East Carolina Pirates Season Preview

Ruffin McNeill enters his second year after going 6-7 including a Military Bowl loss to Maryland 51-20. He took over for Skip Holtz who went 38-27 during his five-year tenure before bolting to South Florida. Holtz went 38-27 with a solid conference record of 30-12.

ECU has six starters back on offense including QB Dominique Davis (former BC QB) who set the program record for most passing yards (3,967) and passing TD’s (37) in a season.

Davis will also have a stud wide receiver back in Lance Lewis who just came to Greensville a season ago from the junior college ranks.

Lewis was second on the team in catches with 89 as well as second in yards with 1,116! The stats only get better as he also led the team in TDs with a sensational amount at 14!

Lewis may be the best WR in C-USA, and in order for the Pirates to go bowling this season, he better put on a display of spectacular catch after catch.

Michael Bowman is another starter coming back and he should provide the much needed punch ECU needs to stretch the field with the loss of ECU’s all-time reception and receiving leader Dwayne Harris.

The passing game was great a season ago as they finished 8th in America averaging 318 yards per game.

The running game though was a different story as they were abysmal ranking 99th in the nation. This year they add a solid junior college player in RB Reggie Bullock (5’9", 175).

His offensive line only has two starters back which should hurt the running game a bit, but quarterback Davis is too athletic to not help fill some of the void. Still, this is a passing oriented team that will live and die by threading the needle. 

The defense also has six returning, but that is not exactly good news. This defense statistically speaking was the worst in the entire country as they allowed 478 yards per game!

They were fourth to last in rush defense allowing 226 yards per game, and with no LB’s back and just three players back in the entire front seven, things may not get much better. There are no star players in the front seven. and the one player who must step up is sophomore defensive end Matt Miner.

In the secondary they were actually just as bad ranking 107th in the nation allowing 252 yards per game. The only true All Conference-USA caliber player on this defense will be cornerback Emmanuel Davis. 

The schedule is absolutely brutal as far as non-conference games are concerned. They must play South Carolina, (my top 10) Virginia Tech, (my top 10) and North Carolina (my top 30).

I have not even mentioned the conference play against teams such as Southern Miss, UCF or Houston. It will be rough year for McNeill in year two.

Predicted Finish: 5-7, 5-3

Predicted Bowl: None

Predicted order of finish in C-USA: Third in East, Seventh in C-USA