GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina continued preparations for its second intra-squad scrimmage of preseason camp with a two-hour practice in shells Thursday afternoon on Hight Field inside the Cliff Moore Practice Complex.

After a light polish session Friday evening, the Pirates will head over to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday afternoon to engage in perhaps their most important internal test of the young season which will determine the preseason depth chart heading into game-plan mode for the season opener against Virginia Tech. Following the simulated contest, players will return to playing surface to meet fans during the 14th Annual Meet The Pirates Night, which will begin at 6:00 p.m.

"Saturday’s scrimmage will be much more offense-defense oriented as we will see where we are as a football team," head coach Skip Holtz said. "We have made many of the personnel decisions already. Practice is similar to class work while the scrimmage will be the test.”

Remaining consistent with other sessions, East Carolina opened with individual drills during the early portion of the practice before focusing on a heavy dose of team work. The Pirates closed the workout with traditional pass skeleton ball movement, a non-contact team-on-team session and field goal-positioning two-minute drills.

“Today went very well," Holtz added. "We tried to pull back on them a little with the scrimmage coming up on Saturday. We had a good 45-50 minutes of team work then field goal practice at the end. Their spirits are good as we try to get their legs back under them. We will go in shorts tomorrow."

NOTES: Holtz reported that both DT Brandon Setzer (knee) and RB Dominique Lindsay (knee) had surgical procedures completed Wednesday and Thursday, respectively ... On the other hand, the Pirates welcomed back RB J.R. Rogers (ribs), RB Derrick Jones (knee) and WR D.J. McFadden (ankle) to active status after the trio had missed consecutive practices ... The Pirates will take just their second day off Sunday after the scrimmage before conducting its final two-a-day schedule of camp Monday morning and evening ... Players are also eyeing the end of camp which is scheduled after Tuesday's workout ... Classes on the ECU campus begin Wednesday morning ... Friday's Practice Time: 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.; Season Opener: Aug. 30 vs. Virginia Tech (12 noon) in Charlotte, N.C. (Bank of America Stadium).