East Carolina Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up

Spring takeaway

The secondary was the biggest question mark going into Saturday’s Purple-Gold game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and will continue to be the primary concern leading up to the team’s regular season opener against Old Dominion.

Though difficult to asses the unit’s performance in a laid-back setting where defensive-players aren’t allowed to hit the quarterback, the defense appeared to have made great strides under new defensive-coordinator Rick Smith and limited the offense to only 375 yards on 91 plays (4.1 yards per play).

Name a few players who could have breakout seasons

Wide receiver Bryce Williams emerged in the spring after transferring from Marshall and sitting out the entire 2012 season due to NCAA rules. Williams is a 240 pound, 6-foot-4 sophomore that provides quarterback Shane Carden another big-target to utilize in the red zone.

Redshirt-sophomore linebacker Montese Overton missed a large portion of last season due to injury, but I expect him to return and make an impact among an already talented linebacking-corps. Overton was all over the field Saturday–with two tackles for loss– and looks to be back at full-strength.

Position grades

QB: B+    Carden has emerged as the leader of the team and is showing all of the signs for a big junior-season.

RB: C   Though sophomore Cory Hunter and tight end/fullback Zico Pasut stepped in nicely this spring, the backfield was depleted without 1,00 yard rusher Vintavious Cooper (suspension-drug citation) and Chris Hairston (arm-injury). Both are expected to return before fall-camp.

WR: B

OL: B+    Most of last season’s starters are returning in 2013.

DL: B

LB: A    The Pirates’ front-seven is easily the strength of this year’s team, led by a deep, talented group of linebackers.

DB: C    Given it’s low expectations, I think the unit might surprise some of its critics this fall. Even though there is improvement, I don’t think they are at the level they need to be quite yet.

ST: A    Kirk Doll’s special team units are shaping well for the upcoming season. Following a strong finish to 2012, Kicker Warren Harvey is poised to continue his success, while Trent Tignor is shaping up to be one of the nation’s best punters.

Are there any  surprises to expect in 2013?

Many think that ECU doesn’t have prayer of winning its games against Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, and North Carolina this fall. But given the way the schedule lays out and the talent the Pirates have coming back, there is no reason to believe they can’t win any of these three games.

Besides that, the team is driven to finish its tenure in Conference USA with a championship before jumping ship to the American Athletic Conference in 2014.

Josh Graham of Inside ECU Sports provided the information for our East Carolina Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up.  For more ECU  football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Josh on Twitter @joshgrahamecu.