App State picked #37 by Phil Steele

[AppStFan1]

I ordered it and got a copy early today. They have us #37 in the top 40 and picked to win the SBC. He has us as the #5 G5 team. In his notes on the top 40 teams he even mentions with us finishing #19 and having so many players back that having us #37 feels low. There are several Apps rated in the draft eligible ratings as well.

He has us rated #54 in terms of talent but I think that rating is possibly due to the fact that our recruits are rated lower and he considers backups with that. I'm not totally sure.

Apps on Preseason All-America
4th team
CB Shaun jolly

Here is who he listed from App in the preseason All-SBC teams:

1st team
QB Zac Thomas
WR Thomas Hennigan
C Noah Hannon
OG Baer Hunter
DL Demetrius Taylor
DB Shaun Jolly

2nd team
WR Jalen Virgil
WR Corey Sutton
OL Cooper Hodges
LB D'Marco Jackson
DB Ryan Huff
KR Jalen Virgil
PR Thomas Hennigan

3rd team
OL Ryan Neuzil
LB Nick Hampton
LS Christian Johnstone

4th team
RB Marcus Williams
K Chandler Staton

[Stonewall]

Neuzil is underrated

[Appstate88]

Neuzil is underrated

Agree, Neuzil and Hunter need to switch.

[appstatealum]

Hannigan first team and Sutton 2nd? Hmmmm

[Woodstovegang]

i like the Hennigan/Sutton competition. I like Hennigan's chances to be the winner(what a beast against DB's)

[AppStFan1]

Hannigan first team and Sutton 2nd? Hmmmm

I would flip them as well but my guess is with the injury and suspension they feel Hennigan is more dependable?

[AppStFan1]

Neuzil is underrated

I was surprised he was not 2nd team and Hodges was not 1st team. Steele thinks highly of our OL though because he ranked that group the 14th best in college football.

[Stonewall]

Good point.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

That is the thing with polls. We finish 19 and fall to 37 without losing a game. If we lost the entire starting squads I could see that but the Prig 5 schools have same turnover of players and coaches and they don't fall that far.

I could see us losing a few spots but 19 to 37 shows the unfair balance and deference given to the Prig 5 schools.

At least he acknowledged this fact, but that is not enough in my book. If forces the Great 5 schools to always face and claw and scrape their way back and leaves no room for missteps.

If there are cases where Prig 5 schools fall that much, unless there are extreme circumstances please prove me wrong. Maybe it is happening and I am not aware.

[bigdaddyg]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

[AppStFan1]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

[appstatealum]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

I really like what we have returning. I have concerns with certain key players that seem to not be as focused as they should be, but I think a lot of guys are chomping at the bit to get after this season. It bodes well for us to NOT play Wisconsin or maybe even Wake because this is Shawn’s first season and as we have seen with coaches, they can use a little buffer to get things going. This could play in our favor, but hurt us in National Polls since we don’t have those Cache games against P5s that pollsters like to see.

[Yosef84]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

I really like what we have returning. I have concerns with certain key players that seem to not be as focused as they should be, but I think a lot of guys are chomping at the bit to get after this season. It bodes well for us to NOT play Wisconsin or maybe even Wake because this is Shawn’s first season and as we have seen with coaches, they can use a little buffer to get things going. This could play in our favor, but hurt us in National Polls since we don’t have those Cache games against P5s that pollsters like to see.

None of the other G5 are going to have those cache games either, in all likelihood.

[AppStFan1]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

I really like what we have returning. I have concerns with certain key players that seem to not be as focused as they should be, but I think a lot of guys are chomping at the bit to get after this season. It bodes well for us to NOT play Wisconsin or maybe even Wake because this is Shawn’s first season and as we have seen with coaches, they can use a little buffer to get things going. This could play in our favor, but hurt us in National Polls since we don’t have those Cache games against P5s that pollsters like to see.

I like what we have as well. I really hope we can reschedule Wisconsin because we are already having a tough time getting P5 teams to play us. I want some more cracks at the Big Ten!

[citroknight]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

I really like what we have returning. I have concerns with certain key players that seem to not be as focused as they should be, but I think a lot of guys are chomping at the bit to get after this season. It bodes well for us to NOT play Wisconsin or maybe even Wake because this is Shawn’s first season and as we have seen with coaches, they can use a little buffer to get things going. This could play in our favor, but hurt us in National Polls since we don’t have those Cache games against P5s that pollsters like to see.

None of the other G5 are going to have those cache games either, in all likelihood.

Doesn't look like any G5 will have P5 cache games, but App will hurt from this because the SunBelt schedule isn't given the same weight that the AAC or even parts of the MWC are. If you take last year for example and App goes 7-1 in conference but doesn't get to play UNC and South Carolina, that likely means never hitting the top 25 or being a true contender for the NY6.

[AppStFan1]

Teams should begin a season ranked exactly where they finished the prior year. Agree, finish 19 and drop to 37 in a reputable poll and virtually the entire offense returns? Hmmm

What you are proposing sounds nice but voters are trying to project where teams will be. Because of that they will miss a couple but also hit big on some others. I would imagine if Evans, Gaither, and our safeties returned you would see a lot of people rank us in the top 25.

What if team #17 returns 8 starters while #19 returns 19 starters, including their QB and lines. Shouldn't the #19 team be ranked ahead of them?

I really like what we have returning. I have concerns with certain key players that seem to not be as focused as they should be, but I think a lot of guys are chomping at the bit to get after this season. It bodes well for us to NOT play Wisconsin or maybe even Wake because this is Shawn’s first season and as we have seen with coaches, they can use a little buffer to get things going. This could play in our favor, but hurt us in National Polls since we don’t have those Cache games against P5s that pollsters like to see.

None of the other G5 are going to have those cache games either, in all likelihood.

Doesn't look like any G5 will have P5 cache games, but App will hurt from this because the SunBelt schedule isn't given the same weight that the AAC or even parts of the MWC are. If you take last year for example and App goes 7-1 in conference but doesn't get to play UNC and South Carolina, that likely means never hitting the top 25 or being a true contender for the NY6.

We were never really in discussion for the NY6 to begin with but I agree. If we had not played 2 P5 teams and one of them not been a bowl team then I would not have put us in the top 25 unless we were beating everyone in the SBC and G5 by 35 or so every week. The only reason the GSU loss was forgiven was the SC and UNC wins. Without the SC win it would not have been forgiven so quick and we likely end up 26-27 in the final polls.

AAC wins big if they play because the league is considered stronger so an App team that very well could be the best in the G5 won't even be considered a legit contender unless your champ has 2 losses and we are undefeated with a double digit win over Wake Forest. Losing the Wisconsin game this year is a huge blow for us.