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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 17, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Personnel issues
muddle football outlook
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Outdoor sports and the
weather sometimes just
don’t mix. Just ask East
Carolina
baseball coach Billy
Godwin, who may have
finally thawed out from
the weekend’s series
with UCLA.
The 2009 ECU football
team was scheduled to
hit the field Monday for the
first practice of the
spring. Mother
Nature once again failed
to cooperate. The
Pirates will practice as
scheduled on Wednesday
at 4:00 p.m. and will
make up Monday’s
rained-out session on
Thursday.
Despite the rain, Coach
Skip
Holtz had a smile on his
face Monday. Holtz
has always maintained
that the spring is his
favorite time of the
year. Holtz loves to get
on the grass and teach,
and he’s looking forward
to getting down to
business.
Holtz also got busy
answering questions
about this year’s squad.
The biggest questions at
his press conference
concerned Norman
Whitley, Jonathan
Williams and Jamar
Bryant.
Williams and Bryant were
suspended last season
for different violations
of team rules. Holtz
updated their status.
“Both of these players
are practicing with us
right now and at this
point are on the team,”
said Holtz. “However,
there are many
stipulations that must
be met academically,
physically, socially and
mentally, so that status
could change in the next
few months. They are not
out of the woods yet and
must perform at a
satisfactory level to
remain on this team in
the fall."
Holtz didn’t rule out
some type of suspension
to start the season for
both Williams and
Bryant. Williams has a
court date coming up
that could seal his
fate.
Whitley’s status
continues to be a
mystery. Whitley has met
several times with
Holtz, and the Pirate
coach asked that those
conversations remain
private between the two.
"There have been many
rumors about Norman
Whitley’s status on this
team,” said Holtz. "I
have met with Norman on
a number of occasions. I
am hopeful that he can
finish his career here
at East Carolina and
Norman is also hopeful
to remain a part of this
program for the rest of
his career.
"It is a
situation in which we
are constantly meeting
face-to-face, and when
there is more to report,
I will keep everyone up
to date."
Whitley and Williams may
wear question marks on
their jerseys instead of
numbers. Holtz has big
concerns about his
running backs.
"Right now, there is a
young man named Brandon
Jackson who transferred
from Kentucky and sat
out last season,” said
Holtz. “We will be able
to get a long and hard
look at him this spring
in the backfield. He has
played on the scout team
but we haven't been able
to give him much work
since he did not have
eligibility.
"Right now,
you can pretty much
throw everyone into the
mix. We are just trying
to find one guy right
now that will step up
and be effective for us.
Right now, there are six
candidates for the
position but every one
of the players has a
question mark next to
their names due to
factors such as
injuries, personal
situations, or just being
an unknown commodity. We
want to find the guys
that will be an
every-day, accountable
back for us.
"There is a
lot of talent at the
position but even more
uncertainty than we had
a year ago, which makes
it a primary concern of
mine entering the
spring."
Holtz also has major
concerns about his
injury situation.
Eighteen players will
miss all or part of
spring football
practice. That’s the bad
news. The good news is
that many of the young
players will get that
much more playing time,
and that paid dividends
last season for this
team.
The spring is a time to
look at every aspect of
the program. The coaches
have watched film after
film and have come up
with several aspects
that they want to work
on with this team during
the spring.
"We need to take a look
at our man and zone
protection on offense,"
said Holtz. "Spring practice is all
about identifying your
strengths and
weaknesses. For example,
if Dwayne Harris is
going to be one of our
better offensive
players, we have to know
how to utilize him
effectively in the
offensive scheme, either
under center or in the
backfield.
"As I said
before, a large part of
what we are trying to do
is to see how the
younger players are
going to develop and to
discern how much they
have improved.
"I am
excited to have most of
the line back in guys
like Sean Allen,
Terrence Campbell and D.J. Scott."
Don’t get me wrong. You
certainly won’t see
wholesale changes
coming. Holtz likes his
offense and likes the
flexibility to make
changes on the fly.
"We have a very flexible
offense, which is
definitely going to help
us," he said. "We can go into the
two-back scheme and be a
power running team or we
can also go with no
backs and be a drop-back
passing squad. It is
also a negative because
you cannot do everything
effectively all of the
time. We just need to
identify what will work
for us in key
situations."
The Pirates are
squeezing five weeks of
work into four this
year. East Carolina’s
spring football game is
set for April 18th at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
BB
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