Pinnix Undergoing Testing After Stinger and Will Miss W&M Game
Darius Pinnix remains out for this weekend’s game with William & Mary after a stinger he apparently received in the Gardner-Webb game a couple of weeks ago.
It isn’t something that has immediately healed up so he will not be in the lineup this Saturday according to offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick.
"It's something that's been a little bit of a mystery in that he's having some tests run and we're getting daily and weekly updates. There are so many different scenarios,” said Kirkpatrick.
“They said something like it's one percent of the people that get hit like this get this injury that get hit like this. He got a stinger, or so we thought, in his neck. So it's so rare that really the trainers and doctors are still looking at each other like we don't really have a lot of data to go on, so we really can't tell you. I know he's feeling well. He's in good spirits."
So far, Pinnix has averaged 78.5 yards in his two games of play and has rushed for 157 yards on 32 carries for an average of 4.9 yards per clip and two touchdowns. He is the biggest of the ECU running backs and probably the most powerful so his presence is missed offensively.
He has also caught two passes for 35 yards, the longest being for 24 yards.
"He was really in the dumps last week," Kirkpatrick said of Pinnix. "I think Coach Houston had a great talk with him and told him I think that's effecting the team a little bit. I think, not to make an excuse, but I thought the team had a little bit of a funny look when he was not playing and maybe we lost a little bit of confidence in there. Then we didn't get off to a great start. It was the reverse order of a perfect storm for us.”
“…everything seemed to go wrong."
The Pirates have struggled in their two games against FBS competition while having more success in their game against Gardner-Webb.
ECU hopes to execute better this week and have better success offensively as a result.
Kirkpatrick talks about the ECU offense along with this week's opponent William & Mary in the audio link below.
PI AUDIO: DONNIE KIRKPATRICK DISCUSSES THIS WEEK'S GAME & MORE
Game time is 6 o’clock for ECU - William & Mary on ESPN 3 and the Pirate IMG Radio Network.
