2010 NCAA football preview: East Carolina
Many of the schools from smaller, lesser-known conferences do not get a lot of attention unless their players get embroiled in some sort of ridiculous scandal or if the team unexpectedly blows out a big name school to open the season. For the East Carolina Pirates, the validation came when a former running back of the team made history in the NFL in only his second season, with Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans turning heads with his 2000+ yard effort in 2009.
Nestled quietly away in Greenville, North Carolina, the Pirates have risen to a place of prominence in Conference USA winning the last two championships under head coach Skip Holtz. Holtz is now gone, leaving the school for the South Florida Bulls, leaving the team in the capable hands of Ruffin McNeill.
McNeil has more than enough motivation to continue the tradition of winning that Holtz began. As an alumnus of the school (he was a defensive back for four years; he graduated in 1980) he would likely like nothing more than to lead his former school to victory. After getting passed over for the head coaching job at Texas Tech (after Mike Leach was fired and he led the team to victory in the Alamo Bowl), it would be nice to prove that Texas Tech made the wrong choice.
With the talented yet inexperienced group he has returning there is a very good chance that McNeill will do just that.
Offense
The offense will potentially be something completely different in 2010 in comparison to what the team was in 2009. McNeill brought wide receiver coach Lincoln Riley with him from Texas Tech to run the offense; you can almost count on seeing more passing from a team that ranked 58th in the nation and sixth in the conference.
The problem in that may be in figuring out who will be doling the passing. There is little experience left on the roster with the departure of Patrick Pinkey; Josh Jordan and Dwayne Harris threw just 10 passes all of last season. Red shirt freshman Rio Johnson could also factor in, but after spring drills the team has Brad Wornick penciled in. That was also before junior college transfer and former Boston College quarterback Dominique Davis joined the team.
Running back will be a question mark as well. Gone are the top two rushers, Dominique Lindsay and Brandon Jackson. Jonathan Williams has the most career yardage of the remaining backs; Giavanni Ruffin returns with the most from last season, when he rushed for 308 yards.
Whoever happens to be in the backfield and behind center will have the benefit of working behind what is probably the best line in the conference. D.J. Scott will be shifting inside to guard after having an all-conference season at tackle. Willie Smith could become an all-conference player by the end of the season. Red shirt freshman Grant Harner is expected to step in and contribute early and often.
Defense
The defense could potentially be in trouble. There will be very little experience in the group with only two starters, cornerbacks Emanuel Davis and Travis Simmons returning to the group, both in the secondary. Pass defense was not the strong point of the team (107th nationally); to compete against an experienced and poised passing attack like the Houston Cougars they will have to be much better.
If the front seven can gel and play well together, the future could look pretty good for the Pirates. Only one projected starter is a senior, tackle Josh Smith. In limited time last season he had 25 tackles and four sacks. Red shirt freshman Matt Milner bring a lot of athleticism and talent to the front line at end. As a junior in high school he had 104 tackles to go with 11 sacks and he even had six carries for 107 yards.
The Pirates will be chock full of inexperienced talent in 2010, but with the experience they have in the coaching staff the team still stands to be pretty competitive in the conference.
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