🏴‍☠️ The Harrell Huddle: Blake Harrell Previews NC State

ECU head coach Blake Harrell spoke to the media on Monday ahead of the Pirates’ season opener at NC State. Here’s the full rundown of what Harrell had to say as game week officially begins.

Opening Statement
"Before I get rolling, I better start with a couple of things. One is happy anniversary to my wife. It's our 13th year anniversary. So just kind of woke up this morning and just kind of like every other season, we spent it on the practice field or in preparation for game week and game day, all those things. But she's been an amazing head coach of the house, and just really thank her for all her love and kindness to me. I certainly don't deserve it most days. Also, it's the first day of class for our students on campus. Had an opportunity to speak to the freshmen yesterday and just how exciting they are going through the process of going to their first college class and all other students. So just kind of thoughts with them and prayers with them as they attend class. Also to Pitt County Schools, as they start class today. So nobody's happier about that than my wife, we got our three kids out of the house and our three daughters off to school this morning. But you know, as a former high school teacher, middle school teacher and coach, just really appreciate all the educators out there, thank you what you do. And again, our thoughts and prayers are with you guys as the school year goes.

"Finally, game week, an exciting week. And finally, the week of, leading up to Thursday, we actually wrapped up preseason about 10 days ago and started preparation for our first opponent in NC State. So we kind of been on that routine for a little while. Practiced this morning. We'll practice again tomorrow morning, and then head up on Wednesday afternoon to Raleigh in preparations for the game on Thursday. So it's always great to kick off the season. Always exciting times. But when you're kicking it off with an in-state opponent, it means just a little bit more. And this game, you know the history of it, been going on since 1970, have met 31 times. Just the pride that our fan base has in it. You know what it means to East Carolina and what it means to our fans and what it means to our football team is pretty special. And I think games like this are just great, not only because in-state opponents going at it, East Carolina and NC State. But what it means to the state of North Carolina, and I think it's the highest selling ticket in college football on Thursday night. I think there's about 15 games going on this Thursday. But I think I just looked at ESPN to see how many games were on. $167 is what the ticket starts out at. So I think just, if you think it from a from a money standpoint, or economic standpoint, all the money coming off this game. It stays in the state of North Carolina, and that's awesome for revenue within our state. I think that means so much more, maybe than Northern Illinois coming to Raleigh or a La. Tech coming to Raleigh. I think definitely you're packing that stadium out and for a special time and special place."

On NC State and its new coordinators
"Our opponent. Coach Doeren, has done a great job up there. He's going into his 13th season. I think anytime and in college football, in this day and age, you can be around for something for that long, you're obviously doing something right. Just the way he builds his culture, he builds a football team. I think he does it the right way, and really respect the heck out of that. And you know, they're a little bit different than what we saw in the bowl game. In the bowl game, we'll see some of the same players we saw there, but they have a new offensive coordinator, Kurt Roper. Coach Roper has been around. He was with Coach Cutcliffe at Duke, and he was at Florida as OC, he was at South Carolina as the OC, so he's been on staff there for the last several years, but he's taken over play calling duties on the offensive side. Defensively. DJ Eliot is taking over the defensive coordinator role. He was at Temple back in '22, then he was with the Eagles in '23, he was at Baylor last year. So we're preparing, both offensively and defensively, some things we think we'll get, not knowing exactly what we'll get, but you know, you kind of prepare for everything in game one, but at the same time, you want your focus to be about what we do and our preparation, and focus on how we execute and how hard we play with effort and those things."

On NC State’s returning players
"And then certainly gonna see some of the same players you saw from NC State in the bowl game. CJ Bailey, I think, is a quarterback going into his second year who you see a lot of times, a freshman quarterback, the growth he has going into the sophomore year is kind of his greatest growth. And I thought he was a really talented young man last year, and played pretty special at times. Hollywood Smothers is the tailback that they'll start the game with. And I think really good, exceptional speed back there, does a really good job on the outside zone plays. Justin Joey, Noah Rogers, are kind of his weapons at wideout, along with Wesley Grimes and the offensive line is kind of led up front by (Jacarrius) Peak. So those guys are similar guys we've seen in the bowl game. All are back, and think they have some really good weapons on that side of the ball.

