East Carolina Pirates 2016 NCAA Football Preview
EAST CAROLINA PIRATES
American Athletic Conference – East Division
2015 Record – 5-7
ATS – 5-7
2016 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating Rank
East Division #5
Conference #9 (Tie)
2015 Recap
The Pirates suffered their 3rd losing season in the past six years and let HC Ruffin McNeill go after the campaign concluded. They had a chance to make a bowl game with a home win over Cincinnati in the last week of the season but fell short. They managed to beat rival Virginia Tech 35-28, but other than that, there were no quality victories (Towson, SMU, Tulsa, UCF). Duke OC Scottie Montgomery takes over in 2016.
2016 Preview
OFFENSE
East Carolina is going with former Golden Gophers QB Phillip Nelson as the starter heading into the season. Nelson has not thrown a pass in game action since 2013 but looked very good in the spring game going 13/24 for 231 yards. Nelson has a loaded WR group to throw to including 1st Team AAC star Isaiah Jones (98-1099, 5 TD). James Summers is no longer part of the QB depth but will be asked to run, catch and possibly provide some TRICKERATION. It never hurts to have another guy on the field who can throw the ball. The defense has to be on their toes.
The offensive line is a question mark as they lose a lot of career starts from last season’s unit. How will the running game function ? They were ranked 9th in the AAC in rushing in 2015 and the quality of the RBs on hand in unknown. They also gave up 29 sacks in 2015 (9th AAC in sacks allowed per game).
DEFENSE
The Pirates will be without two of their top three tacklers from last season, both important pieces of the LB group, and return six starters overall. They also move to a 3-4 alignment which may mean there are some early struggles. They have some nice size on the DL, but overall, they will need to generate more of a pass rush (25 sacks last season) and generate more turnovers than the 16 they came up with last season.
SPECIAL TEAMS
All the key elements return this season and experience is always good on special teams especially in the kicking game. PK Davis Plowman hit 10/12 FGs last year including 3/5 from 40+ yards.
MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 3.5
MEGALOCKS says:
The schedule will be challenging early on. They face NC State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and USF in their first six contests. If they can finish the first half of the season at 3-3 they have a very good shot at making a bowl game. That has to be the goal in this transition year.
Overall, we give the PIRATES a 3.5 ATS Value Rating (Below Average) this season. There are too many new faces to endorse the Pirates right now. Things could fall into place very quickly but we are going to take a wait and see approach.
Want more East Carolina football?
Website
http://www.ecupirates.com/schedule.aspx?path=football
Forum
http://chat.eastcarolina.sportswar.com/message_board/ecubanter/
https://eastcarolina.forums.rivals.com/forums/pirateillustrated-com-open-forum.6/
http://eastcarolina.247sports.com/Board/East-Carolina-Pirates-Message-Board-Forum-59438
News
http://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/aac/east-carolina-university/
http://bleacherreport.com/east-carolina-football
http://eastcarolina.247sports.com/
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/teams/east-carolina-pirates
https://twitter.com/ECUPiratesFB @ECUPiratesFB
https://twitter.com/NateSumm99 @NateSumm99 Nathan Summers