ECU Goes Back To Work After Initial Scrimmage
August 14, 2016 | Football
GREENVILLE, N.C. – A day after conducting its initial scrimmage of fall camp, East Carolina returned to Hight Field at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex Sunday afternoon for a 75-minute workout in helmets and shorts.
Following early morning meetings, which included film evaluation of Saturday's contest, the Pirates conducted a one-hour walk-through before breaking for lunch. After treatments and another round of individual meetings, ECU hit the field for its 13th practice of camp.
"I thought practice was good today following a physical scrimmage," first-year head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "We ran a lot more at the end of practice because I wanted to get some of the soreness out of the guys. They were really focused and we had a great 15 to 20-minute correction period, then we went into some installs (new plays) for the last 20 minutes. Overall, it was a good practice for us."
UPON FURTHER (SCRIMMAGE) REVIEW
After fully reviewing and evaluating his program's first fall scrimmage on tape late Saturday and Sunday, Montgomery offered the following thoughts:
ON THE OFFENSE
"I always want to get the run game better. We have to eliminate some of the tackles for loss and we have to make sure that we are winning some of our double teams at the line of scrimmage. A couple of our defensive linemen had something to do with that, which was a positive for that group. I would like to see us be a little bit better with our inside zone game. Overall we have to get better running the football, but we have gotten so much better running the ball since I got here. Every day I'm going to push that bar a little bit higher. I saw some of the younger skill guys start to build some confidence. Guys like Terrell (Green) did a great job with his routes and catching the ball – he had a real big day for us."
ON THE DEFENSE
"I thought we had good coverage in some situations, but the offensive skills made some great plays and that's good to see. We did have some blown coverages and didn't tackle particularly well, but for the most part, we played good as a unit. The defensive line did a great job of putting pressure on the quarterback, and for the most part, kept the run game in check. However, the receivers just made things happened and we got a little exposed in the secondary. The good news is that those are correctable things and Coach (Rick) Smith will keep working to get them better."
ON SPECIAL TEAMS
"Shannon Moore has done a great job with the detail of that group. We have young guys on that unit, but they are good athletes. We also have starters playing special teams and that comes from the energy that Coach Moore has with his install meetings. I thought yesterday we could have been 5-for-5 with Davis (Plowman) in our field goals, but we had a bad hold coupled with a bad snap. The whole operation has to be one unit, and if one thing fails, it all fails. Davis' leg was as alive as we have seen all year going back to spring ball. As we continue to grow, we have to make sure that when we punt the ball it becomes a big time play for the offense. It's one of the only times where you can average 40-plus yards a play on offense, so we have to take advantage of that and we didn't do that yesterday."
The Pirates will move out of the camp dorms early Monday morning before returning for a single full-pad practice in the afternoon.
Single-game, three-game mini packs and season tickets for all ECU home games are still available to the Pirate Nation and can be purchased by calling the ECU Athletic Ticket Office at 252-737-4500, through the Online Ticket Center, or by visiting the ECU Athletics Ticket Office. For all the latest ticket information, follow the ECU Ticket Office on Twitter (@ecuathletictix).
Up Next:
Monday's Practice: 4:15–6:00 p.m.
Season Opener: Sept. 3 vs. Western Carolina in Greenville (6 p.m.)
Following early morning meetings, which included film evaluation of Saturday's contest, the Pirates conducted a one-hour walk-through before breaking for lunch. After treatments and another round of individual meetings, ECU hit the field for its 13th practice of camp.
"I thought practice was good today following a physical scrimmage," first-year head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "We ran a lot more at the end of practice because I wanted to get some of the soreness out of the guys. They were really focused and we had a great 15 to 20-minute correction period, then we went into some installs (new plays) for the last 20 minutes. Overall, it was a good practice for us."
UPON FURTHER (SCRIMMAGE) REVIEW
After fully reviewing and evaluating his program's first fall scrimmage on tape late Saturday and Sunday, Montgomery offered the following thoughts:
ON THE OFFENSE
"I always want to get the run game better. We have to eliminate some of the tackles for loss and we have to make sure that we are winning some of our double teams at the line of scrimmage. A couple of our defensive linemen had something to do with that, which was a positive for that group. I would like to see us be a little bit better with our inside zone game. Overall we have to get better running the football, but we have gotten so much better running the ball since I got here. Every day I'm going to push that bar a little bit higher. I saw some of the younger skill guys start to build some confidence. Guys like Terrell (Green) did a great job with his routes and catching the ball – he had a real big day for us."
ON THE DEFENSE
"I thought we had good coverage in some situations, but the offensive skills made some great plays and that's good to see. We did have some blown coverages and didn't tackle particularly well, but for the most part, we played good as a unit. The defensive line did a great job of putting pressure on the quarterback, and for the most part, kept the run game in check. However, the receivers just made things happened and we got a little exposed in the secondary. The good news is that those are correctable things and Coach (Rick) Smith will keep working to get them better."
ON SPECIAL TEAMS
"Shannon Moore has done a great job with the detail of that group. We have young guys on that unit, but they are good athletes. We also have starters playing special teams and that comes from the energy that Coach Moore has with his install meetings. I thought yesterday we could have been 5-for-5 with Davis (Plowman) in our field goals, but we had a bad hold coupled with a bad snap. The whole operation has to be one unit, and if one thing fails, it all fails. Davis' leg was as alive as we have seen all year going back to spring ball. As we continue to grow, we have to make sure that when we punt the ball it becomes a big time play for the offense. It's one of the only times where you can average 40-plus yards a play on offense, so we have to take advantage of that and we didn't do that yesterday."
The Pirates will move out of the camp dorms early Monday morning before returning for a single full-pad practice in the afternoon.
Single-game, three-game mini packs and season tickets for all ECU home games are still available to the Pirate Nation and can be purchased by calling the ECU Athletic Ticket Office at 252-737-4500, through the Online Ticket Center, or by visiting the ECU Athletics Ticket Office. For all the latest ticket information, follow the ECU Ticket Office on Twitter (@ecuathletictix).
Up Next:
Monday's Practice: 4:15–6:00 p.m.
Season Opener: Sept. 3 vs. Western Carolina in Greenville (6 p.m.)
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