East Carolina vs. Maryland
This should be a shootout. Neither East Carolina nor Maryland are particularly good defensive teams. East Carolina finished the season ranked 106th in the country in overall defense. They have had communications issues, shown an inability to rush the quarterback and have shown no ability to get off blocks. While Maryland hasn’t shown the best defense, they still have some quality players, like linebacker Alex Wujciak, cornerback Cameron Chism, and safeties Kenny Tate and Antwine Perez. While Chism and the other cornerbacks have been spotty in coverage, Chism himself is athletic enough to shut down whomever he is covering. The problem is that he can’t cover all the receivers on the field all at the same time. Tate and Perez are great safeties and Alex Wujciak leads a group of linebackers who are disciplined in coverage. However regardless of how disciplined they are, that won’t give them the kind of the athleticism they’ll need to keep pace with the speedy East Carolina receivers. It’s better than East Carolina, but still not great.
Offensively, East Carolina likes to spread the field, much like Mike Leach did at Texas Tech. They like to use four and five wide receiver formations and move their best receivers (Lance Lewis and Dwayne Harris) to the interior receiver positions to help create mismatches in coverage. They have a surprisingly good quarterback in Dominique Davis who can make plays in the offense. However he also ha he tendency to press and force balls into coverage that he shouldn’t. That will lead to turnover if he tries it in this game. The Pirates must get support from the running game, which has been ok, but far from great. They’ve been able to run when they choose to, but they don’t run a great deal because of their great passing game. Maryland counters with a solid passing game and not much else. Maryland should try a pound the ball on the ground to make sure that the Pirates aren’t dropping seven into coverage. Otherwise they may have a hard time getting the ball to Torrey Smith, their big play receiver. Smith has been able to consistently beat coverage deep and will not have an issue doing that in this game. Not with East Carolina’s pass defense as leaky as it has been all season.
The big wild card here is going to be the specials teams of both competitors. The each of the big play receivers, Dwayne Harris and Torrey Smith are also big time return men. Smith’s numbers may not show it, since opponents have gone out of their way to avoid putting the ball into his hands. Harris on the other hand has had plenty of opportunities to show his talents and has made all the teams that have challenged him pay. Both teams need their return game to be in top form to make up for the poor running games.
Prospects to Watch
East Carolina
Dwayne Harris – Wide Receiver: Harris brings experience as a returner and a willingness to play over the middle. He doesn’t have the type of elite speed to break away from NFL coverage but he knows how to run routes and catch the ball away from his body. He may not be an elite receiver, but he could be a strong number two for a team down the line. He’s an option between the third and fifth round.
Maryland
Alex Wujciak – Linebacker: Wujciak is an extremely productive interior linebacker who may struggle to find a team willing to give him a chance in the NFL. While he shows great awareness, toughness, work ethic and tackling technique; he is limited athletically and isn’t a great threat to some off the edge. He’s going to be thought of as a two down linebacker could only be used as a starter in a pinch. He couldn’t fit in as an outside linebacker since he doesn’t blitz well and is not great at pass coverage. He should get some play in the third or fourth round, but don’t be surprised to see him fall to the last two rounds if he does impress during the testing process.
Final Pick
Maryland – East Carolina has a terrible defense and Maryland’s defense is good enough to slow down Dominique Davis and the East Carolina offense.
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