It has a nice ring to it: “Big Play”. That’s the nickname I have given new Pirate wide receiver Aundrae Allison.  After averaging more than 20 yards per catch his senior year in high school and being named to the North Carolina / South Carolina Shine Bowl, he moved on to Junior College.  At Georgia Military Academy he averaged more than 12 yards per catch for his career, but all those stats don’t mean a thing if he can’t do it at East Carolina.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not knocking those of you who were good or even great high school athletes that never played college ball, I am speaking to those who were given the opportunity at the next level and couldn’t get it done.  After Saturday’s game vs. Duke, Aundrae proved that he plans on doing big things at ECU as well. 

James Pinkney has a history of rewarding those receivers that get open and catch the football.  Time after time on Saturday Aundrae proved to be that receiver.  After a while, JP started throwing him the ball whether he was open or not.  That was proven by the fourth down play he made going over the middle in-between two defenders on Saturday.  Aundrae finished the game with 10 catches 164 yards and 1 touchdown.  That calculated to over 16 yards per catch. 

I had the opportunity to interview Aundrae after the game and I asked him about some of the catches he made, including that 4th down catch I spoke of earlier, and also that 50 yard touchdown catch he made in the first half.  His response to my question was simple. “That’s why I am here at ECU to make big plays, my teammates and coaches count on me to make big plays.”  The last two seasons has only resulted in three victories and very few if any receiving days like the one Aundrae had on Saturday. 

Nobody knows what the rest of the season has in store for Big Play Drae, but what we do know is the type of potential he has.  Aundrae showed us that he has size, speed, great hands, good concentration, and no fear.  With those kinds of attributes, how could he not have an awesome season?  He will have this week to walk around as big man on campus, but Wake Forest is just around the corner and if East Carolina expects to win, they will need an encore from Big Play.