East Carolinian

Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: Sports

With the 2008 spring football game just around the corner, the anticipation for ECU football is nearing a fever pitch. And with anticipation comes expectations that are at perhaps an all-time high.

ECU Head Coach Skip Holtz recognizes one glaring weakness from last year's team that needs to be corrected in order to meet those expectations. The Pirates must improve a passing defense that ranked ninth in C-USA and 114th in the nation.

"It will be a long year if they don't improve a bunch; if you look at where we are from our numbers a year ago," Holtz said. "We had a lot of guys that didn't play a lot going into last year."

The inexperience Holtz refers to can be traced back to 2006, when ECU lost three starters from a very talented defensive backfield.

Led by seniors Kasey Ross, Jamar Flournoy and Pierre Parker, the Pirates' 2006 secondary was arguably the trademark of that team. Ross and company routinely forced timely turnovers to give the Pirates the edge in close games.

In 2007, ECU struggled to adjust to the loss of the unruffled veterans and the scoreboard provided the evidence.

The Pirates' inability to defend the pass often put the onus on the offense to convert in high scoring shootouts.

The Pirates gave up 30.4 points per game- putting them fourth in C-USA, a league noted for its lack of defense. The lofty stat also ranked a lowly 83rd in the nation.

Statistics, however, can be misleading.

The numbers may not side with ECU, but with a host of experienced players returning for 2008, the secondary's depth and talent are likely to shine through this season.

Secondary coach Rick Smith is confident that experience will be the key to sparking improvement.

"We were pretty good last year," Smith said of his team's talent level. "I'm excited about this year because all those kids that were young last year, got some playing experience behind them."

Free safety and All-C-USA second-teamer Van Eskridge echoed his coach's sentiments.

"We've got pretty much everyone coming back," said Eskridge, who tallied a team-high 104 tackles in 2007. "We've got guys that played a lot of snaps last year so instead of learning on the fly, we're just reviewing things now. …We should be able to come in and play fast, play with more maturity and eliminate a lot of the mistakes we made last year."

Outgoing cornerback Travis Williams is the only starter that must be replaced.

Continued...

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