COMMENTS (9)

Two Marshalls await ECU

By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector The Daily Reflector

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Slowly but surely, the East Carolina football team has improved in the eyes of head coach Skip Holtz in the Pirates' first four games.

Despite having already played a pair of BCS conference teams this season, perhaps the best test of the season awaits ECU (1-0 Conference USA, 2-2 overall) this weekend when they journey to West Virginia a second time to take on star running back Darius Marshall and the school that bears his last name.

The ECU defense, Holtz said at Monday's weekly press conference, is part of the steady improvement. The Pirates' linebackers have been challenged to lend a hand to a struggling pass defense while also trying to play a role in run-stopping.

The senior trio of outside linebackers Chris Mattocks (26 tackles) and Jeremy Chambliss (26) along with middle man Nick Johnson (23) is at the forefront of the team in terms of making stops, trailing only senior safety Van Eskridge and his 34 tackles.

Even without a definitive leading man like the Pirates have had in the past, Holtz thinks this group could be one of his best since he arrived in 2005.

“They're smart, they're intelligent, they're where they're supposed to be and they're always around the ball,” Holtz said of his starting linebackers. “We can do more with them than we could some of our linebacking groups earlier because they've been in this defense now four or five years. They know what they're doing.”

Holtz said one advantage with this year's trio is the ability to blitz more than in the past, but the fifth-year coach contended that the call from the outside for more ECU blitzing is only a good idea if the rest of the defense can cover for the guys headed at the quarterback.

Blitzes that leave gaping holes in the defense are detrimental, he said.

“Blitzing and leaving guys free doesn't help you,” Holtz said. “Everybody talks about we've got to blitz more, we've got to blitz more. You need to blitz more if you can be successful at it.

“I think with the intelligence and the knowledge and the experience that this linebacking corps has, yes, they have a chance to be one of the more productive linebacking corps that we've had the last couple of years, even though we've had a couple of guys like Chris Moore in year one and Pierre Bell and Quentin Cotton the last couple of years.”

Injuries

The Pirates might still have to live another week without senior running back Dominique Lindsay, who is still trying to bounce back completely from an injured right shoulder.

Lindsay, the only man to produce a 100-yard rushing game this season for ECU, has slowly returned to the practice field, but Holtz won't rush Lindsay back onto the field, especially with a handful of other capable backs at his disposal.

“We don't know at this point,” Holtz said of Lindsay's status for Saturday at Marshall. “He practiced (Sunday night) in shorts. It's all going to be whether or not he can take a shot on it. It's all going to be a pain tolerance thing at this point.”

Holtz said Lindsay's range of motion and strength have improved since he was injured during the West Virginia game Sept. 12.

But other than the question mark hanging over Lindsay, the injury list remains slim for ECU. Still out for the long term are sophomore receiver Michael Bowman (broken left arm), senior running back J.R. Rogers (left knee) and sophomore defensive tackle Antonio Allison (broken right foot).

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