The Harrell Huddle: Bye-Week Reset, Tulane Focus, and “Do Your 1/11th”

ECU Head Coach Blake Harrell talked to the media Monday morning ahead of the Tulane game. Check out the full interview down below.

Opening Statement

"It's a Monday, but really, I think a Wednesday in game prep, so I was kind of a little bit more locked in there at practice. But apologize if I missed (the media) out at practice. Want to start it off just, our condolences and lost a really good man and really good coach and really good Pirate this past weekend, in Harold Robinson. And what Harold meant not only to East Carolina football, but to high school football in Eastern North Carolina. You know, a native of Washington, Beaufort County, coached in Williamston, and Martin County forever and the influence he had on high school football in this region, and then also a true Pirate, and just our thoughts and prayers with him, his family, as they go through this season of loss here. But, just couldn't say enough good things about what he has meant to Pirate Nation over the years.

"Also want to talk about another Pirate in Trey Yesavage. Big day for the Blue Jays yesterday and for Trey. And, you know, excited for him. And we talked a little bit about Ja'Quan McMillian out at practice at the end of practice today, and Trey is a perfect example of exactly what Ja'Quan is, just having an elite mindset and really preparing for the moment. And obviously he had done that all season, and when his moment came yesterday, he performed on the biggest stage. There he is, and just a shout out to him, and, representing his team and also Pirate Nation in such a manner.

"The bye week's a little bit unusual. We go back to thinking about Army, usually up here, we're talking about the past game, and what happened on Saturday, and now it's 11 days removed, and we had a chance to kind of do some recruiting during that time. I actually got out in Pitt County a little bit. Was over at Conley High School, and saw some pretty good football over there, and saw a couple of you guys over there as well. And then over at Rose High School, and saw South Central there as well. So that was good to get out in the area and see some good football. And also, while I was over at Rose, saw they honored the 50th anniversary of the first state championship team at Rose High School, and saw those guys out there and just, setting the foundation for Rose High School and the culture way back then and what's carried on into today. So that was pretty cool, just seeing a little football in the area."

On reflecting on the Army game

"Going back to Army, kind of reflect on it a little bit. We're always looking at the windshield, not in the rear view. But it was a really good win. Good way to start off the conference. We're 1-0 against what you're seeing in an Army team that is 1-2 in the conference right now, maybe 2-2 after this weekend. And, you know, they even did some things that maybe they weren't used to last year. But I think that's a little credit to our guys and our players and the way they attack things. You know, offensively we came out, we started fast. First three drives, put up seven points (each time). Anthony (Smith) and Katin (Houser) connected down the field. Katin got in the end zone there, and then Anthony got the end zone as well. And really, you know, that's the way you want to start, especially against an option team, is get the lead. You know, thought we converted well on third down, got the rushing attack going late in the game, and then defensively, that's probably as good of a defensive performance as I've seen against an option team in a long time. So just really proud of those guys. And then special teams added a score right there at the end with Kyler Pearson. But as I tell our guys, you can take confidence from the beginning of the year. And I think if you look at the stats right now, we're doing a lot of things well, but we got to focus on the things we're not doing well and kind of get them up there. We can't take one play from the beginning of the year into this week versus Tulane."

On Tulane

"So our focus has been on Tulane. You know, a lot of times in a bye week, you have a time to reflect and kind of look at yourself, what you did for a couple days. But pretty quickly we got started on our preparation in for Tulane. We've got 14 days coming in this Thursday since we last played. You know, a little less for them, I think 12, because they played on Saturday. We played on a Thursday. You know, they're a 4-1 football team. They're 1-0 in the conference. And I believe, and I might be wrong on this, you can kind of correct me. We've won in New Orleans, but never at Yulman stadium. Believe that's correct. (Jon) Sumrall is doing a great job there. He is their head coach, I think he's, like, the fifth highest winning percentage coach in college football right now, at .778 or so. His conference record since he joined the American is 11-2. Last year in 2024 they played for the American Conference Championship, as well as Army.

