Marshall football 2023 opponents: ECU reloads in quest of third straight winning season

HUNTINGTON — East Carolina has big shoes to fill in 2023 if the Pirates’ ship is going to sail as smoothly as it has been. Fresh off its second consecutive winning season, finishing 8-5 and with its first official bowl appearance in nearly a decade, East Carolina is capable of equal success in 2023, but will have to do it without some of its top talent from a season ago. Leading rusher Keaton Mitchell (1,452 yards, 14 TDs) was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Baltimore Ravens in April, American Athletic Conference all-time leading passer Holton Ahlers graduated and two of the top three tacklers from a year ago are gone. But there’s plenty left in-house to keep things afloat. Rahjai Harris, who was the Pirates’ No. 2 back before being injured in the fifth game of the season and missing the rest of it, returns to the backfield and is more than capable of picking up where Mitchell left off. But he won’t have to do it alone. Joining him at running back are Marlon Gunn, who tied for second on the team in carries (67) last season, and Georgia Southern transfer Gerald Green, who joins the Pirates after three seasons in Statesboro. That should give somewhat of a security blanket for Mason Garcia, who is expected to take over at quarterback in Ahlers’ place. Garcia has thrown just 15 passes in the past two seasons but has shown flashes of being a dual-threat quarterback with the ability to extend plays with his legs. STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE Brackets revealed for TBT, Best Virginia looks ahead to familiar foes Wahama's Wolfe wins Bench Award Nathan Flowers teaming up with brother John for first TBT appearance Golf -- West Virginia Junior Amateur: Michael, Cook win Junior Am titles Who he’s throwing to becomes the next big question. With the top three receivers gone from a year ago — including a pair of 1,000-yard-plus pass catchers in Isaiah Winstead and CJ Johnston — ECU brought in four former Power Five receivers from the transfer portal to fill those gaps. Jaylen Johnson also returns after hauling in 26 passes for 340 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. Half of the starters on the defensive side of the ball are back, including leading tackler Julius Wood, who made 87 stops to go with four pass break-ups and two interceptions. The strongest part of the ECU defense is on the line, which has been reinvented by coach Mike Houston since taking over in 2019, transforming the unit from small and speedy to an overall bigger and stronger group in the trenches. The Pirates tallied 29 sacks in 13 games a season ago and won’t soon slow down on the rush. If there’s a weak spot on defense, it comes in the form of an inexperienced linebacking corps, which the coaching staff has helped nurse through the transfer portal, adding first-team Big South and MEAC linebackers from the FCS level as well as Rara Dilworth, who came over from North Carolina. Young and new-to-ECU skill players will have big shoes to fill in 2023, but the future is bright for the Pirates, who are looking for their third consecutive winning season after amassing just seven wins in the the first two years (4-8, 3-6) of Houston’s tenure. ECU leads the all-time series with the Thundering Herd 11-5. The two have only met twice once in the last decade, as ECU left Conference USA after the 2013 season. That meeting came in Huntington two years ago, a 42-38 come-from-behind victory for the Pirates after trailing by 17 points in the fourth quarter.