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CHERUBINI CHIMES IN
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One-on-One with the
Pirates
Saturday,
August 28, 2010
By Ron Cherubini |
D.J. Scott
By
Ron Cherubini
©2010 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
One of the three talented veteran
offensive linemen returning to the Pirates this season, D.J. Scott has been
a force on the O-line during his full career at East Carolina. He will man
one of the guard positions and will be part of an offensive
front that, on paper, should be one of the best — perhaps the very best — in
the conference. Having started all 14 games a year ago, sharing the lead on the
line for pancake blocks, Scott has all-league potential and has been a
durable and reliable producer for the Pirates.
D.J. was kind enough to sit down for
a chat with Bonesville to share his insights on the upcoming season.
Q: How difficult has the
transition been fromo a run-first oriented team to a pass-first scheme?
A: It has not been that hard.
We have been working on picking up blitzes and protecting the quarterback,
which has been the main thing, and working on changing to making the vertical
step. Things like that, but it is going well.
Q: How good can this offensive
line be? How concerned are the veterans about the center position and how
are those guys coming along?
A: I honestly think this can
be one of our better offensive lines here. We have me, Cory (Dowless) and Willie
(Smith) with
a lot of experience, and battles for the other positions are coming along
good. You have Will (Towery) and Daulton (Faulds) battling for the center
position, and at right tackle you have a three-man battle going on with
Jordan (Davis), Steve (Baker) and Grant (Harner) — and each of them are pretty
good.
Q: Who on the offense do you
expect to be a star/stud this year that wasn’t a star last year?
A: I think that Daulton is
making amazing strides at the center position and is capable of being real,
real good there.
Q: Who on this team do you
most respect as a player and why?
A: Probably Willie Smith. He
played the whole season last year with stitches in his Achilles… he didn’t
complain, he just played through all of that pain. That is a guy I can
really respect.
Q: In terms of the running
game, is it different how you will be setting up the run this season?
A: We have wider splits but
it's just the same putting a helmet on the defensive lineman. We are going to
run the football. Whoever wins the running back battle will be good and be
able to run behind us.
Q: Who on our defensive front
would you say has the potential to be as good as the guys from last season?
A: We have a lot of potential
on our D-line this year. Derrell Johnson, who came in this year, he is fast
an strong. We have moved Justin Dixon down to the end and he is really good
there. Michael Brooks, who is not suited up yet, will be very good on the
defensive line. He is big, strong and was outstanding last season.
 Q:
Thoughts on the running back battle? QB battle?
A: The quarterbacks are all
looking good out there and competing hard. We will have to see who comes out of that,
but whoever does, I am sure will get the job done for us. On the running
backs, there are some good ones back there, so whoever wins the job will be
good.
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