East Carolina ready to put on the pads

Published in Sports on August 8, 2006 2:20 PM

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GREENVILLE -- East Carolina completed its final tune-up before engaging in full gear work with a three-hour practice in shorts and shoulder pads at the Cliff Moore Practice Facility on Monday afternoon.

Beginning today, the Pirates will don full pads for each of their traditional workout sessions, which includes the preseason camp's first of two official two-a-day practices scheduled for Wednesday.

"I'm excited about taking one more step," head coach Skip Holtz said. "The upperclassmen have done a great job of working together and I've been pleased with the tempo that we've established up to this point. It's not like we're going into a live scrimmage mode by any means Wednesday but it's another measuring stick. The talent remains in place but we still have a long way to go for us to become a good football team."

Somewhat similar to Sunday's workout, ECU conducted a live 30-minute scrimmage-like team session at the end of practice which matched all levels of the Pirates' depth chart. Senior quarterback James Pinkney found junior running back Chris Johnson and senior wide receiver on a pair of 55-yard TD strikes to lead the offense while redshirt freshman linebacker Jeremy Chambliss netted a late interception off a deflection for the defense.

As has been the case each night, the East Carolina coaching staff conducted two hours of team, special teams and position meetings after Monday's workout before dismissing the squad for a 9 p.m. dinner at Todd Dining Hall.

NOTES: Holtz announced two additions to the Pirates' 105-man preseason camp roster -- OL Travis Bastin (Fr., Newport, N.C., East Carteret HS) and PK Nathan Przestrzelski (Fr., Black Mountain, N.C., Charles D. Owen HS) ... In addition to DE Shauntae Hunt (knee) and C Fred Hicks (knee), two other members of ECU's preseason roster have been sidelined with injuries and subsequently have missed the opening four days of camp ... DL Matt Newman and signee OL Doug Polochak are both scheduled to continue rehabilitation work on respective shoulder injuries when they join the program in earnest on the first day of classes Sept. 23 ... Some position changes of note -- true freshman Chris Atkins from LB to DE and sophomore transfer Wayne Hunter from QB to WR ... Signee Melvin Patterson, who was a three-year, two-way (wide receiver/safety) standout at Santa Fe High School in Alachua, Fla., has opened camp as a member of the Pirates' defensive backfield ... WR Derehl Staton made a uniform number switch from 46 to 84 ... Tuesday's Practice Time: 3-6 p.m.; Season opener: Sept. 2 vs. Navy (5:30 p.m.).