Bad news, everyone!
Eight players were ejected for the fight that concluded the Military Bowl, three from ECU and five from NC State. DK Kaufman and Tamarcus Cooley were also ejected along with Brandon Cleveland and Val Erickson, though of course neither Kaufman nor Cooley are on this year’ team. In the moment, the referees misread
some numbers when listing the ejected players, so it was not clear at that time that Cleveland was among them.
ECU’s ejections included Jayson Tarpeh, who is listed as the Pirates’ backup right tackle heading into Thursday. He will have to sit the first half as well.
Going the first half without Brandon Cleveland is a pretty rough situation for the defense, since there’s probably not a bigger drop-off at any position from starter to backup than there is at defensive tackle. But hey, at least Cleveland will be well-rested for the second half. That’s something.
Erickson is heading into the season as a reserve and could factor into the rotation at some point, but probably wasn’t going to have a significant impact in the opener regardless.
