ECU Quarterback Reid Herring Says He is Ready to Go For Game One
Reid Herring finally has funneled his way to the top of the ECU quarterback depth chart after working behind Gardner Minshew and Thomas Sirk last season.
Sirk has now moved on after a graduate year at ECU and Minshew has made his way to Washington State after first migrating to Alabama for a short stint in an effort to get what he termed as closer to home.
So far Herring is batting a thousand. His only completion last season was good for a 20-yard touchdown to Trevon Brown in ECU's 48-20 win over Cincinnati.
He enters this weekend's season opener with a great deal of excitement although from talking to him you wouldn't get the feeling that much of anything really gets him real keyed up.
"I'm a little more hyped because I know that I'm the guy right now, but I'm still calm, I'm still relaxed and looking forward to Saturday."
"It feels great. We're very excited, our guys have a lot of energy and we're looking forward to this Saturday," Herring said after practice earlier this week.
A&T State has won 27 straight games after last Saturday night's 20-17 victory over then FCS number 6 ranked Jacksonville State and Herring outlined what he sees when he looks at video of the Aggies.
"They play very hard together. They're very physical, the run to the ball and they like to hit," Herring told PirateIllustrated.com, "So we're just going to have to stay focused, be physical as well and make plays."
"We just have to run our stuff. No mental errors and just play the best we can and if we make bad plays, the next play don't worry about it and don't dwell on it."
The Raleigh sophomore out of Millbrook High talked about his confidence level in his offensive line to protect the pocket.
"I'm very confident. They had a great offseason, I love each and everyone of those guys and I'm looking forward to going into battle with them."
"We feel very prepared. We come in and we get better every day," said Herring, "We stay in the film room, we stay in our play books and we're looking forward to this Saturday and finally putting our work on the field."
Herring says he gets the chills every time he runs out of the tunnel into the smoke.
"It's a great feeling running out and hearing our fans cheering loud for us. Purple Haze is an unbelievable thing."
The 6-3, 197 pounder knows it would help his team's chances if they can get off to a fast start on the scoreboard in the first game against an Aggie team that expects to win every time out. So far A&T has done just that the last 27 times in a row.
"It's going to be big for us. A week one win would definitely help us. It would build momentum to the rest of the season."
Kickoff time is at 6 o'clock Saturday night when ECU hosts North Carolina A&T State in Dowdy Ficklen Stadium.
