East Carolina picked up Rivals four star running back Marlon Gunn, Jr. Wednesday night and he made his commitment announcement known on Thursday which adds to a already quality 2022 recruiting class.

Gunn took a visit to Greenville two weeks ago to check out East Carolina's game against South Carolina.

"That game was really impressive. An SEC team and the kind of team that ECU is, that was really impressive," said Gunn, "The school aside, those boys play hard. They really fought. They had a lot of people there. I was shocked about that."

Gunn tweeted his intentions to commit to East Carolina Thursday afternoon. In his Twitter announcement he made it clear that he is solidly committed to the Pirates.

"First and foremost I would like to thank my coaches from little league, to middle school, and on to high school,. I would like to also thank my mom and dad for helping me throughout the whole recruiting process and talking to me to help me make my decision, and last but not least I would like to give God his praise because without him blessing me I wouldn't be where I am today. After balancing out my options and researching on what school would be a great choice for me, which was really hard, but with that being said I am 100% committed to East Carolina University."

Running backs coach Chris Foster along with head coach Mike Houston headed up Gunn's recruitment for the Pirates.

"I first called Coach Foster then I called Coach Houston and he said it made his night. Everybody was real excited. I feel good really. The kind of relationship we had with all of the coaches it already felt like I was already committed. It was just great overall from the visit to when they first offered. It's going to be a deep commitment for real - for real."

In the end it came down to three schools among 13 offers for the Scotlandville High star who took visits to both Virginia and Florida State in June.

"It came really down between East Carolina, Tulane and TCU," said Gunn who talked about his best traits as a running back.

"Breaking tackles, my feet, my vision, seeing different lanes and my ability to cut back."

So far, Gunn has been solid this season with a 192 yard game two weeks ago and he has scored three touchdowns in the two games so far.

The 5-11, 195 pounder rushed for 1,087 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. He runs a 4.51 forty and an 11.2 in the 100 meters.

"They showed me all around. The facilities are great. As far as the campus, it's a huge campus and a really good campus," Gunn told PirateIllustrated.com, "I had heard about the academics and their business program is really good and that's what I want to major in is business management. Everything was just good overall."

Gunn adds to a 2022 class of 16 current commitments that also includes running back Nemo Squire from Dillon, S.C.

Stay tuned for more as coverage of East Carolina recruiting continues here on PirateIllustrated.com.