Pirates turn in first full-pad practice

Published 7:29 pm Tuesday, August 7, 2012

GREENVILLE — A pair of practices in shorts and two more in shells led to East Carolina’s first full-pad workout of preseason camp Tuesday morning at the Cliff Moore Practice Complex. The Pirates completed the shorter, but enthusiastic two-hour session in rainy conditions before heading into Wednesday’s two-a-day schedule.
Wednesday’s double-dose will be the first of three scheduled two-a-days over the next two weeks, preceding similar agendas for Monday, Aug. 13 and Thursday, Aug. 16. ECU will begin the morning’s full-pad practice at 8:45 before returning in shells at 4:15 p.m.
“I thought we came out in our first day of full pads and got some things done today,” McNeill said. “We’re still working on football IQ, and today, our situations of emphasis were first and second down – primarily, what we need to do on both sides of the ball on those snaps.”
Offensively, the Pirates also spent time on their short passing game with screen drills, specialized one-on-one matchups against defensive backs before engaging in pass rush blocking during their customary skeleton period. On defense, blitz work and an extended team session against scouts followed daily individual segments.
NOTES:
In addition to five depth chart members who missed Monday’s action, CB Leonard Paulk (right leg) and OG Jordan Davis (back) were sidelined Tuesday because of injury, but are both listed as day-to-day … Freshman IWR Karson Redfern (left leg) was replaced by OWR Bryce Williams on the 105-man camp roster … Williams (6-5, 200) is a redshirt freshman from Winston-Salem who spent the 2011 season in the Marshall program as a tight end after a prep career at North Davidson High School … He was a member of the Thundering Herd’s camp roster last August as an invited walk-on before redshirting … After completing their first two-a-day practice Wednesday, the Pirates will begin preparing for the preseason camp’s initial intra-squad scrimmage scheduled for Saturday morning at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium … Wednesday’s Practice Times: 8:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. & 4:15 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.; Season Opener: Sept. 1 vs. Appalachian State in Greenville (12 noon).