"Offensively, they are a pro style, shift, motion, move around. They'll do a little bit of huddling offense. Joe Craddock has been his offensive coordinator at Tulane, as well as at Troy. And then on the defensive side of the ball, defensive coordinator is Greg Gasparato. You'll see a similar style defense to what you saw from Army. He is a Nate Woody disciple, we actually coached against him when we were in the Southern Conference. He was at Wofford and I was at The Citadel. So it'll be similar to there. And then special teams is one of the strong suits as well. I think they got a really good kicker, really good punter and return guy, Omari Hayes, who was actually at FAU last year. Offensively, they're averaging 26 points a game, over 400 yards a game. Think most of that, the bulk of that's coming on the ground, over 200 yards a game rushing. Jake Retzlaff Is the quarterback, a transfer from BYU, so we thought we'd see him during the offseason against BYU a couple weeks ago, and some things happened there, and he ended up at Tulane.

"He's actually seventh nationally in rushing touchdowns, with seven touchdowns. So you think of quarterbacks, you think of the arms, he can certainly spin it, and very strong arm there. And does a good job. He puts it in small windows, tight spaces. But where I really see him hurt teams, especially Duke, I think he had four rushing touchdowns alone in that game, is just on the ground. Whether it's scrambling or quarterback design run game, I think he's a competitor and does a really good job. If you think about rushing teams, rushing offenses, you think about their offensive line. I think that right guard, Shadre Hurst, kid from Cartersville, it starts with him. I think he's Preseason All American. Does a really good job. Got some really nice feet in there. And then center Jack Hollifield, who actually played for Coach (Lance) Ware in high school, was at App State last year. So he's played in our stadium before, we played against him a couple times, is their center. So that's kind of the two guys that stand out in the offensive line. The backfield is kind of a stable of guys, I think Turner, number zero is kind of the guy that stood out to me early in the season. He's had some injuries throughout the season, missed some time, but he's got a little flash to him. Mobley is number two. Mobley is the kid that transferred from FAU over to Tulane, an older kid. Barnes is a returning running back, number 20, and then a guy that's a freshman and has put the ball in the end zone a couple times is number 23, (Javin) Gordon. So all four of those kind of do it by committee, and kind of a stable back there. The tight ends in this offense are very key as far as they are a 12 personnel, 11 personnel, 13 personnel. And they got three guys. They get a lot of time in there with 82 Pascuzzi, who's a transfer from Iowa, Reed, 88 I believe he's from Newnan High School. And then the Miller kid, 85, who's from Duluth High School. All three play a lot. I think both of his passing touchdowns have been to tight ends. And then the receiver, you know, mentioned Omari Hayes in the return game. He's electric out there. I think they are really good in short area quickness out wide. It's not going to be some guys we see, with a lot of length, but I think they make up for it in speed. So if you try to play them in some man, some one on ones type stuff, they make it challenging for you out there. So Bohanon is another guy out there, 83 and number five, Brown-Stephens, can play. The guy that has a little bit of length is number 7, Preston. But they'll use shift motions, movements, and they'll play with some tempos, change that up on you, and then obviously dial up some shots to throw the ball down the field with his deep sail route, scissor routes, or just some cross country routes there as well.

"Defensively I mentioned, the same style as as Army, but you'll see, I think, a little bit more aggressiveness in there from him. You know, 29 Santana Hopper, I think, was player of the week last week, last Monday, he's the transfer from App State, originally from Shelby. Their field end, number six, Kameron Hamilton - he stands out to me, just kind of a guy that that makes some plays, can give you a hard time up front. You gotta know who those guys are. I think the D line overall is a group that, has depth, plays with physicality, quickness, all those things, but those are the guys that stand out. The nickel, I think he's already got three picks on the year. Javion White does a really good job. So you better know where he's at and make sure you put it in the receivers hands and keep it away from him. The safety 32 (Bailey Despanie) comes downhill and strikes you. And then the kid from St Pius, number 1, who's a transfer from Troy, Jack (Tchienchou), is doing a really good job playing back there.

"So all in all, solid football team. They do things that give them a chance to win football games. They started off the season beating Northwestern, and then turn around the next week, go on the road, beat a South Alabama team in a tight ball game. Turn around the next week, play Duke, who they lost their quarterback to, Mensah, and Duke went down there and and they got up on them 21-3 at the half. And then, you know, Retzlaff had another rushing touchdown. Made it 28-9 or something, in there, and played really well and got the win against them. And then obviously beat Tulsa on the road as well. So they just, they're coming off a bye week, and have done some good things and just, a really good football team. Looking forward to Thursday night playing down in New Orleans. And we talk to our players all the time. Obviously we're going to respect our opponent, be prepared for our opponent, know exactly what they do, but our focus is still on us. Focus is what about what we do, how we approach it, our mindset and how we prepare for the football game. So that's kind of been our main mindset through the bye week."

