Rob Kass era is scheduled to begin

When ECU head football coach Skip Holtz took over a program in free fall in 2005, he didn't have to look far to snatch up his first commitment in a quarterback from Longwood, Fla. named Rob Kass.

Now three seasons later, the redshirt sophomore is primed to take over as the starting quarterback for the Pirates after the James Pinkney era ended with a disappointing loss to the University of South Florida, 24-7, in the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl.

Kass received limited playing time in four games last season, most notably in the loss to USF in the Papajohns.com bowl. Against the Bulls, Kass went 10-of-19 for a career high 138 yards.

Playing football can be traced to Kass' family roots, as he is a third generation quarterback. His grandfather was a signal caller at Hofstra while his father started his career at Wake Forest before transferring to New Hampshire.

While growing up, Kass learned from his father the tools of the trade and in return he claims it helped him get the skills necessary for collegiate football.

"It's a great opportunity having a quarterback lineage," said Kass. "It really helped me get to that next level. My dad is an extremely knowledgeable quarterbacks coach and he coached me until I was a high school freshman. Then he kind of let me go with the high school coaches and since with the quarterbacks coach in college and the head coach. It was really a great opportunity I had to learn while I was young."

Kass enjoyed a spectacular senior campaign at Lake Highland high school in which the Floridian completed 55 of 100 passes for 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns, but it can be seen as fate that led him to wear the purple and gold.

Before his senior season at Lake Highland, Kass hit the road traveling to 11 football camps, including one at the University of South Carolina where Holtz was serving as an assistant for his dad, Lou. After establishing a strong relationship with Holtz and former Gamecock's quarterbacks coach Phil Petty, who is now the tight ends coach for ECU, Kass was all set on becoming a Gamecock.

But when Lou Holtz announced his retirement, Kass' Gamecock dreams disappeared. Kass had received scholarship offers from other strong programs such as Cincinnati, Mississippi and Pittsburgh, but when ECU named Skip Holtz as head coach, Kass' attention turned towards Greenville and ultimately it was the opportunity that sealed his commitment to the Pirates.

"It was really the opportunity," said Kass about choosing ECU. "With coach Holtz taking over here and coach Petty becoming the quarterbacks coach, it was just a great opportunity to come in here and build a program from the very bottom. A couple wins, then just build it right up and hopefully take it to a powerhouse."

And now since Todd Fitch, another former Gamecock assistant that worked with Holtz, has been named an offensive coordinator as well as quarterbacks coach of the Pirates, Kass couldn't be any happier.

"Coach Fitch is great," Kass said. "He actually recruited me out of high school so we had a relationship prior to this. Coach Fitch is a great coach and is extremely knowledgeable, I really think he is going to help me get to that next level as a quarterback."

Following in the footsteps of Pinkney is going to be no easy task for Kass, but he knows that accepting that will lead to him being a better quarterback.

"I've learned so much from him [Pinkney] the last two years," Kass said. "I think just following in James' footsteps is going to be a tough situation but it's something that you have to build upon and it's something you have to accept as the next quarterback." Among other things that make Kass a truly unique talent is his size, as he is listed at 6-foot-4, 250-pounds.

"I think being able to stand in the pocket and take the bigger hit," Kass said was one of his strengths. "James [Pinkney] was an extremely tough quarterback; he was going to get up no matter what and I really learned a lot from that. I think that being a bigger quarterback you cannot only take the hit, you can give the hit."

While a quarterback competition makes some signal callers worry, Kass welcomes the added pressure, as he believes it will make him better.

"It's great," Kass said of the current competition to replace Pinkney. "No matter where you go in the country you're going to find competition. Competition always makes you better, so I think that a quarterback competition anywhere is going to make you a better quarterback and a better person overall."

Holtz has stated numerous times that the offensive unit is behind the defense in spring practice, in terms of growth. Kass is not sweating it however, as he thinks the offense has a real opportunity to grow because of a lot of young talent.

The first intra-squad scrimmage of spring practice took place last Friday, and while the scrimmage was simulated more towards the running game, Kass shined in his turn at quarterback. He completed his first four passes of the scrimmage and guided the Pirates' top offense to a total of 11 first downs, converting 6-of-10 on third down.

"I think I did pretty well," Kass said of his performance. "Obviously there's always room for improvement, you always want to get more consistent and you always want to improve, but the biggest thing is to help to lead the offense up and down the field."

As kickoff grows closer to the 2007 season, Kass has set goals for the team and as long as the team wins, he will be satisfied.

"Team wise is to just win games," Kass said of the team's goals. "Go in there and upset the bigger opponents, go to a bowl game and win a bowl game this year. Personally, I just want to do well and help lead this team to the next level. Statistically it doesn't matter; as long as this team wins, we'll be fine."

This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.