CHARLOTTE, N.C. — East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell did not have a specific update on the future playing status of his three suspended football players, but he did offer his initial response to the situation on Friday at the American Conference media days.
Speaking one-on-one with Hoist The Colours, Harrell was asked how he is going to handle the situation with suspended defensive linemen J.D. Lampley and Preston Carr, and wide receiver Brock Spalding going forward. The ECU athletics department announced an indefinite suspension for the players last week after the incident occurred. It remains unclear if they will miss any game time this season. All three were charged with misdemeanors for discharging a firearm within city limits.
“I got into coaching to mentor young men, help young people grow, there are various ways to do that,” Harrell said. “Sometimes there are positives. Sometimes there are negatives. I told our guys the other day, you have to learn from events along the way. Those events could be on the field or off the field. They could be Coach Harrell making a bad decision to go for it on fourth down, or a bad decision to punt on fourth down. We’ve got to take the event, learn from the lesson, and move on from the event. Sometimes the lesson is painful. But you have to forget the event and move on. That’s whether we’re talking about our football team or at home being a dad as well.”
Harrell has been with ECU since 2020 as the team’s defensive coordinator, but this is his first full offseason as head coach. He took over the team’s interim job midway through last season after the firing of Mike Houston, and led the team to a 5-1 record, getting the full-time gig as a result. But being the head coach means dealing with situations like this directly, and deciding – along with the administration – how to delegate a potential return to play. Preseason camp begins Monday, and there should be more clarity on the status of Lampley, Carr and Spalding shortly afterwards, especially with the season opener at NC State on Thursday, Aug. 28 looming around the corner.
It’s possible the punishment could be handled internally and the players could return to practice and be reinstated at some point this preseason, or they could be suspended for game time. It’s a decision that’s typically handled on a school-by-school basis.
Lampley and Carr are projected starting defensive linemen, with Lampley returning as one of the team’s most experienced players. The rising senior has played in 36 career games, logging 54 tackles, including 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. Lampley registered a team-high 39 quarterback pressures last season, per Pro Football Focus, and he’s totaled 67 pressures, along with 1,049 snaps over the last three campaigns since enrolling in college.
Carr hasn’t played nearly as much due to the prior experience in front of him at defensive tackle, but the 6-3, 300-pound defensive tackle has been in the program since the 2022 season, developing and waiting for his moment. He’s a redshirt junior with two years of eligibility remaining.
Spalding is a 5-11, 193-pound receiver who has caught nine career passes for 101 yards. He previously served as the team’s primary punt returner as well last season before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Army. Spalding has played in 20 career games, making three starts.