By By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
Dwayne Harris is quick and elusive. He has great vision and awareness. And he’s dangerous in the open field.
So this season, East Carolina’s coaching staff has made it a point to get the ball into Harris’ hands.
In 2007, Harris made a name for himself as one of Conference USA’s elite punt returners, racking up an average of 8.1 yards per return en route to being named to Conference USA’s All-Freshman team.
While special teams were his knack, he also made an impact on the offense as one of the team’s most versatile players. During his freshman campaign, Harris lined up at wide receiver, running back, and at time quarterback.
He finished his inaugural season at ECU with 782 all-purpose yards, second among all Pirates behind all-everything running back Chris Johnson. Harris reeled in 26 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, rushed 20 times for 197 yards and a score, and completed an 80-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jamar Bryant.
This year, the explosive wide out has stepped into the full-time wide receiver role vacated by Steven Rogers.
And he’s already made a tremendous impact on East Carolina’s offense.
In the season opener against Virginia Tech, the sophomore from Georgia, corralled four passes for a career-high 68 yards, and also carried the ball four times for 32 yards to help lead the Pirates past the Hokies.
Then last week, he had another career day in leading East Carolina past No. 8 West Virginia. Against the Mountaineers, Harris hauled in a career-best eight catches and matched his career-high with 68 receiving yards.
His 12 receptions rank eighth in Conference USA this season.
A lot of Harris’ receptions have come on swing passes in the flats and wide receiver screens. Harris says those are his favorite routes.
So far, nobody has been able to stop the fleet-footed wide receiver. And if Harris’ predictions are right, nobody will stop him in the future either.
Now there’s a scary thought for the rest of Conference USA.
Green Wave say ECU may be better than Alabama
By STEVE FRANKLIN
Sports Writer
Tulane opened its season last Saturday against one of the nation’s elite programs, standing toe-to-toe with No. 13 Alabama before a pair of punt team blunders led to Crimson Tide touchdowns in a 20-6 loss.
This week, the challenge doesn’t get any easier for the Green Wave as No. 14 East Carolina visits the Louisiana Superdome on Saturday.
Green Wave quarterback Kevin Moore, who made his first collegiate start against Alabama, said that after viewing tape of East Carolina, he’d have to agree with his coach.
Freshman tailback Nathan Austin is particularly impressed with East Carolina’s defensive front seven.
Offensively, the Green Wave have been particularly impressed by ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney who has completed 80.4 percent of his passes this season.
While Tulane is very appreciative of what East Carolina and coach Skip Holtz have done over the last two weeks, they won’t be laying down for the Pirates just because they’re the No. 14 team in the country.
The Green Wave haven’t beaten a top 25 team in 26 years and they’re excited about the opportunity to get a crack at the Pirates.