By By BRIAN HAINES, Brian@wdnweb.com, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE – After escaping through a large portion of the season relatively healthy, the injury list is starting to add up for East Carolina.
On Wednesday, coach Ruffin McNeill announced that sophomore defensive tackle Michael Brooks will be out of the rest of the season due to an injury to his right knee, the same one that sidelined Brooks during the spring.
“Michael is out. He is out for the season,” McNeill said. “(Sophomore DE) Marke Powell is out, he won’t play this week and hopefully in two weeks we will get him back. Rahkeem Morgan won’t be back (for Saturday’s game against Navy), but Travis Simmons and Ty Holmes will be back.”
The loss of Brooks for the season and Powell for Saturday leaves the Pirates thin along the defensive line, but McNeill said as of now there will be no removal of redshirts.
“Not at this time,” McNeill said. “I talked with (defensive coordinator) Brian Mitchell about that today, but with only four games left if I can keep it on them I will. It’s too late in the season, but if I had to I would.”
McNeill said if need be he would consider playing linebacker Wes Pittman as a stand-up end and would also think about playing senior defensive tackle Josh Smith at defensive end.