East Carolina is in a 3-4 defense for the second year in program history but also sports a high-flying, ‘Air-raid’ passing offense that will challenge South Carolina. See what the Gamecocks’ (1-0) coaches have to say about Saturday’s match-up with the Pirates, which is scheduled for a 12:21 p.m. kickoff on the SEC Network.
Offensive line coach Shawn Elliott has some decisions to make at his tackle positions
ECU defense
“They’re kind of an odd front team. They run a lot of blitz scheme and movement. You have to be sound in your assignment against these guys. You have to know exactly what they’re kind of thinking, so to speak. We have to be on our Ps and Qs. I think we played pretty well last year. We can play a lot better. It will be a whole different ball game. We have new guys, they have new guys, they have new ideas, which is the same as us. This has really nothing to do as last year’s game. I won’t reflect on that game at all.” - offensive line coach Shawn Elliott
“If you notice around the country, a lot of those smaller colleges give everybody fits. I don’t have the exact reason for it. They really come to play. It’s a huge victory for them if they’re able to beat a big college team and it’s not a big deal for the big college school. You get into a lot of tight games. It happens everywhere. We’re not the only ones who get in them like that. They’ll come to play and see they had a really good chance to get us last year. Scored on fumbles and the punt return, this, that and the other. They sort of fumbled it away. They’ll know they can play with us very well.” - head coach Steve Spurrier
ECU offense
“It’s a good group of receivers. A good quarterback with a live arm, throws the ball high and far down field. It will definitely be a week where we have to show up, tackle well, line up with proper leverages and have our eyes in the proper place. It’s definitely a challenge. They’ll be one of the better passing attacks we see all season.” -secondary coach Grady Brown
“It’s another good challenge for us. East Carolina is a good football team. They’re a dang good football team. It’s a little bit different offense. They’re spreading it out and throwing a little bit more. We’re going to have to do better with open field tackles and doing our assignments. Reaction times, good pass drops, fitting the run, but just getting lined up and running to the football and doing a great job of tackling in the open field.” - linebackers coach Kirk Botkin
“East Carolina will be a challenge for us. They didn’t give up a sack last week. Sacks can be an overstated stat, but we have our work cut out for us. Just like they were a year ago, they like to catch it and get rid of it. It’s hard to effect the quarterback. I use the term effect the quarterback - that’s the most important thing you can do when you play a team that throws the football. - defensive line coach Brad Lawing
“They're not going to sit back and hold the ball a lot. The quarterback's going to get rid of the football, and we've definitely got to play well in space. It puts a lot of pressure on us, but hopefully we can take all the technique and fundamentals we've taught in the spring and preseason and utilize it." - defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward
Special Teams
“They’re an unstoppable force, it looks like. Hopefully we’ll play a little better. We have our own issues. We have some things we need to clean up a little bit. Hopefully we’ll be OK. - special teams coordinator Joe Robinson, when told ECU had a 90-yard kickoff return and 40-yard punt return against Appalachian State
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