East Carolina football coach Scottie Montgomery, still stinging over a 3-9 season in his rookie year with the Pirates, began the process of deepening his program’s talent pool Wednesday with the addition of five junior college transfers. The new players signed mid-year national letters-of-intent and will join enroll at ECU in January, allowing them to participate in spring practice and make an immediate impact next season. The group includes defensive end Tyree Owens, a former three-star prospect who originally signed with West Virginia before enrolling at Copiah Lincoln Community College in Mississippi; inside linebacker Cannon Gibbs, a high school rival of current ECU quarterback Gardner Minshew, defensive back Marcus Holton Jr., from Georgia Military College; offensive lineman Dqmarcus Shaw from Itawamba Community College and tight end Eric Weber, who signed with ECU last February, but attended Southwest Mississippi Community College instead. “We feel this is a great group of young men who will bring production on and off the field,” Montgomery said of his new recruits in a statement. “We are excited to add needed positional depth to our spring roster and we look forward to getting them on campus.”