"Defensively, we saw Sean Brown in the bowl game. Brandon Cleveland kind of led their defense. But Caden Fordham is back. He's a linebacker down out of the bowls High School in Jacksonville, Florida. And they've added some new pieces on that side, kind of transfer wise, kind of a couple guys from our league, Jamel Johnson from Temple, Brian Nelson, from North Texas, are a couple of players in the secondary. JJ Johnson from Georgia State. He plays in the secondary as well. So we focus on our opponent. We focus on, what they might do, and respect the heck out of them. But at the same time, as we prepare for an opponent each and every week, and obviously game one on week one, we talk about our preparation and how hard we play and playing with great effort and great energy, and a lot of that in the bowl game was brought by our fan base. So a shout out to those, those folks who made it up to Annapolis that day, and I appreciate the folks who are going to make it up to Raleigh this week, and kind of make that a great atmosphere for our players and a great atmosphere for the game. And then the last piece of it is just, hey, making good decisions. You obviously want to play this way and play the execution, but making good decisions offensively, defensively, special teams, doing your job, taking care of the football and playing the call that is called."

On the challenges of a Week 1 game
"I think anytime you go into game one, neither team has had any games yet. Last year, we played Norfolk State. They actually had a game. So you kind of knew what to expect. Made a little bit easier to prepare. But anytime you're going into game one, you never know kind of what new wrinkles a team could have, even if it's the same coordinator coming back. So you always kind of like, prepare for those things. You're chasing ghosts a little bit, we call it, and prepare for everything that could happen. But at the same time, you got to focus on, how you play the game and how you're going to stop their bread and butter plays, or, those things, and that's got to be your main focus. So, I think you will get some feeling out. But at the same time, we got to be aggressive with how we play the game, and go attack on both sides of football."

On John David Baker’s offense entering Year 2
"They've practiced pretty good. I think that's the thing. Like you can go through all preseason camp and kind of think this is what you may have or may not have, and this is where your strengths may be and weaknesses may be. And I think Coach Baker and Katin (Houser) and that whole offense is really clicking right now and doing a great job of just moving forward. But we got to go do it in a game setting, you know? We got to go do it for four quarters in a hostile environment up in Raleigh, in an opponent's stadium against another opponent. And we got to go do it where it's not just in a practice setting, where it's controlled, or scrimmage setting where it's somewhat controlled. We got to go do it on the road on Thursday night up in Raleigh. So excited about it, excited to see our guys go turn it loose. And I've got all the confidence in the world, in our players and our coaching staff that we're going to go up there and play the game right way."

On third downs
"Yeah. We practiced third downs last week. We practiced them again this weekend, and red zone as well, in different situations that will arise in the football game. But I think one of the keys to victory at the bowl game was we were 14 of 16 on third down. And some of that was Katin making plays with his legs. Somebody asked me, you gonna ask Katin to run? If it's open, and you can run and get a first down, let's go do it. So, we got to have that same mindset, move the sticks, move the chains, and get closer to the goal line with each and every single snap. And third down is a big piece of that, and big part of that. Offensively, staying on the field. Defensively, getting off the field, getting the ball back to our offense, and going from there. And then, obviously, when you're in certain situations, using that extra down, the fourth down to move the chains as well. So it was a big piece of it in the bowl game. I expect it to be a big piece on Thursday night."

On not overthinking the opener
"It starts with me. I think anytime, as a coach, you approach a game, or you go into a game and you're kind of uptight and if you're worried about this or worried about that, it kind of goes over to your coaches and it kind of goes over to your players. It just kind of falls in line there. But as a coach, you've got to walk around with a total confidence in them. And I do have total confidence in them. And the way they go practice each and every single day, they love practicing. And that's one thing I'll say about our guys, is they love coming to work each day. They love football, and they love each other. And if they could continue to do those things, I'll continue to have confidence in those guys. I think we'll go play well on game day. So that's where it starts. And you know, if we have that mindset, it kind of takes a little pressure off and eases a little bit. And let's go, turn it loose, let it ride and make some plays."