On what they emphasized during the open date

"Yeah, there was a couple things. I mean, one, obviously, you get some younger guys some looks, some younger guys a few more reps. It's an opportunity for us to scrimmage those younger guys a little bit. So you're continuously throughout the season, you're always working on player development, but a little bit more focused on some younger guys, freshman development there as well.

"And then you look at key areas that, hey, maybe we view as a weakness as coaches - fourth downs, red zone, big plays, third down, next, whatever it may be, then you kind of find ways to go attack that and set your practice up. We've got to do a better job of sequencing play, I think. Some special team things I think we can clean up. So all those things we kind of go back, take a look at, and really make that the focus. We practiced last Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of last week. And really Monday and Tuesday were more about us and looking inwards and kind of making sure we're prepared for the second half of season. Here, you're five games in, so it gives you a good snapshot of where you're at, and then also a good snapshot of where you can go to. So I think we did a good job of that. And then Thursday, we kind of jumped right into Tulane, because we were seven days out from from the football game."

On facing a dual-threat like Retzlaff

"Yeah, you see in the Duke game, I think on the first drive, he runs a little zone read in there, tucks it away. The defense, they really don't honor him at all with a defensive end. A linebacker should have had him. And he just kind of gets up the field and gains chunk yards, and then finally gets in the end zone in the second one. So you got to do a great job of playing fundamentally sound football, because he's got all the plus one runs. It makes you honor him. And then, if it's third and long and it's not there, he's going to tuck it and run. He doesn't put the ball in harm. That's the thing you notice about him, like he doesn't put it where somebody can pick it off or make a bad decision. If the throw is not there, if it's not open, he's going to tuck it and run, and he can certainly chew up some yards in a hurry. Has done a good job of that."

On whether NC State/BYU helped prep for Tulane

"Yeah, I think every game prepares you for the next game. Those experiences, the things that come up in a game. And we actually even took some games this weekend that we saw on TV, and were talking about them yesterday morning, and, you know, before they practice, before practice, and our team meeting, just about how you can learn from those experiences. And certainly, games in Raleigh or a BYU here can help prepare you for games like this and teams like this. It's a similar style in some ways, to what maybe BYU did with the huddle, the shifts, the motions, the trades offensively. Odd front, so there is some carry over. So you just take things that you learn from the season, those ball games, or throughout the season, the Coastal game, whatever it may be, and build on again and again. We can't make it about like, Hey, make it a big game. Or make it about all the big games. We got to kind of pull the thumb, look inwards and make it about us."

On the “do your job” message

"No question. This is absolutely what it is like, Hey, forget everything else and make it about us. And that's really like, us is good enough, all right. And there's a bunch of us out there. You don't have to be the one that makes a play all the time. Count on your teammates, do your 1/11th and do your job. And if everybody does that, we'll play Pirate football and play the right way. And I think, you know, there's many times this year where maybe we thought we had to make a play and we made a mistake. And I think we can learn from those things moving forward, just like we talked about that, hey, if I just do my 1/11th, do my job and focus on that, the best of my ability will be just fine."

On plan vs mobile QBs and applying it Thursday

"Being aware of it's probably the big thing. I think if you can stop the run, and obviously we need to early in the game this week, and if you can do those things, and putting him in in situations, third and long, you know, he's not third and medium, third and short, where you're guessing, and then the only quarterback run game he has is a scramble. You can be aware of that. Put spies on him and put guys that you know can have an opportunity to make a tackle. You don't want to put a spy on him that's not as athletic as he is. He's pretty dang athletic and can run and move around, but we got to do a job with that thing. CJ Bailey is a perfect example of, hey, keep the guy in front of you, keeping them in the pocket. Make sure we rush, we're under control, and keep him in there. Even the BYU kid, he would probably rather take off than would throw the football, although, you know, in the last couple weeks we've seen him throw the football really well, but all those kids have helped prepare you, you know, for for Jake, and what are some things he can do and he may be the best we've seen so far."

