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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Important time for
spring football
By
Brian Bailey
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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Skip Holtz and the East
Carolina football team took advantage of the spring’s nicest day of the
year so far for the team’s first intra-squad scrimmage.
The defense really looked
good. The Pirate “D” racked up seven tackles for lost yardage. The defense
gave up just over three yards rushing per attempt and four and half overall
yards per play.
The defense also scored the
lone touchdown of the afternoon, an 89-yard interception return by red shirt
freshman Emanuel Davis.
The big thing you notice when
you watch this team scrimmage is the depth of the squad. There’s great
competition for playing time, and that makes everyone better.
"In general terms, I think we
accomplished what we needed to today," said Holtz. "At this point, we are
just trying to evaluate our personnel and regulate the number of plays for
each player. There is a lot of competition between our two's and three's and
I'd like to think some people helped themselves out here.
"One of our goals was for
everyone to have an opportunity to get in and see action, and for us to get
some tape to look at."
Although there is competition
at all positions, the one battle that most fans like to follow is the one
for the quarterback position. Coach Holtz would like to find a true starter
after going with a platoon system last year.
Senior Patrick Pinkney and
junior Rob Kass agree that the competition is good for both of them. Both,
though, say they want the job full-time.
“Obviously, being a
competitive person, I want to be the guy out there,” said Kass. “Whether
it’s me or Patrick, it’s not like the competition is going to fall off once
one of us is named.”
Pinkney agreed. “They are
pushing to get one quarterback as the starter,” he said. “Rob and I are
working hard to get that position. We’re working hard together to improve
the position.”
Kass says it’s a great
competition.
“We’re always going to be out
there pushing each other, on and off the field,” Kass said. “But no matter
who the starter is, we’ll still be there for each other, working together,
helping each other read defenses and stuff like that. It could end up like
last year, where we do have two quarterbacks. But being a competitor, I want
to be that guy out there.”
Coach Holtz hopes the next
scrimmage will move him and the staff closer to that all-important depth
chart that will help to kick off the season come August.
Big week for Pirate
baseball
Billy Godwin’s Pirates rallied
to take two out of three from 19th-ranked Central Florida this weekend down
in Orlando.
The Pirates followed a close
loss on Friday night with two blowout wins, evening the team’s record in
league play at 3-3.
The goal is to win every
series in Conference USA play. The Pirates fell short of that goal against
Houston, but made up for that somewhat with the series win at UCF. The win
also moved the Pirates back into the national rankings, now at number 24 by
Collegiate Baseball.
This week, it’s home games
against North Carolina State on Tuesday night and Campbell on Wednesday.
Then the Pirates hit the road for another key Conference USA series this
weekend, visiting Southern Miss.
The Golden Eagles were in
Houston this past weekend, putting an end to Rice’s 40-series home field
winning streak. Southern Miss took two out of three from the Owls,
claiming both of their wins by a single run.
The week should provide a
great test. The Pirates start the week with a rested bullpen after
outstanding weekend outings from Seth Maness and Justin Bristow.
Let’s just hope the weather
cooperates for baseball to start the week!
BB
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04/21/2008 07:04:59 PM |