On handling the emotions of an in-state rivalry
"Obviously it's in state and it's a game where there's several guys who know each other from a high school game, or just played them in a bowl game. So you know each other from that. Every time you turn on social media, you see something about the game. So it's hard to hide that from your players and make it a faceless opponent, as you mentioned. But I think our focus is always, yeah, we're going to prepare for the opponent, we're going to prepare for what they do and respect the heck out of them, because they've done a great job throughout Coach Doeren's time there, but we got to make it more about us and our preparation. How we go about our business, how we go about our game, how we practice, how we do things. And if we'll do those things, I think it'll take some of the emotions out of it and just focus on what we do. And that certainly helps at the same time."

On QB CJ Bailey
"I think he does a great job with his eyes down the field. He has his eyes down the field, and he'll scramble around. He obviously has the legs to run it and take off on you. They got some quarterback run game with him. They're pulling guards and tackles and running counters in there, and the little two play series they got going on. But he can make the throws too. I mean, he can make the field out throw, he can throw it down the field, and just, I think he does really good job. And they're going to change the offense a little bit for him, I think, to fit him. I think if CJ Bailey wasn't such a big part of that offense, and no disrespect to Coach Roper, because he's done a great job, but maybe they would have went outside for an offensive coordinator. It just tells you how highly they think of CJ Bailey and keeping that staff together, and keeping that offense together, and keeping that culture together, which obviously coach Roper and CJ Bailey are a big part of what they do."

On explosive plays
"We want to make sure the explosives are for us and not them, and those good things. And we talk about playing to win. We talk about there's six things, and for us, playing to win, and it kind of covers all this. Number one is take care of the football and create turnovers. I think last year we were 130th in turnovers given up. I think about 87th or something in forcing turnovers. We've got to balance that out. We got to make sure we take the ball away from them, and we take care of the football. And then win the rushing battle, win the red zone battle, win the explosive plays, that's a huge one. And just kind of, defensively, gotta keep the ball in front of you. And offensively, when you've got the opportunity to turn it into an explosive, you got to make that happen. And we talked about it, I think, last week, of just guys giving the extra effort to make those explosive plays happen down the field, and then win Red Zone battle, and the last one for us is Pirates don't beat Pirates, and those are just simple things of a what we're supposed to do, stay on schedule, moving the football down the field and taking care of business."

On the kicking competition
"We have got some really good depth in that room. And I think all three of those guys have different strengths, for sure. I mean, Noah's kicked in a big game for us before, and really has a really fast close to the football, really very accurate inside 25-30 yards there. Nick's got a little bit longer leg to him. It'll be his first time kicking for us at East Carolina. So all those guys, and Andrew Conrad shows some flashes, have done a really good job. And going to keep focused on those guys for next several days, just kind of see who we roll out there first."

On not calling plays this year
"I think I've been wearing the defensive coaches out a little bit. Last year, when I was kind of going through the interim stuff, and the head coach in the bowl game, obviously was still calling plays, so still running that side of the football and now, obviously you're responsible for the whole thing. So you're over there on both sides of the football, coaching it up, and coaching the defense up and just coaching the coaches up. They do a really good job of focusing on our defense and getting us ready to play. And just really proud of Coach Aldridge and those guys have kinda taken this thing and going with it and running with it. But, you know, for me, I think on game night, it may be a little bit different. Before, when the offense was on the field, I was kind of thinking, 'Hey, what we got going on game management wise, but also what's the next series defensively look like for us? How do we got to get stops defensively and get off the field, get the ball back to our offense?' Now, I hope I don't get bored during the game because I'm not calling defense. I don't think I will, but it certainly kind of crossed my mind a little bit."