Harrell on Day 1 of Fall Camp: “It Has to Be Like That Each Day”
Fall camp officially kicked off in Greenville on Monday, and ECU head coach Blake Harrell didn’t waste time setting the tone for what he expects moving forward. After a long offseason filled with roster turnover and reflection, the Pirates hit the field early in the morning — and Harrell liked what he saw, but made it clear that one solid day won’t be enough.
“Thought we had a good first day,” Harrell said, “but we have to have a better second day. And it has to be like that each day.”
Now in his first full fall camp as head coach, Harrell has shifted focus from simply calling plays to managing the entire operation. One of the first things he keyed in on? How the team is using their time.
“As a head coach, that’s what I look at now — transition times. Are we wasting time? Do we have wasted time?”
One noticeable adjustment this camp has been shorter practice sessions — but not at the expense of productivity. Harrell believes in efficiency over duration, and says the team still gets the same amount of work in, just with more purpose.
“Last year we kinda started to take care of each other. People think when you go shorter, you are getting less done. We still get the same number of reps, and we have to make sure we get quality out of it.”
With the season opener against NC State looming just five weeks away, it's no secret who ECU is preparing for. But Harrell isn’t letting the rivalry distract from the larger picture.
“Our guys know who we play game one. Our guys know when game one is. It’s like this every year — it’s the biggest one because it’s the next one.”
Rather than obsessing over Week 1, Harrell is drilling two main messages into his team: get better at football, and grow closer as a team.
“Our focus is on us. We talk about two things right now: it’s about getting better at football every day and getting better as a team.”
That growth is especially important considering the amount of new blood in the locker room. ECU brought in more than 50 newcomers, and Harrell credits the returning players for helping create early chemistry.
“We have around 50-something new guys. Our guys in our locker room helped bring those guys together, but also the new guys are all buying in.”
Replacing last season’s 22-man senior class was always going to be one of the biggest storylines heading into 2025. But Harrell believes new leaders are already stepping up — and it’s showing in how they carry themselves.
“You sat in this room and those 22 seniors are gone. They’d done a great job laying the foundation.”
“I went home this spring and Katin [Houser] walked up to me and asked how I felt about the team’s leadership. Well, totally different. You’re starting to see those guys rise to the top — Houser, Marlon Gunn, Rhyeem Craig, Sam Dankah.”
Among the new faces fighting for reps is Greenville native Rion Roseborough, a Towson transfer who’s quickly earning the respect of the coaching staff.
“I just think Rion is bought in. He wants to be a Pirate. To see him start to figure it out there.”
With camp just beginning, Harrell said rep counts are being monitored closely, but that’ll ramp up fast as the staff begins to stretch each player further.
“Today, we only got 10 reps. Tomorrow they will get more reps. Every day, as a coaching staff, we will begin to stretch them out each practice.”
The defensive backs, in particular, will be under a microscope. There’s plenty of depth — but not enough reps to go around. Harrell says they’ll be earned, not given.
“We have a lot of bodies in the DB room. We have to be strategic about who gets those reps. They have to earn those reps. They’d done it all summer, but now they have to do it with pads on.”
Harrell wrapped up with a simple message that echoed throughout his press conference: being a Pirate isn’t something given. It’s something you fight for.
“Our focus is everything is earned. You earn the right to be a part of this program. You earn the right to be a Pirate. That’s what our program is going to be about.”