The college football landscape has been ever-changing over the past few years and that is no different for the ECU Pirates, who will be participating in the American Athletic Conference in the coming 2014-15 season. While the Pirates have been picked to finish fourth in the conference, the team has higher hopes of finishing much higher than expected.
ECU is coming off a 2013-14 campaign where the team accomplished more than expected with everything from team leader and quarterback Shane Carden breaking almost every single school record, as the Pirates reached a 10-win season and won the Beef ‘O’Brady’s Bowl over Ohio. Yes, it was a year for ECU to remember as the team looks to competing in the new conference.
“It’s been an exciting year not just for our program, but our university going into the new conference,” explained head coach Ruffin McNeill at ECU Media Day. “I know our administrative team has been preparing for this move for a long time, so we’re looking forward to officially diving into it.”
With the competitiveness of college football, moral victories are not acceptable and neither is complacency. If success is to be imminent, the team will have to work hard and improve and not just being hopeful and excited for the future. That is something McNeill understands; he knows that his team needs to improve if it wants to outperform the fourth-best ranking that was voted by the media.
That’s why he has an effective game plan to do just that.
“This process began after the bowl game,” he said. “Our first phase started with the best strength coach in the country, Coach (Jeff) Connors, and he attacks it and gets after them. That’s my first indicator. When Coach C gets through with them, he tells me what he thinks the strengths are and the key words I look for are ‘great team chemistry.’”
With the Pirates returning seniors Justin Hardy, Maurice Falls, Brandon Williams, and Carden for their fifth year of eligibility, there is no doubt that the team will have solid team chemistry. As previously mentioned, Carden rewrote the history book and is on several national awards lists. Some of which include the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List, Manning Award Watch List, Maxwell Award Watch List, and Davey O’Brien Watch List.
To complement the stellar quarterback play, Hardy is on the FPA Wide Receiver Trophy Watch List, CFPA Punt Returner Trophy Watch List, Biletnikoff Award Watch List, Hornung Award Watch List ,and Maxwell Award Watch List. Anchoring the defense is Hardy, who is also on an award watch lists, appearing on the Butkis Award Watch list.
A few great athletes don’t make up an entire team. The rest of the team will also be ready to help perform alongside those who have been putting in the work over the years and are getting recognition for their preparation and play. Coach McNeill expressed great confidence in his team moving along with his plan to have greater success in the new conference.
“The second phase was spring football, which I thought we attacked well,” he said. “My coaches and players did a great job of preparing and getting ready. Phase three was the summer and going back to coach Connors. He raised the levels of standards and expectations during the summer for our team. Now we’re in phase four, fall camp, which began on August 3rd and will continue until game week.”
The Pirates have a lot to look forward to for the 2014-15 season. Not only is ECU in a new conference, but it has a great non-conference schedule against the likes of South Carolina, Virginia Tech and North Carolina. ECU will open up the season at home on Saturday, Aug. 30 against the North Carolina Central Eagles.
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