Spring Football: East Carolina

The Pirates closed spring drills Saturday with the annual Purple-Gold scrimmage at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. ECU will be looking to defeat WVU for the first time in this decade, as the Mountaineers have dominated the Pirates for the most part in seven straight.

Senior Patrick Pinkney will be guiding the offense for the Pirates this season. It seems like Pinkney has been the ECU quarterback for all seven of the WVU victories. Remember James Pinkney (no relation) was at the helm for the Pirates before Patrick, probably leading to this falacy. Pinkney was a part-time starter last year along with Rob Kass. Both will go into fall drills, but Pinkney seems to be the front-runner after some brilliant performances last season. According to the Fayetteville Observer, ECU coach Skip Holtz is looking for consistency on a weekly basis.

The scrimmage was cut short by a tornado warning in Greenville. Which is pretty much why we don’t play football in the spring, I suppose. I was surprised to read that ECU has no indoor facilities. You think Skip Holtz is panning for that? Also, instead of the conventional “Purple” and “Gold” teams as most schools do, East Carolina used “ECU” and “Pirates” squads, the Pirates squad led by Pinkney taking the 10-3 victory.

Additional takes from WRAL (who at least mentioned the defense in their write-up) and the Raleigh News-Observer.

According to Pirate Illustrated, the winners of the Purple-Gold game were to be served a fine dinner of lobster and steak, while the losers were treated to hot dogs and beans. You really can’t go wrong either way there if you ask me though.

Tags: spring football, Patrick Pinkney, Skip Holtz, East Carolina, Rob Kass