East Carolina University: Spring Football notebook

Pirates Pass Spring Halfway Point, Continue Preparations For First Scrimmage

GREENVILLE, N.C. East Carolina Head Football Coach Skip Holtz and his Pirates officially passed the midway point of the spring practice period Wednesday afternoon, conducting a two-hour workout in shells on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.

The session was the Pirates’ eighth of the spring period and leaves just seven more workouts to go, including two scrimmages and the annual Purple-Gold Spring Game set for April 18.

Originally planned as a full-pad practice, Holtz opted to return to limited equipment Wednesday as a precautionary measure to ensure freshness and give injuries an additional day to heal for Saturday’s first scrimmage of the spring.

“All of the practices are pretty much over at this point,” Holtz said. “We have seven days left in the spring period and three of them are scrimmages. We accomplished everything we wanted to in shorts today, except the three-on-three portion. A lot of guys just have some bumps and bruises that need time to heal. We didn’t feel like we needed the full pads today and want everyone to be ready to go for the upcoming scrimmages.”

The East Carolina program will host its annual Coaches Clinic Thursday through Saturday, which includes staffs from high schools all over the state of North Carolina. Holtz, coordinators Todd Fitch, Greg Hudson and Steve Shankweiler will join each position coach in delivering presentations on a variety of topics such as philosophies, drills, game strategies and fundamentals in their areas of responsibility. College Football Hall of Fame member and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz will serve as the clinic’s guest speaker Friday night.

“We have made it a huge priority to recruit the state of North Carolina,” Holtz explained. “The high school coaches in this state have been phenomenal and we just want to open our doors to them and let them take something away from the experience. We have an obligation to improve the football in this state and help the high school coaches with whatever they may need.

“Bringing Coach (Lou) Holtz in will be a nice thing for them because he will talk about ways to motivate their respective teams and to improve each piece of the puzzle,” he continued. “We do not hold this clinic as a money-making event but feel that it can only help all that are involved.”

The Pirates will cap preparations for the Saturday’s intra-squad contest with a light practice in shorts Friday afternoon. ECU will follow by opening its fourth week of work Monday before engaging in its last scrimmage Wednesday.

EAST CAROLINA‘S 2009 SPRING PRACTICE SCHEDULE

Next Workout: Friday, April 3 (4:00-6:00 p.m.)

Remaining Workouts: April 4 (scrimmage), April 6, April 8 (scrimmage), April 13, April 15 and April 18 (Purple-Gold Game, 3:00 p.m.)

Tom McClellan
Assistant AD/Media Relations
East Carolina University