BOB’S BLOG “A GUY I USED TO WATCH ON FRIDAY NIGHT”

One of the truly fun things about our work at WRAL is the opportunity we get to see great high school athletes destined for success at higher levels. Every season of “Football Friday,” our half hour show dedicated to the coverage of high school football in North Carolina, brings with it the sense that we’re seeing stars of the future-not just in college, but in some cases, the NFL. Watching Julius Peppers run the football for Southern Nash a decade ago, you kind of had the feeling that you’d be seeing this amazing athlete progress to a dominant role on Saturdays-and Sundays (though not at running back!). And often we see future leaders emerge. Young men who can learn to lead in high school, carry those skills with them.

Which brings me to the young man starting at quarterback for East Carolina. Patrick Pinkney is a gifted athlete. His father Reggie starred as a defensive back at ECU and later played in the NFL. But what truly sets Patrick apart are the intangibles-his ability to read the defense and react, and his ability to lead his team down the field.

Patrick Pinkney honed those skills on Friday nights in Fayetteville. He started at quarterback as a freshman. It is quite rare to see a ninth grader under center in an environment as competitive as football is in this military community. In fact, as I write this, I cannot think of even one other four year starter at quarterback in Fayetteville. Patrick Pinkney was exceptional.

His team at Pine Forest High School had not won in more than a decade. He made the Trojans instantly competitive, with his ability to think, run, and throw-probably in that order. By the time Patrick was a senior, Pine Forest could play toe to toe with powerful South View, something no team in the Two Rivers Conference has consistently done before or since Pinkney’s departure. With Pinkney at the helm, the once moribund Trojans won 30 games and lost just 14 over four years.

At East Carolina, Pinkney hoped to make an immediate impact. I remember his high school coach, Dean Saffos, telling me during that first fall camp Pinkney was getting a long look from the Pirate coaches. But injury, which he’d never experienced at Pine Forest, took him out of the picture.

And then the guy who played every Friday night for four years in Fayetteville, sat on the shelf for three years in Greenville, having to overcome not just one, but two shoulder surgeries. We began to wonder if Patrick Pinkney would ever get a chance to show what he could do. And then just before the first game of the 2007 season, ECU’s starting quarterback Rob Kass was suspended for DWI.

Patrick Pinkney was given the start for that ’07 season opener against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. Playing against a defense that would send eight players to the NFL, Pinkney did what he had always done-moved his team down the field. Pinkney didn’t produce a victory-that would come in week two of the season against North Carolina. But something seemed to click among the ECU offensive players that day in Blacksburg. Pirate players would later say “Patrick is the leader we trust.” And while Kass would later earn playing time with his ability to throw the deep ball, Pinkney accounted for more than 1600 yards of total offense on a team that went 8-5.

One of the remarkable things about Pinkney today is his improved arm strength. He did not play in a “pass first” offense in high school. He underwent two shoulder surgeries in college. Yet the zip on passes he threw last Saturday in that critical second half drive in the rematch with Virginia Tech was striking. Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer would later say “their quarterback was the difference in the game. He takes that offense to a whole new level.”

But the rest of Pinkney’s game looks so familiar. He reads the defense. He knows when to use his feet to gain yards or create an opportunity to make a play on the run. He sees open receivers and delivers the ball. He rarely makes mistakes. He leads-and the offense follows. Often all the way to the end zone. His game just has a rhythm to it. It gives me a special feeling to know I had the opportunity to see him on Friday nights-a long time ago.