BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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By Brian Bailey |
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Game week opens on sour
note
By
Brian Bailey
©2007 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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SKIP HOLTZ
ON THE STATE OF THE PIRATES:
Replay
Coach Skip Holtz's remarks at Monday's
Game Week press conference. (Recorded by
Denny O'Brien) ...
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The start of game week at East
Carolina is a time I always look forward to — unless an off the field
activity dominates the conversation.
East Carolina quarterback Rob
Kass’s arrest on a DWI charge from early Saturday morning put a real damper
on the excitement surrounding the opener.
Pirate coach Skip Holtz didn’t
want to comment publicly on the matter. Holtz will probably announce the
punishment for Kass sometime on Tuesday.
It’s hard to believe that any
student-athlete would work that hard all spring and summer, and then get
into a situation like this one. Kass has always been a standup guy in our
conversations, and I expect him to be that way on this deal down the line.
Coach Holtz opened his weekly
news conference with a little on the excitement of game week. He then spoke
briefly about Kass.
"I know that there has been a
lot made about the Rob Kass situation,” Holtz said. "From a public
standpoint, it is something of which we have been made aware. It is
something that Coach (Terry) Holland and I have talked about, but at this
point I am not ready to address it publicly.
"When I am ready to address it
openly I will, but now is not the time."
Holtz did add a little later
on in our one on one interview.
“It’s frustrating,” Holtz
said. “These are 18-22 year old kids that are trying to grow up and be
adults. We call them teaching moments all the time. There are some valuable
lessons to learn. It is unfortunate, though, that we have to through this as
a program.”
Brett Clay is now expected to
get the start on Saturday. A mountain that was going to be tough enough to
climb just became that much more difficult because of a bad decision.
“Yes, he (Clay) was number two
going into this entire thing but we’re going to have to see how all of this
plays out. We’ve got Brett Clay and Patrick Pinkney, but whoever starts
means that we’ll still have an inexperienced quarterback going to Virginia
Tech.”
Any arrest is bad news, but
just think about the national spotlight that Kass will have to deal with.
The entire nation will be watching as Virginia Tech takes a step toward
healing after the tragedy. The pre-game ceremony is expected to be
unbelievably emotional. All eyes will be on Blacksburg, and an entire nation
will find out that Kass made a huge mistake that cost him a chance to play
in the game.
Several Pirate assistant
coaches told me on Monday that Virginia Tech may have the best defense that
they have ever seen. Period!
One coach said the Hokies'
defense is just as good or better than the one featured by LSU in its
national championship run a couple of years ago. Another coach told me the
only defense he had seen that was better belonged to the Baltimore Ravens
during that team’s Super Bowl season.
A great defense should
dominate an inexperienced offense. That’s the challenge that faces ECU as
the Pirates head to Blacksburg.
"We are not ready to line up
and compete offensively. I think we are still too inconsistent because we
don't do the little things well enough,” said Holtz. “You go out there and
play ten plays and you don't gain a yard on any of them. Your quarterback
makes a bad throw, the right guard breaks down on a play, the center has a
bad snap and a young receiver drops the ball.
"Each player only may have
messed up one play, but as a team we messed up too many plays. We need to
play more consistent and play how we know we can.”
Holtz knows that his team will
be a part of an atmosphere that we have never seen before. Still, he
maintains that his team will go to Blacksburg to try and fight for a win.
“I’m sure the guy that got fed
to the lions was excited when he saw the chariots run around beforehand,”
Holtz joked. “But when the chariots left, it was him and the lions.”
These lions are Hokies, but
this may be just as difficult of an assignment.
BB
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04/21/2008 07:05:50 PM |