Pirates open season Saturday with No. 13 Central Florida

GREENVILLE — There are 32 spots on the East Carolina depth chart for Saturday’s season opener with No. 13 Central Florida.

Attached to 11 are the initials “Fr.” That’s freshman, and eight of them are not of the redshirt variety. Last time they suited up was in high school.

Across the way in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium at high noon will be an opponent that has ruled the American Athletic Conference the last three years. And last week, the 2020 version showcased maximum speed in all three phases of the game while routing previously nationally-ranked Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

That’s a Yellow Jackets team that a week earlier had embarrassed Florida State in Tallahassee.

“It’s going to be a challenge,” second-year ECU head coach Mike Houston said. “You watch them from the opening kickoff on Saturday against Georgia Tech and like I said, Georgia Tech has an improved roster. But the speed differential was drastic. I think it’s something we experienced last year down in Orlando, so we have a good feel for it from that game.

“Beyond that, I think handling the tempo of their offense is something we’re going to have to do a great job with this week.”

The Pirates were 4-8 in Houston’s first campaign. The rebuild, however, is still in progress.

There are 41 letterwinners back, including eight who started on offense and five on defense. Quarterback Holton Ahlers is the focal point among all of them along with all-AAC honorable mention wide receiver C.J. Johnson. Ahlers threw for 1,715 yards and 14 touchdowns in his last four games, and Johnson caught passes for 100 yards or more in four of his last seven outings.

Knights’ sophomore quarterback Dillon Gabriel won the national weekly Davey O’Brien quarterback award for his play against Georgia Tech. He threw for a career-high 417 yards and four touchdowns.

Central Florida, a media darling in 2017 when it went 13-0 and proclaimed itself national champion, has won 36 of 40 dating back to the beginning of that magical season. The Knights have gone 13-0, 12-1 and 10-3, one of just six programs to win at least 35 games during the span.

Head coach Josh Heupel’s gridders defeated Marshall in last year’s Gasparilla Bowl.