East Carolina Football Announces 2020 Early Signees | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the news and information section for East Carolina University men's and women's sports.


    Signee Bios (PDF) | Signing Day Central | Press Conference

    GREENVILLE, N.C.     East Carolina Head Football Coach Mike Houston announced Wednesday that 25 student-athletes have signed a national letter-of-intent with the Pirates.

    The NCAA's early football signing period, which enables high school prospects to ink with collegiate programs in December, extends through Friday.

    Some notables about ECU's 2020 initial signing class:

    ALL THREE SIDES OF THE BALL     Of the 25 newcomers, 14 are projected to play on the defensive side of the ball, while the remaining 11 will line up on offense (10) and special teams (1). Defensively, ECU is looking forward to bulking up its front and back end by adding seven linemen and five secondary performers, plus a pair of linebackers. On offense, the Pirates signed a trio of linemen, three quarterbacks, two running backs, one tight end and a wide receiver. East Carolina also inked a punter, a 27-year-old Australian, on special teams.

    PLAYER DEVELOPMENT     Freshmen (23) compose over 90 percent of ECU's early signing class. The Pirates' two junior college transfers - defensive ends Henry Garrison (2) and Elijah Robinson (3) - have a combined five seasons of eligibility remaining.

    EARLY ENROLLEES     In addition to Garrison and Robinson, eight incoming freshmen are expected to enroll early at ECU (January 2020) and participate in spring drills with the Pirates - LB Eric Doctor, RB Rahjai Harris, LB Teylor Jackson, P Luke Larsen, DT J'Vian McCray, DE Jason Romero, OL Walt Stribling and DB Teagan Wilk.

    COVERING THE EASTERN SEABOARD     Twenty-two (22) of the 25 signees hail from prep and junior college programs that are on Eastern Seaboard along the I-95 corridor. Five hail each from North Carolina and Virginia, while South Carolina (3), Florida (2), Georgia (2), District of Columbia (2), Maryland (1), New Jersey (1) and New York (1) were also represented.

    QUOTING HOUSTON     "It's an exciting day for East Carolina Football and it's a big next step for our program. This class is large in number, but also high in quality. It was obvious after our first year in this league (American Athletic Conference) that we needed to address size and speed in our program and this class will certainly help us close the gap."

    LOOKING AHEAD TO 2020     The Pirates, who turned in a 4-8 overall record during Houston's first ECU campaign in 2019, are expected to return nine starters on offense and seven on defense when spring drills open March 16 before hosting Marshal on Sept. 5 to kick off the 2020 season.