March 24, 2008

GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina entered another phase of its spring practice period Monday, opening the scrimmage portion of the workouts that primarily emphasize team-on-team drills and feature three intra-squad contests - including the Purple-Gold Game scheduled for April 12.

Monday's two-hour workout, conducted on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex, was the Pirates' seventh overall and fifth in full pads. In addition, the session officially kicked off preparation efforts in earnest for ECU's initial scrimmage of the spring, which is set for Friday afternoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

"Honestly, I was disappointed in the way we came out today," ECU Head Coach Skip Holtz said. "We were flat and appeared to simply go through the motions. I know we can't survive playing the schedule we have with the kind of attitude I saw out there. We've had a good spring up until this point, so I hope it's either an aberration or perhaps a result or downside of all of the free time we've had in the last two weeks with spring break and Easter. We certainly need to regain our focus and intensity as we head into our last three weeks. There's a lot on the line for everyone, even those who have experience."

Holtz and his staff also continued work Monday toward the formulation of the program's initial depth chart of the season after spending the first three weeks of camp evaluating fundamental individual drill work and limited team action. The two-deep, which will be released after Friday's game, will allow the Pirates to fine-tune personnel in their respective offensive and defensive packages in order for the first and second units to have the opportunity to experience the majority of the action during the last two weeks of workouts.

East Carolina continued work on various sets and schemes with different personnel matchup designations during Monday's practice. The Pirates carried out many 11-on-11 drills which featured different twists in ECU's rushing and passing attack before closing the team session with situational segments such as first-and-10 and redzone efficiency work. For the third time in as many practices, ECU completed the workout with a "live" three-on-three drill that featured short-yardage power matchups between tight ends, offensive and defensive lines, wide receivers and defensive backs, running backs and linebackers.

After an off-day Tuesday, the Pirates will return to work Wednesday beginning at 4:00 p.m. before closing the week with Friday's scrimmage.