Hired just two weeks before signing day, East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill still managed to get into the living rooms of 17 of the program's 18 newcomers.

"Everybody wanted to feed me," said McNeill, who replaced Skip Holtz on Jan. 21. "One day we had to eat three meals and all of them were delicious. Probably the scariest thing was one day trying to remember what state and what city I was in, but it was a fun challenge. It was a whirlwind, but I knew what to expect."

The Pirates' class included nine three-star Rivals recruits and was ranked eighth in C-USA by Rivals and 10th by Scout.com (101st nationally).

The two-time defending conference champions lost 28 seniors to graduation and lost Holtz to USF on Jan. ...More