Jeremy Grove looked like he had just finished a double shift in a blast furnace or a coal mine on Saturday night, not like he had just played in a football game.

The eye black he’d been wearing earlier in the day as East Carolina powered its way past Tulane at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium had been partially sweated and showered off. Its remnants remained, however, as he sat in a chair in the Pirates’ postgame interview room, and by then the black smear looked more like a film of soot or even a bad bruise.

In the minutes following a second half shutout by the ECU defense, the freshman inside linebacker and season-long tackles leader sported a knit Carhartt workman’s cap, baggy sweats and Timberland work boots, his longish hair flaring out from behind his ears.

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