Pirates getting boost from Ruffin, Freeney

Some of the East Carolina football team's fringe players have started to become much more noticeable in recent weeks. Without them, the Pirates might not be in control of their own destiny in Conference USA.

The ECU offense which struggled for many of the early weeks of the season to transform long drives into touchdowns has started to get help.

In last Tuesday's 38-19 win at Memphis, the Pirates' offense got a shot in the arm from junior running back Giavanni Ruffin and sophomore receiver Darryl Freeney.

Ruffin, a transfer from California's College of the Sequoias, was slow to fit into the Pirates' backfield blueprint early in the season.

In his first six games, Ruffin managed just 78 yards and scored a couple of touchdowns. Against the Tigers, Ruffin charged for 87 yards, including a 19-yard scoring stroll.

“It was great to get him into the mix,” Holtz said of Ruffin, who earned 14 carries at Memphis behind leading rusher Dominique Lindsay (139 yards). “That's what we envisioned him doing when we brought him here, a bigger back that can run a little power game.”

It seems every time one ECU back is forced out either by injury or illness, another emerges. Holtz said Ruffin successfully cashed in on his chance for more carries after sophomore Brandon Jackson was slow to recover from a flu bug that rocked the team a couple of weeks ago.

“He's bringing another back to us and, hopefully, Brandon Jackson will continue to plug away and get back. And, hopefully, all of a sudden we'll have three,” Holtz said.

Meanwhile, Freeney has emerged to give the Pirates another reliable receiver.

He made six catches for 56 yards until he made the trip to Memphis, then unleashed five grabs for 116 yards and a touchdown there.

Freeney appears to be another viable big play threat in the pass attack beyond Dwayne Harris. He made catches of 18, 25, 21 and 21 yards and a 31-yard over-the-shoulder touchdown grab in which he held onto the ball despite a big end zone hit.

The deep ball

The Pirates continued to search for big pass plays against the Tigers, but still haven't been able to uncork them on a consistent basis.

Patrick Pinkney's end zone toss to Freeney was the Pirates' longest pass touchdown of the season, but ECU tried a couple of much longer throws down the field in the game.

“We threw two of them in the first half, and we overthrew one and threw one out of bounds,” Holtz said of Pinkney, who did throw a pair of touchdown passes as part of his 216-yard outing against the Tigers. “In the second half, we had a couple of opportunities. (Harris) had a couple of opportunities there at the end, but we just couldn't hang onto it.”

Contact Nathan Summers at nsummers@reflector.com or (252)329-9595.