FOOTBALL: East Carolina ushers in Montgomery era in dominating fashion

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on September 4, 2016 1:49 AM

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bcoley@newsargus.com

GREENVILLE -- Saturday's game against Western Carolina marked the beginning of the Scottie Montgomery era at East Carolina.

It also marked the start of senior Philip Nelson's career as the Pirates' starting quarterback. And the transfer did not disappoint.

The new signal-caller went 28 of 32 for 398 yards and tallied six total touchdowns, leading the Pirates to a 52-7 victory over the Catamounts at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

"What you saw was a quarterback that understands the offense and lived up to everything that we thought he would be," Montgomery said. "He took care of the football -- very, very proud of him."

After an interception by junior Travon Simmons on WCU's opening drive, Nelson promptly directed the offense 82 yards down field. He finished off the drive with a seven-yard scramble to the end zone for ECU's first touchdown of the season.

The Pirates proceeded to score touchdowns on three of their next five drives in the first half. Nelson distributed touchdowns to senior Zay Jones, and juniors Anthony Scott and Quay Johnson.

On the first two drives of the second half, Nelson threw touchdown passes to Scott and senior Jimmy Williams.

With a host of weapons on offense, Nelson said he came into the game with the expectation that he'd succeed offensively.

"As a quarterback you have to be confident," Nelson said. "And I expect to be able to execute on every single play. But at the same time, never put the ball in danger. So there's no problem throwing the ball away. We expected to do this tonight. We're not satisfied."

Nelson joined the program as a transfer walk-on in August last season. Before coming to Greenville, he spent two years at Minnesota and then transferred to Rutgers. He was quickly dismissed from the Scarlet Knights' program after four months when he was arrested for an altercation outside a nightclub.

On Saturday, Nelson set out to prove he can be a leader for the Pirates.

"I'd say Phil (Nelson) leads by example," said Jones, who caught 98 passes for 1,099 yards and five touchdowns last season. "He's not really a hoo-rah type of leader. He really just puts in the work and shows you what it's supposed to look like."

Jones and Scott proved to be Nelson's favorite targets against the Catamounts' defense. Jones -- who is on the Biletnikoff Watch List for the second straight year -- caught 10 passes for 180 yards and one touchdown. Scott registered nine receptions for 90 yards and two touchdowns.

Next week, ECU will host in-state nemesis N.C. State, which will be an early-season test for the Pirates.

Nelson said he values the win and appreciates his performance, but knows that he must quickly shake off the festivities and merriment in order to have the same execution against the Wolfpack.

"You feel good about it tonight," Nelson said. "I got some family in town and some friends, so we're going to maybe go out to eat and celebrate, but tomorrow we're back to work. So I'm excited to let this soak in a little bit, but get back to work tomorrow."