East Carolina coach Blake Harrell said the process has been initiated to add three players from the Class of 2022 who may get another year of eligibility when legal issues are resolved.

Veterans Sam Dankah, Marlon Gunn Jr. and J.D. Lampley could return after helping ECU go 9-4 in 2025. Dankah has flourished at outside linebacker. Gunn was the second leading rusher for the Pirates last season and Lampley has been a stalwart on the defensive front.

Court case continues

The eligibility issue apparently will be decided judicially.

“The plaintiffs, the athletes, had to have their argument in (Friday),” Harrell said. “The NCAA has to have their arguments into the 10th circuit on Monday. … We’ll kind of wait for a decision.”

Classes got underway Monday in Greenville.

“Midweek is kind of the feeling that (the decision) will come out,” Harrell said. “It could take until next Friday. It could be two weeks.”

Walking a fine line

Harrell will ultimately do what’s in the best interest of the program.

“I think as you look at this thing, I have extreme loyalty to those three young men that would qualify under this court ruling and be eligible for a fifth year,” Harrell said. “They’ve always been Pirates.

“They started their career here. They helped us win a bunch of games. They understand what our expectation is, what our accountability is. So extreme loyalty to them.”

Harrell is also looking at keeping current team chemistry in balance.

“I’ve got to take care of the locker room and loyalty to that piece, too,” he said. “Making sure that we don’t disrupt that, cause any ripples. We’re starting to integrate those guys back in.

“I’m very careful about fully integrating them right away and just throwing them out there right away. One’s for injury for their sake. Two, is what if this court ruling goes the other way against those guys and you’re pulling them back off the field? They’ve got to be prepared for that, emotionally.

“Your locker room, you know, you don’t want to upset that thing too much. There’s a lot of things that factor in there.”

Harrell mentioned the academic aspect and getting the potential returnees in game shape.

“As soon as this thing goes through, they’re ready to go and ready to be a piece of it,” Harrell said. “I’ve talked to our players. I brought this up to our leadership council about 12 days ago in preparation for this.

“Just seeing how this thing plays out. And really it’s not those three guys or any of the Class of ’22’s fault, not our team’s fault, not a coach. It just kind of is what it is. You learn to deal with it. You can control what you control.

“When a curveball comes your way, you take your best hack at it and we certainly will. I do think they could help us win football games. I think they would be good teammates. They are the right type of guys to step in our locker room and help us move forward if it plays out.

“We’ll see. Our fingers are crossed for those young men. I mean, you’re looking at Sam Danka played, I think about 75, 90 snaps his freshman year. He played just special teams. He played only about six games and the red shirt rule was four at the time.

“For a young man like that, you’re really adding a year back. He came in with Brock Spalding, he came in with (Andrew) Conrad, he came in with Preston Carr.

“All those guys are in the same class. It’d be nice to see all those guys go out together. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and see how it goes, but at the same time, we got to control what we know and take care of our football team. Get ready to win games and make sure we’re ready to play in front of Pirate Nation here in a couple of weeks.”

Mobility package for Williams

Offensive coordinator Jordan Davis said before the first scrimmage on Saturday that he has been working on a more mobile role for Miami transfer Emory Williams at quarterback.

Williams has been primarily characterized as a pocket passer.

“It’s been a point of emphasis to say, ‘Hey, don’t forget, you’re an athlete too. Get you out on the edge, get on some draw stuff and just can’t sit back there all time.'” Davis said. “A little bit of that’s me doing a better job of calling some plays to get them on the edge, too, and get them comfortable.

“He’s definitely done a little bit better job of taking off when things aren’t there.”

Harrell on QBs

Williams is competing with Texas Tech transfer Mitch Griffis.

Harrell shared some thoughts on the quarterbacks after Saturday’s first preseason scrimmage at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

“I’m excited about both of them,” Harrell said. “I think we can start to get a little separation there between them. I think they’re moving in the right direction.

“I’d like to see them not take some negative plays. I thought Emory took a sack today when he just should have thrown the ball away. … Mitch tried to throw one away, didn’t throw it far enough and the defense picked it off.

“Those two plays — don’t turn a bad play into a worse play. Don’t turn a snowflake into an avalanche. It’s okay to have an incomplete pass, gain of zero. We’ll survive with that and we’ll figure it out.

“Those are things that you’ve got to get out here and play the game. You can’t talk about that enough in the film room and correlate. You’ve got to get out here and experience it.”

Attitudes even

Harrell said there is little to separate Griffis and Williams in terms of attitude.

“They’re awesome,” Harrell said. This thing would be a lot easier if one of them didn’t have a great attitude.

“If one of them didn’t understand the offense and one of them wasn’t very good, this thing would be a lot easier to figure it out and just say, ‘Hey, this is going to be our guy and this is who we’re rolling with.’ But they both pull for each other. They both support each other.

“I see them both bringing younger guys along, mentoring those guys and continuing to push the offense in the right way. I think they understand either who’s out there, if they can take the ball down the field and score, that’s going to help us win games. And that’s the most important thing.”

Tide has QB tandem, too

The Pirates open the season at Alabama on Saturday, Sept. 5, at noon (ABC).

The Crimson Tide is ranked No. 11 in the coaches’ poll and No. 13 in the writers’ ratings.

Alabama also has an unresolved competition at quarterback between 6-6 senior Austin Mack and 6-3 sophomore Keelon Russell.

Mack initially signed with Washington but transferred to Alabama when coach Kalen DeBoer moved from the Huskies to the Tide after the 2023 season.

Mack completed 11 of 16 for 103 yards last season in the Rose Bowl.

Russell was a 2-time state champion at Duncanville, TX.

The Tide has its second preseason scrimmage on Thursday.

Some staggering numbers

Alabama currently has a player payroll estimated to be $35-38 million.

Former Tide coach Nick Saban reportedly remains on the payroll as an advisor at $500,000 a year.

Saban testified to a congressional committee in support of the Protect College Sports Act that the NIL collective at Alabama was $2.7 million in 2021 and has risen significantly.

LSU reportedly has the highest-paid current roster at $40-50 million.

DeBoer has an annual salary of $12.5 million. Tide coaches and staff have compensation and benefits totaling $25.2 million.

ECU is receiving a $1.5 million guarantee for the game at Alabama.

Harrell’s deal

Harrell’s contract, approved last year, has an annual base salary of $700,000 with additional compensation of $600,000. The pact originally ran through Feb. 14, 2029, but stipulates an additional year for each bowl game appearance.

The Pirates will complete payments on a $2.3 million contract to former coach Mike Houston on Dec. 1,