East Carolina went through a snappy tw0-hour workout on the Bagwell Field surface at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Friday afternoon in cool 57 degree conditions.
The scrimmage consisted of nearly 50 plays that was heavily weighted with situational work, including strikezone (35-yard line) and redzone (20) execution along with third down efficiency.
The ECU defense allowed only a couple of touchdowns while forcing a pair of turnovers and they had six tackled behind the line of scrimmage.
Offensively the Pirates put together 267 yards behind two Gardner Minshew touchdown passes to Jimmy Williams. One of them came in redzone work for just two yards and the other for 27. Hussein Howe also got untracked for a 52-yard touchdown run in his scrimmage high 74 yards on six carries. Anthony Scott added 32 yards on five carries. ECU rushed for 118 yards all told on 23 carries and passed for 149 in 24 snaps.
Quarterback Gardner Minshew started slow going just one for five before connecting on his last ten passes to finish 11 for 15 and 130 yards. That included eight first downs.
Reid Herring was accurate on his first four tosses before missing on his next four for a total of 19-yards.
Deondre Farrier topped all receivers with four catches for 37 yards and Malik Gray matched Williams with two catches for 29 yards to headline a group of nine pass catchers who made 15 receptions for a total of 149 yards.
Defensively, safety Xavier Smith led ECU with five tackles, including one which resulted in lost yardage. Inside linebacker Aaron Ramseur had four stops and scooped up a fumble to score on a 47-yard fumble return. For the second time in as many weeks, cornerback Travis Phillips pulled down an interception.
The Pirates had a total of five penalties on flags thrown from the referees in attendance. Three of those were on offense and two came on defense.
.Several recruits were on hand to check out the festivities and you can find out more about that on our Pillage-N-Plunder Premium forum.
Tim Irvin, the Auburn transfer defensive back found his way back onto the football field today after being banged up for a couple of days.
"You can see the speed. You can see guys get on the ground a lot and he has a certain amount of energy that he brings to them," Scottie Montgomery told PI, "They look up to him in that secondary and he just provides energy."
Scottie Montgomery said his team is getting closer to where he wants to be at this point in the proceedings when we caught up with him after the workout.
"Yes they are. I haven't been able to say that. I always said we're not comfortable but now we're starting to look like a real football team in the spring. We're physical. We've got a lot of guys who are playing and we're getting a consistent contribution from players that I've really been waiting on it to happen, so we're starting to see some of that."
Live bullets were flying on Friday and that is something that Coach Mo felt like his team needed this spring.
"We're starting to put together a lot more live reps. I thought we needed to play more football this spring and that's exactly what we're doing," Montgomery said, "Our kids are responding to it."
"Defensively, we've started learning how to create some turnovers. Offensively, we're starting to execute the scheme the way I want it done and the way that our coaching staff wants it done. So there is some great competition to it. I feel like now we're coming to an even ground as far as the competition is concerned."
Wide receiver Trevon Brown and Davon Grayson sat practice out on Friday a little banged up.
After practice we caught up with wide receiver Jimmy Williams, defensive back Xavier Smith, quarterback Gardner Minshew and running back Hussein Howe.
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SPRING SCRIMMAGE II STATISTICS
RUSHING: Hussein Howe (6-74, 1 TD), Anthony Scott (5-32), Derrell Scott (4-9), Devin Anderson (4-8), Gardner Minshew (2-1), Kingsley Ifedi (1-<-1>), Reid Herring (1-<-5>). Totals –– 23-118 (5.1 ypr), 1 TD.
PASSING: Gardner Minshew (15-11-0, 130 yards, 2 TD), Reid Herring (8-4-0, 19), Kingsley Ifedi (1-0-1, 0). Totals –– 24-15-1, 149 yards, 2 TD.
RECEIVING: Deondre Farrier (4-37), Jimmy Williams (2-29, 2 TD), Malik Gray (2-29), Michael Swift (2-10), Quay Johnson (1-16), Hussein Howe (1-11), Devin Anderson (1-6), Cam Marshmon (1-6), Anthony Scott (1-5). Totals –– 15-149, 2 TD
TACKLES: Xavier Smith 5 (1 TFL/-1), Aaron Ramseur 4 (1 TFL/-5, FR/47 yards), Tim Irvin 3, Mike Myers 3 (1 TFL/-2), Marcus Holton Jr. 3, Yiannis Bowden 3, Justin Brown 2 (1 TFL/-1), Taijh Alston 2, Corey Seargent 1, Jordan Williams 1, Colby Gore 1 (1 TFL/-3, 1 PD), Cannon Gibbs 1, Keyshawn Canady 1, Ray Tillman 1, Travis Phillips 1 (1 INT, 1 PD), Travon Simmons 1, Kenyon Taylor 1, Bobby Fulp 1, Ben Norris 1, (1 TFL/-2), Devon Sutton 1, Raequan Purvis 1, Shaun James 1
TOTAL OFFENSE/TOTAL DEFENSE: 47-267 (5.7 ypp)
FUMBLES/LOST: 2/1
INTERCEPTIONS: 1 (Travis Phillips/no return)
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS (full possessions only): 4-7 (57.1%) – Gardner Minshew (2-3), Reid Herring (2-4)
PENALTIES: 5 (3/OFFENSE – 2 holding, 1 false start; 2/DEFENSE – 1 offside, 1 personal foul)
QUARTERBACK FIRST DOWN/SCORING CHART (DRIVES):Gardner Minshew – 8 first downs, 2 TDReid Herring – 3 first downs, 1 TD
SCORING:TD – 4 (3 offense, 1 defense)Hussein Howe 52-yard runJimmy Williams 27-yard pass from Gardner MinshewJimmy Williams 2-yard pass from Gardner MinshewAaron Ramseur 47-yard fumble return
