|
BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, September 29, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Red Alert! Red zone
changes coming
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina coach Skip
Holtz promised changes
after the Pirates' 19-14
win over Central Florida
on Saturday.
After reviewing the
films and meeting with
his coaches, the main
area of change appears
to be in the “red zone.”
For the second straight
week, the Pirates could
drive the football
between the 20’s.
Touchdowns, though, have
proven to be hard to
come by.
"I certainly was not
excited about our red
zone offense,” said
Holtz. “That was
probably the Achilles'
heel Saturday. I'm
excited about a lot of
the great individual
efforts and the way we
moved the ball, but if
we could have pushed the
ball into the end zone
from the red zone, we
could have had a chance
to empty the bench in
that game.
"Unfortunately, we
weren't able to do that.
It's something we have
to look at. From an
offensive standpoint,
that's the thing we have
to shore up right now."
Changes are coming.
Holtz says he has to
look at it from a
personnel standpoint,
from a scheme
standpoint, and he wants
to examine what other
teams are doing on
defense when his club is
trying to punch it in.
I asked about options.
Coach Holtz said there
are always options.
My idea was to bring the
big fella in, both as a
blocker and as a
fullback, a power type
of runner. My idea is to
bring in C.J. Wilson
around the goal line.
Why not? Believe it or
not, C.J. Wilson was an
outstanding running back
at Northside High School
in Beaufort County. Many
thought he would be
recruited as a running
back. He came to East
Carolina as a linebacker
and then found a great
home on the defensive
line.
I’m not quite sure Coach
Holtz buys into the
idea.
“We could put Jay Ross,
or Linval Joseph, or
maybe the entire
defensive line in there
for a full house
backfield,” Holtz joked.
But Holtz didn’t totally
rule out the idea of
putting some bulk in the
backfield.
“We’re going to look at
some things like that,”
said Holtz.
The other idea is to try
and run the football
from a spread formation.
“The problem with
running from the spread
around the goal line is
that the defense can
always put one more in
the box than you have,”
Holtz said.
Coach Rock’s fight
intensifies
Thomas “Rock” Roggeman
is a football guy. You
won’t find “Rock” at an
opera or at a Broadway
play. ECU's defensive
tackles coach loves the
game of football and
that’s pretty much it.
With his love of the
game, he’s come to
realize that some games
are tougher than others.
He also knows that
football parallels life.
His fight against cancer
is the toughest opponent
he’s had to face.
Coach Roggeman is
fighting the bravest of
fights. He was out in
that August sun at camp,
only resting when he
didn’t think he was
needed. He took refuge
in a golf cart this
summer for quick breaks.
He had a job to do and
he did that job despite
his illness.
Roggeman had asked that
the attention stay on
this Pirate football
team. Coach Holtz, while
respecting Roggeman’s
privacy, announced after
Saturday’s win over UCF
that his assistant coach
would likely be
hospitalized on Monday.
Holtz said that doctors
were going to begin a
more aggressive
treatment plan.
Holtz also asked
Roggeman to speak to the
team before the UCF
game.
"It was not a
`Win-one-for-Rock' type
of talk,” said Holtz.
“It was not telling the
guys to go out and play
for him. I don't think
the inspiration was to
go get motivated and go
play for him because of
what he's going
through.”
Holtz ended Monday’s
presser with this line
about Coach Roggeman’s
speech to his team.
"I wish I had it on
tape,” said Holtz. “I'd
like for my son to
listen to it. Not to go
win a football game, but
to become a better man."
Our thoughts and prayers
will continue to be with
Coach “Rock.”
BB
E-mail
Brian Bailey.
Brian Bailey Archives
09/29/2009 04:06 AM |
Replay
Monday night's
Brian Bailey Show with guest Junior
Smith. Eastern North Carolina's longest running sports
radio call-in show airs each Monday night at 7
p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250-AM and 930-AM.