WSJ--- Win will help recruiting.
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2015 11:18 am
http://www.journalnow.com/sports/asu/fo ... 8e74d.html
Appalachian State rides momentum of bowl win into recruiting season
Posted: Sunday, December 20, 2015 7:30 pm
By Brant Wilkerson-New Winston-Salem Journal
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Zach Matics’ game-winning field goal didn’t only push Appalachian State to victory over Ohio in the Camellia Bowl, it also pushed expectations sky-high on what will be one of the most anticipated football seasons in history for the Mountaineers in 2016.
Depending on how bowl games shake out, App State could find itself in this season’s top 25 polls.
“The hype is going to be big next year for us,” running back Marcus Cox said. “Just the way we finished off the season, what we did in our first bowl game. A lot of eyes are going to be on us, but we can’t worry what’s on the outside; we’ve got to continue to do what we do and not worry about what everybody is saying.”
The Mountaineers (11-2) figure to have 15 starters back in 2016, with three of the departing seniors coming from a wide receiving corps that rarely leaned on just one player. App State’s defense, ranked in the nation’s top 20 in a number of categories, will lose just two starters — but key starters — in defensive end Ronald Blair, the Sun Belt’s defensive player of the year and safety Doug Middleton.
The number of departing seniors — 22 overall — isn’t huge, but filling the leadership roles will be among the Mountaineers’ biggest challenges of the offseason.
Players like Jesse Chapman and Simms McElfresh, both walk-ons turned team captains, don’t come around often. There’s no plug-and-play solution for Blair, who is likely to taken in the upper-half of the NFL Draft.
But perhaps more important in App State’s culture, those players helped guide the program through the two-year transition that wasn’t easy on anyone.
“I think these seniors have been through a lot, going through the transition seasons,” quarterback Taylor Lamb said. “That says a whole lot about those seniors that kept it going; they didn’t quit. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
Despite those losses, the reason for optimism is because of the returning talent — some of which didn’t see much of the field.
Lamb set a new school record for touchdown passes with 31 and ranked among the nation’s most efficient passers.Marcus Cox, the Camellia Bowl MVP, figures to return after a 1,423-yard season, joined in the backfield by Jalin Moore.
Defensively, App State will get back its two leading tacklers in Eric Boggs and John Law to go along with Latrell Gibbs, who is tied for third in the nation with seven interceptions.
That talented group of returners will have every opportunity to prove itself on the national stage early in a season-opening visit to Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee before playing host to Miami and new coach Mark Richt two weeks later in Boone.
Going into the offseason on an emotional victory in the Camellia Bowl will only help the younger Mountaineers, according to Satterfield.
“It’s also going to help us in the offseason as we get ready for next year …they’ve had a great example of how to lead throughout this senior class that we just finished up,” coach Scott Satterfield said. “That momentum, we’ll carry through the offseason, and we’ll shoot it forward to 2016; we’ve got a great group of guys coming back.”
Before App State gets there, it will get to reap the benefits of becoming the first Sun Belt team to win 11 games and the first program to win a bowl game in its first season of full-eligibility after moving up from FCS to FBS.
Satterfield and his staff are itching to get back on the recruiting trail after the holidays with a few new talking points in their pitch.
“I don’t know if you can duplicate what we did this year. I mean, 11 wins is pretty good,” he said.
“I’ll tell you what this does: It sets us up moving forward in recruiting. We all know that’s the lifeline of programs — everybody wants to be associated with a winner, and so do recruits. When you win 11, those phone calls get a lot easier.”
bwilkerson-new@wsjournal.com (336)727-7319 @BrantWSJ
Appalachian State rides momentum of bowl win into recruiting season
Posted: Sunday, December 20, 2015 7:30 pm
By Brant Wilkerson-New Winston-Salem Journal
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Zach Matics’ game-winning field goal didn’t only push Appalachian State to victory over Ohio in the Camellia Bowl, it also pushed expectations sky-high on what will be one of the most anticipated football seasons in history for the Mountaineers in 2016.
Depending on how bowl games shake out, App State could find itself in this season’s top 25 polls.
“The hype is going to be big next year for us,” running back Marcus Cox said. “Just the way we finished off the season, what we did in our first bowl game. A lot of eyes are going to be on us, but we can’t worry what’s on the outside; we’ve got to continue to do what we do and not worry about what everybody is saying.”
The Mountaineers (11-2) figure to have 15 starters back in 2016, with three of the departing seniors coming from a wide receiving corps that rarely leaned on just one player. App State’s defense, ranked in the nation’s top 20 in a number of categories, will lose just two starters — but key starters — in defensive end Ronald Blair, the Sun Belt’s defensive player of the year and safety Doug Middleton.
The number of departing seniors — 22 overall — isn’t huge, but filling the leadership roles will be among the Mountaineers’ biggest challenges of the offseason.
Players like Jesse Chapman and Simms McElfresh, both walk-ons turned team captains, don’t come around often. There’s no plug-and-play solution for Blair, who is likely to taken in the upper-half of the NFL Draft.
But perhaps more important in App State’s culture, those players helped guide the program through the two-year transition that wasn’t easy on anyone.
“I think these seniors have been through a lot, going through the transition seasons,” quarterback Taylor Lamb said. “That says a whole lot about those seniors that kept it going; they didn’t quit. I’ve learned a lot from them.”
Despite those losses, the reason for optimism is because of the returning talent — some of which didn’t see much of the field.
Lamb set a new school record for touchdown passes with 31 and ranked among the nation’s most efficient passers.Marcus Cox, the Camellia Bowl MVP, figures to return after a 1,423-yard season, joined in the backfield by Jalin Moore.
Defensively, App State will get back its two leading tacklers in Eric Boggs and John Law to go along with Latrell Gibbs, who is tied for third in the nation with seven interceptions.
That talented group of returners will have every opportunity to prove itself on the national stage early in a season-opening visit to Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee before playing host to Miami and new coach Mark Richt two weeks later in Boone.
Going into the offseason on an emotional victory in the Camellia Bowl will only help the younger Mountaineers, according to Satterfield.
“It’s also going to help us in the offseason as we get ready for next year …they’ve had a great example of how to lead throughout this senior class that we just finished up,” coach Scott Satterfield said. “That momentum, we’ll carry through the offseason, and we’ll shoot it forward to 2016; we’ve got a great group of guys coming back.”
Before App State gets there, it will get to reap the benefits of becoming the first Sun Belt team to win 11 games and the first program to win a bowl game in its first season of full-eligibility after moving up from FCS to FBS.
Satterfield and his staff are itching to get back on the recruiting trail after the holidays with a few new talking points in their pitch.
“I don’t know if you can duplicate what we did this year. I mean, 11 wins is pretty good,” he said.
“I’ll tell you what this does: It sets us up moving forward in recruiting. We all know that’s the lifeline of programs — everybody wants to be associated with a winner, and so do recruits. When you win 11, those phone calls get a lot easier.”
bwilkerson-new@wsjournal.com (336)727-7319 @BrantWSJ