It’s officially football season as East Carolina stepped onto the practice field early Monday.
The Pirates worked out and head coach Blake Harrell took questions from the media about the start to his first full season as head coach.
Pirate Radio was there for the sights and sounds. Below are also more details from ECU Sports Information.
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Photo: ECU football coach Blake Harrell (ECU Sports Information photo)
First-year East Carolina Head Football Coach Blake Harrell officially opened the 2025 campaign Monday morning after instructing the Pirates through their first official workout of the season on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.
With expected temperatures in the high 90’s, Harrell moved the workout session up an hour and the Pirates began the day’s activities with a 5:45 a.m. wake-up call, breakfast, treatment and positional meetings before turning in a 110-minute practice in shorts and helmets reinstalling schemes with temperatures in the lower 80’s. ECU follows Monday’s workout with daily sessions through Saturday before its first scheduled off day of camp Sunday.
“I thought moving practice up an hour early and getting out of the heat a little bit was best for our football team and our players,” Harrell said. “I am never going to be stubborn about taking care of our football team and our players. Last year, we lost a couple guys in camp for a couple weeks, and I just want to make sure we have quality practices where guys can fly around and practice football the right way, and I thought we did that this morning.
“Our focus is that everything is earned. You earn the right to be a part of this program, You earn the right to be a Pirate, whether it’s playing time, traveling on the bus, a starting position whatever it may be – that’s what we are going to be about, and this program will be about. For the next 31 days, we got to earn the right to go and win games this season. We have to earn the right to go play well, execute and be disciplined in everything we do. That is what we are building right now, that is what preseason camp is about and each day we have to grow on that.
“I thought we had a good first day, but we have to have a better second day, then third day and it’s got to be like that every single day to earn the right to win and the right to play well and give ourselves a chance to win. It was good to have those guys out there. The good thing it’s like day one, but it’s really not like day one. You’ve been here all summer, out at OTAs, player-led workouts with guys flying around and knowing exactly where to go.
“I thought our transition time was good. As a head coach, that is kind of what I am looking at now. Are we wasting time, are we doing a great job of teaching and coaching or are we wasting time. We were moving around from drill to drill, station to station and period to period really fast. I thought our guys knew exactly where to go and execution wise within the schemes. We did a pretty decent job but need to have better urgency getting lined up and urgency about the next play. I think sometimes in the summer you get a little bit nonchalant about those things, but that’s what summer is about. Now it’s time to ramp those things back up and make sure we go and earn the right to win this fall.”
Of the Pirates’ 122-man camp roster, they return five of 22 positional starters (four offense, one defense) and five on special team while welcoming back 44 lettermen from a year ago (18 offense, 21 defense, five specialists). ECU also returns 29 student-athletes from the spring, while welcoming 23 new players for fall camp.
East Carolina is schedule to progress to shells (shoulder pads) for the first time Wednesday before a full gear workout Saturday per NCAA rules. The Pirates will close camp on August 20, just days after its second scrimmage before returning to a customary in-season early morning schedule in preparation for its season opener at NC State on Thursday, Aug. 28.
Fans can follow the Pirates throughout camp on their social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and X).