Saturday’s last-second loss to Cincinnati marked the end of East Carolina’s 2015 football campaign. The team’s 17 seniors played their last game in a Pirate uniform, but there are two others with questionable futures now that this season is over.

Quarterbacks Blake Kemp and James Summers, playing behind a makeshift offensive line, rode the season’s rollercoaster as best they could, not knowing what the future held for them. The duo commanded the Pirate offense after Kurt Benkert suffered a season-ending knee injury in August and Cody Keith left the program.

Summers burst onto the scene on a rainy day in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. In three quarters under center, he helped lead ECU to a 35-28 win over Virginia Tech — the team’s hallmark win of a 5-7 season.

That prompted first-year offensive coordinator Dave Nichol to use both men’s strengths in a dual-quarterback system. It sputtered more often than not. Summers never won a game he started and the team struggled to find its rhythm with the quarterback roulette.

With this season behind them, the Pirates have a ton of quarterback depth to look forward to. Benkert is poised to top the depth chart, assuming his recovery is successful. Behind him will likely be Minnesota transfer Philip Nelson. He has two years of experience starting for the Golden Gophers in 2012 and 2013.

Things get murky after that. Freshman John Jacobs stood out to the coaching staff redshirting as a member of the practice squad. McNeill said he wasn’t ready this year but will be special.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Kemp sees action should the passing corps remain healthy.

Kemp did an admirable job in a season where adversity was the theme. He stepped into the starting role nicely, handling himself well in an early test in front of a raucous crowd at Florida. He recovered well after a shot to tie the game late literally slipped through his hands.

Kemp went on to finish the season with 2,658 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. He exhibited exceptional leadership qualities and even grew in that regard from September to November.

It’s not an ideal situation for Kemp, who said he hasn’t thought much about what the future holds for him. However, too much depth is a good problem for ECU to have. Should something happen, the Pirates have a proven starter to turn to. If nothing else, Kemp can have tremendous value to the scout team and can play a big role in developing future signal callers.

The future is a little clearer for Summers. Originally recruited as a receiver, the ECU faithful got a brief glimpse of his intended role when he hauled in a seven-yard pass from Kemp in the season finale. McNeill said Summers was projected to line up on the inside, comparing the role to the one Justin Hardy played.

However, the depth at wide receiver makes it tough to see where Summers fits in. Isaiah Jones and Quay Johnson are proven at the inside receiver position. There’s also Deondre Farrier, who redshirted this his freshman year. He was a three-star prospect out of Florida. As of now, ECU also has three receivers committed. Emmanuel Jones — a three-star prospect from Asheboro — leads the pack.

Summers does have a versatile skillset working in his favor. He proved he’s a threat to run and throw the ball, which means there are some interesting options for him. There are plenty of possibilities for special packages geared towards Summers and his strengths.

Regardless of what’s next, both Kemp and Summers can hang their hats on leading a banged-up Pirate squad to what can still be considered an overachieving season.