East Carolina will head into summer camp with a battle at the most important position for the second time in as many offseasons. The Pirates are searching for a starting quarterback.
Coach Mike Houston spoke on Tuesday at the American Athletic Conference media day event in Arlington, Texas, about the importance of bringing in two transfer quarterbacks this offseason to shore up the play at the position.
The decision to bring in Katin Houser from Michigan State and Jake Garcia from Missouri, two talented, capable players with starting experience, has already paid off as Houston noted the competition raised the level of the play during spring practices.
“Both of them have incredible ability and talent and so we brought in two because we felt like we needed the competition and we didn’t want to just have everything on one guy,” Houston said. “I’ll tell you, the spring couldn’t have went any better. Both of them played at a very, very high level. We rotated them throughout the spring.
“And I was excited for our fans because our spring game probably couldn’t have gone any better. I mean, they came out and lit it up in the first half. They showed off the accuracy, the arm strength, the ability to read defenses, the ability to make the right checks. And so we’re very excited about those two going into the fall.”
It’s no secret that ECU’s offense struggled during a 2-10 season last year. The Pirates used two quarterbacks and could never quite put it all together on the field. They finished last in the league in points scored and touchdowns and finished 13th out of 14 in passing yards per game (163.9), ahead of only Navy (105.7).
Preseason standings
The Pirates were picked to finish tied with Rice for seventh in the preseason media poll. Memphis was voted the favorite in the 14-team conference as the Tigers are coming off their third 10-win season since 2017.
Memphis received 23 of 30 first-place votes. UTSA was second after the Roadrunners went 9-4 in their first season in the AAC. Tulane was third, South Florida was fourth and Army finished fifth and received one first-place vote ahead of its first season in the conference.
FAU was sixth, one spot ahead of the Pirates.
New coaches
Two new coaches enter the AAC this season. Jon Sumrall takes over at Tulane, which lost to SMU in the conference championship game last season. Jeff Monken, who has been in the Army since 2013, joined the league with the addition of the Black Knights.
Sumrall was named Tulane’s 42nd head coach in December and spent the past two seasons at Troy. There, Sumrall led the Trojans to a 23-4 record and two Sun Belt Conference championships. He returns to Tulane after serving as the Green Wave’s co-defensive coordinator from 2012-14.
Monken heads into his 11th season as the coach of Army. He owns a 108-71 career record with the Black Knights.
New leadership
Tim Pernetti took over for Mike Aresco as the commissioner of the AAC. He delivered his first remarks on Tuesday.
During his opening speech, Pernetti expressed interest in continuing to grow the conference through exposure and talent while staying competitive in the ever-changing landscape of college football.
Whether it be conference realignment or representation in the new College Football Playoff, Pernetti wants the AAC to have a seat at the table.
“Today is day 50 for me as the commissioner of The American and these days are all about developing relationships with our institutions, listening, learning and, of course, preparing to take big swings as a conference,” he said. “... We all understand that growing our brand ultimately drives value for member institutions, their programs and student-athletes, and that is our goal. It is also the time to invest in the collegiate athletics model and new business and enterprise strategies.
“Yes, collegiate athletics is amid transformative change and, to some extent, chaos. This is exciting. Change leads to transformation. Transformation brings opportunity, and opportunity needs investment. There are transformative matters at hand, like Title IX, roster limits and sports sponsorship. We need to remember that the decisions being made will impact a diverse enterprise, not just the top one percent which is why we need to work together and ensure every conference has a voice.”
ECU golf
East Carolina men’s golfers Lucas Augustsson, Philip Linberg Bondestad, Tyler DeChellis and Ethan Hall have been named to the 2023-24 Cobalt Golf All-America Scholars, the organization announced. This is the second scholastic honor for DeChellis, while the others are first-time selections.
To be eligible for the nomination, an individual must be a sophomore, junior or senior both academically and athletically in NCAA Division I, II, III, and NAIA, or receiving their associate’s degree and in their last year of athletic eligibility in the NJCAA.
In addition, they must participate in 50 percent of their team’s competitive rounds, have a stroke average under 76.0 in NCAA Division I and maintain a minimum cumulative career grade-point average of 3.2.
All 10 members from the 2023-24 squad were named to the AAC All-Academic Team in July.
ECU lacrosse
For the sixth time in program history, East Carolina has been named an Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Honor Squad, the organization announced. Additionally, 11 members of ECU’s 2024 lacrosse team have been named to the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll for Division I.
The Pirates are one of 324 teams across all divisions to earn this distinction and have still done so in every single season in the program’s history (the award was not given in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). To qualify for this prestigious honor, the women’s lacrosse team must have posted a 3.2 or higher team GPA for the academic year.
Juniors Erin Gulden, Caroline Meininger and Izzi Seven; seniors Regina Di Chiara, Courtney Frank, Alexandra Giacolone, Carli Johnston, Summer Morrison, Madeleine Saucier and Emily Stratton; and graduate student Frances Kimel all earned the recognition for their efforts in the classroom.
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