On Tulane’s sustained success

"Yeah, there's probably several aspects that we won't get into. But, you know, I think they've done a good job for the last several years. Coach Fritz was there, and I think, (Michael) Pratt and those things kind of lined up. Defensively, they had a run there. Some guys just moved on to the NFL as well, and they still got those guys that play hard, and they got that mindset and that culture. And Jon Sumrall has continued that, and he did that at Troy, and certainly does a great job coaching and all the coaches do. So I think the fact that they continually go play the right way, go attack it the right way. And that's what we want to be, that's what we want to do with our football team, is make sure our mindset's to play our tails off, and give great effort, great energy. And you've seen them do that, and that's kind of why, why they've been able to win games. I think they're maybe first or second the country in road games. I think they've won like 17 or 19 straight. They're 32-5 over the last couple years, something wild in the American Conference. So just consistency. And I think I just saw a quote a while ago about average teams, mediocre teams, even good teams, not being consistent. But the great teams are consistent day in and day out through the process. And the process is being urgent about it, being intent about it, attention to detail, all those little things help you be a great football team. That's certainly what they've done throughout the years."

On road-trip moments for players

"There's no question. I just, I look at it sometimes, like, we go on a flight and go to a stadium and get right back on the flight and fly home. It's like, well, somebody asked you, did you see this or see that? Well, you don't even have an opportunity to see that, because you're just thinking on the game. And I think it's - our main focus, our main job is go win the football game. But I don't think, if you go to Myrtle Beach and you can take a walk on the beach, and you get to enjoy the ocean, and see what God's created, I think that's pretty special. How many times will our guys get back to Myrtle Beach and get an opportunity to do that? When we go to Temple, we're gonna go run the Rocky Steps. When we go to San Antonio, we'll go see the Riverwalk, maybe The Alamo. Then, this weekend we go to New Orleans, we're gonna go see a Cathedral, and Cafe Du Monde. I keep calling it whatever they make there, and just experience a little bit. It's a little to stretch our legs out for 20-30 minutes. But also, at the same time, I think, how many opportunities are our young men ever gonna have to go back to New Orleans? And it kind of relaxes them a little bit. At the same time, they'll be focused and ready for the game. I don't think it has one way or the other of helping us get a defensive stop or an offensive score, but I don't think it hurts us either. So I think it's just a good opportunity to expose those young men to opportunities like that and relax them a little bit same time."

On Xavier McIver and injury decisions

"Yeah, we got several guys. Even though you have a bye week, we have several guys we're monitoring right now, just to kind of see where they're at and see if they're full-gos, just you've got to make a decision. If you got guys banged up a little bit, if I play them, if they are to play, does it set them back? Or, if they do play, are they going to be 75 percent, 90 percent? Is there 90 percent or 75 percent better than the next guy? And I think one thing we've done a really good job of is developing young men and developing our depth on both sides of football that we got. Other guys are pretty dang good football players too. So, Xavier, and there's a couple more we're kind of monitoring, keeping an eye on the next 24 hours and then we decide like, 'Hey, do they need to be on the trip and be on the plane with us?' Because if you're not out there and not going to be full speed 100 percent and flying around and helping us make plays, then maybe it is best that, hey, we pull back a little bit, that way the following game you can. Because you don't want to lose a guy for two games when you're trying and one game is only half speed or half go, and where you could have held him back. And now you've got the rest of the season. So we got to make the best decision for that individual and our football team at the same time, make sure we're doing what's right for the individual and the football team to help us win games."

On penalties and end-game discipline

"Yeah, we're trying to, we're trying to. It's what somebody called the Cancun fund the other day. They're cutting back on our Cancun fund. But I thought the guys did a better job at just being locked in and like, tomorrow's our two days before the game (practice). I'm used to focused in Thursdays, but our 'Locked In,' shirts, we wear those tomorrow, and did a better job throughout the game of doing that against Army. And that's key, not only this week, this Thursday against Tulane and a conference game, but every single week, and you can watch football. The good thing about playing on Thursdays. And there are some pros and cons to it, whatever. But one of the good things you get is a chance to watch everybody else play, and you can see how silly mistakes can lose you a football game. You can also see how being disciplined can win you a football game. And we watched the end of a couple games as a team yesterday, and it was the end of the UCLA-Penn State game, and also the end of the Florida-Texas game. There's a few things in there that, like, you've got to be prepared for the moment. We do a lot of end of the game situations, and you see in those two games, I'm not sure some of those teams were prepared. Maybe they were and just didn't do a great job executing. And we talked about, hey, the process, and how the process, you've got to attack it every single day, even though it may not come up every single Saturday. At some point it's going to come up. It's going to win you a ball game. So, all those little things being attention to detail, being disciplined with penalties, all those are going to help win a ball game, especially when you're playing a good football team like Tulane."

Check out the full interview here!