Holton Ahlers

Freshman Quarterback Holton Ahlers celebrating during ECU's game against UNC Chapel Hill.

After the week one loss to NC A&T, a lot of Pirate fans were beyond frustrated with head coach Scottie Montgomery. It was the second year in a row where the Pirates opened the season with a loss to an FCS school.

No hate on A&T, but the Pirates were supposed to come out and win. After getting a great amount of flack and hate, the Pirates came out for week two to play University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and there wasn’t a great vibe of hope and positivity. However, ECU came out and stunned its fans by striking with the first touchdown of the game.

After scoring its first touchdown ECU showed everyone its new offensive scheme utilizing Holton Ahlers. Ahlers rushed eight times for 36 yards and two touchdowns. These touchdowns were the first of his career. When Ahlers entered the game, the atmosphere changed drastically.

UNC didn’t have any college-gameplay film on Ahlers so when Montgomery and company decided to run the read option with Ahlers and Darius Pinnix, the offense caught the Tar Heels on their heels, literally. The Pirates weren’t getting the same jump they normally would have with Reid Herring, which set up this run-heavy offense for success.

After watching Ahlers and Pinnix combine for 106 rushing yards and three touchdowns, I believe if Scottie wants to truly win games he will continue to mix this offensive scheme into their drives.

By mixing this scheme into the offense, it not only gives opponents’ defenses fits, but it also gives Herring and the other backs some rest and an ability to relay defensive keys to the coaching staff and helps to make corrections as the game goes on.

Not only do Herring and the other guys get benefits from this offensive set, but Ahlers gets to see more defenses and improve his abilities. With Ahlers and Pinnix taking over and rushing, it leads to luring defenses into committing to the runstop plan, and when a team does this it opens up the ability for Ahlers to show his arm strength and rip deep shots down the field.

I know Ahlers may be using his redshirt this year, but if Montgomery truly wants to win and turn the ship around like he said earlier this year, then he will have Ahlers play in as many games as he can even if it means Ahlers becomes a non-redshirt.

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