning, have it unlocked before 5 a,m. Aramark has got to have breakfast ready by 5:15. The trainers have got to be up extra early.
“All those people to make this happen from equipment managers to everybody. So just kind of want to say a special thank you to them and just appreciation. I think some people, we just expect those things to happen and some entitlement, but that’s not how we want to run our program.
“We want to make sure we have appreciation for everybody that’s a part of this thing.”
Stepping it up
A busy week is in store.
“(Monday) was our last day in shells,” Harrell said. “(Tuesday) is our first day in full pads and a little bit of contact to the ground. But a busy week, kind of a Monday type day as far as some red zone work today. Tuesday, Wednesday will be pretty heavy days for us, just like a little bit of a season. Thursday we’ll back off just a tad. Friday, have a light day and then Saturday we’ll try to go scrimmage.
“Very similar to a game week. I told our guys, maybe the toughest week of the year coming up for us this week. We’re going six days in a row, six practices in a row. We’re going to make a huge improvement. We want to be way up here by Saturday. …
“We’ve got to take each step each day this week, take a step in that direction and make sure we can get there, kind of close in on that.
“I think we can. I think we have the right mindset, right attitude about it right now, but we’ve got to keep working. We’ve got a long ways to go and a short amount of time to get there.
“We’re 26 days away from game day and putting the ball down. We’ve got to continue to kind of push our guys, improve, execute, make sure we’re disciplined on some things and make sure we’re playing good, clean football.”
Position groups
Harrell said the linebackers and offensive line were standing out among position groups.
He is looking for more consistency from the receivers.
“Andrew Conrad is kicking the football really, really well right now with a lot of confidence,” Harrell said. Tommy (punter Tomas O’Halloran) is hitting the ball back there really well. Proud of both those guys and just proud of the way our young men carry themselves.”
Indoor facility
The indoor practice facility is approaching completion and will allow some options in scheduling practice in a temperature-controlled environment.
“Everybody thinks about indoors as avoiding the storms or avoiding the weather,” Harrell said. “But for us, I think you could use it in some unique ways moving forward to obviously get out of the weather later in the season here because I think we’ll be in there.
“But next fall camp or in summer, I see it avoiding the heat and practicing flexible times. Right now, we have no other choice but to practice in the morning. So the guys will go 24-hour recovery.
“If you feel you had an indoor and maybe you want to do an afternoon practice, maybe you could get a 36-hour rest time or a 30-hour rest time and give the guys just a little bit more recovery.
“Or maybe you start practice out in there as a pre-practice, walk through, flex, and maybe have a little competition time after that … and spend a little bit more time in the air conditioning before they move outside.
“At the same time, we’ll still move outside because we’re going to play outdoors. We’re going to play in the heat. We have an 11 a.m. (Central time) game, game one and a noon game, game two. So we’ve got to get used to it.”
Quarterback room
Mitch Griffis and Emory Williams continue to compete at quarterback.
“The one young man that I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that I do want to mention is Trey Burke,” Harrell said. “He’s a freshman, throwing the ball exceptionally well. He has really good arm talent.
“He’s made tremendous strides since spring ball. He came in January, true freshman, went through spring, kind of could see some flashes of it, but he’s becoming more and more consistent every single day.
“Emory and Mitch both continue to lead and be an exceptional in what they do. I think both did a really good job executing the offense, especially starting the ball out in the high red there, moving it all the way down for scores. …
“I feel good about winning football games with both of them.”
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