Football takes on another Power Five opponent

Sports

Aug. 23, 2018

Sophomore running back Jalin Moore attempts to break through a tackle against Georgia State.

FOOTBALL TAKES ON ANOTHER POWER FIVE OPPONENT

Brooks Maynard, Sports Editor

For the fourth time in the last five seasons, the App State football team will open their season on the road against a Power Five program and will face a top fifteen team for the third straight year.

After taking a tough 20-13 loss at Neyland Stadium against the No. 9 ranked Tennessee Volunteers in 2016 and losing 31-10 to eventual national runners-up in the No. 15 ranked Georgia Bulldogs in 2017, the Mountaineers will make the long trip to State College, Pennsylvania, to take on the No. 9 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions.

Unlike in previous seasons, the Mountaineers will be without several key starters on both sides of the ball, including quarterback Taylor Lamb, the Sun Belt Conference career passing touchdowns leader. They have also said goodbye to wide receiver Ike Lewis, defensive back A.J. Howard, linebackers Eric Boggs and Devan Stringer and linemen Bean Nunn, Caleb Fuller, Tee Sims and Colby Gossett, all of whom were integral pieces during previous years. Penn State has also lost some of their top players from last season, including No. 2 overall pick Saquon Barkley, who will start this season as running back for the New York Giants in the NFL.

Returning this season will be the highly touted quarterback Trace McSorley, who is considered one of the top six candidates for this season’s Heisman Trophy, according to si.com. McSorley ranked No. 17 in the nation in 2017 in passing yards with 3,570, No. 10 in completion percentage at 66.5 and tied for No. 15 in touchdowns (28) with none other than former starting quarterback at the University of Toledo, Logan Woodside.

App State does return running back Jalin Moore, who earned All-Sun Belt First Team honors for 2017 after leading the conference in rushing yards with 1,037 and scoring 12 touchdowns while missing two complete games. At Sun Belt Conference Football Media Day in July, he stressed the importance of the Mountaineers taking every game seriously.

“We’re trying to go undefeated, so we’re not overlooking anybody. If you look at last season, Texas State, we were kind of looking ahead so we can’t do that (this year). We’re just trying to take every game serious. Obviously Penn State is the biggest game on our schedule, so we know that, everybody knows that.”

Head Coach Scott Satterfield has had some shuffling around of his coaching staff as well as his roster this season, with now former defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach Nate Woody leaving to become the new defensive coordinator at Georgia Tech. Co-defensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator Scot Sloan also left the program to take over as defensive coordinator for Georgia Southern, arguably App State’s biggest Sun Belt rival.

Bryan Brown, a graduate of Ole Miss and the Mountaineers cornerbacks coach since 2012 was selected in January 2018 to replace Nate Woody as defensive coordinator. Dale Jones, who has served as an App State football coach in some capacity since 1996, was promoted to co-defensive coordinator in place of Sloan.

The other huge headline of the offseason for the Mountaineers is who will take over for four-year starting quarterback Taylor Lamb. Because of Lamb’s long tenure behind center, none of App’s listed quarterbacks for 2018 have ever made a collegiate start.

Senior Zeb Speir and sophomore Jacob Huesman combine for four game appearances in their career, all of which came in 2017. Redshirt freshmen Peyton Derrick and Tanner Wilson are both eligible for the first time this season. Stephon Brown, the freshman from Glenn High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, arrived on campus for the first time this past spring. UCLA transfer Jackson Gibbs is expected so sit out this season per NCAA transfer rules, but also saw no time as a freshman for the Bruins.

Sophomore from Trussville, Alabama, Zac Thomas seems to be the favorite for the job and has seen the most playing time of any Mountaineer quarterback. He was Lamb’s No. 1 backup in 2017 and appeared in four games last season. Thomas completed six passes on ten attempts for 33 yards and also ran the ball eight times for 45 yards, an average of 5.6 yards per carry.

While Coach Satterfield has had to make some changes across the program this offseason, he stressed that he feels the 2018 team can be as good as 2017.

“I think we have just as much talent back this year. Maybe not well known as far as the name recognition but I think we do have a ton of talent coming back. Zac (Thomas) to me, he has a stronger arm, he can run better than Taylor (Lamb). He’s got a lot of intangibles that are better than Taylor. The one intangible he doesn’t have though is game experience.”

While the Nittany Lions are currently predicted to be a 23-point favorite by ESPN.com, the Mountaineers do have certain advantages. Penn State will replace nine of their eleven defensive starters from 2017, including both defensive tackles. This will not only help open the offense up for App State’s new starting quarterback but should prove helpful to Jalin Moore and company in the run game.

Penn State’s projected starter at running back, junior Miles Sanders, rushed for only 203 yards behind Saquon Barkley last season. Graduate senior DeAndre Thompkins and senior Brandon Polk, who are expected to be McSorley’s number two and three targets at receiver, combined for only 573 receiving yards last season, 12 yards fewer than returning App State receiver Thomas Hennigan posted on his own during his true freshman campaign last season. App State has a lot of question marks on their roster this season, which will make it that much more difficult to defeat the Nittany Lions. But Penn State may have a reason to worry about the Mountaineers, according to pennlive.com.

“Appalachian State is not the biggest school, but this is a program used to playing on the big stage. An early September trip to Beaver Stadium is not going to intimidate the Mountaineers.”