Five Greatest Apps?

[appst89]

I think there was some discussion of this awhile back, but I heard a radio spot yesterday where they were inviting callers to call in and list the five best ever to play football at their school. Since it's a pretty dead time right now, I thought it might be an interesting topic for the MMB. So, here's my list and it was tougher than I thought to narrow it to five. In no particular order:

Dino Hackett
John Settle
Dexter Coakley
Richie Williams
Armanti Edwards

[Gonzo]

[eggers76]

I think you have a solid top 5 '89.

Armanti-How could he not be?
Dexter Coakley-Seemingly in on every defensive play
Dino-All over the field looking to slobberknock someone
John Settle- Great guy and always held on to the ball, could get his yards against anyone
Richie- Great leader and a great desire to win

High Honorable mention:
Kevin Richardson- He ran very well and also was valuable catching the ball who started as a walk-on
Kerry Brown- a big nasty who was tenacious finishing his blocks
Jason Hunter- raw talent that grew into his big body and seemingly carried us to the 1st NC
Corey Lynch- a great ball thief on defense making the plays when we needed them
Rico Mack- just always loved his game.

I only included those that I saw play at ASU

[WataugaMan]

High Honorable mention (continued):

Larry Hand

[TheMoody1]

High Honorable mention (continued):

Larry Hand

Harold Alexander.

[ASU-FTW]

Nobody's list has Ed Gainey? Come on!

[JTApps1]

I think there was some discussion of this awhile back, but I heard a radio spot yesterday where they were inviting callers to call in and list the five best ever to play football at their school. Since it's a pretty dead time right now, I thought it might be an interesting topic for the MMB. So, here's my list and it was tougher than I thought to narrow it to five. In no particular order:

Dino Hackett
John Settle
Dexter Coakley
Richie Williams
Armanti Edwards

It's hard to argue with that list.

[Rekdiver]

I'd have Richie as an HM and replace him with Matt Stevens, argueably the best DB we've had.

[Gonzo]

Dino Hacket
Armanti Edwards
Dexter Croakily
Brian Quick
Larry Hand

Surprised no one has gone with Quick so far. Rewrote the receiver record books and was our highest draft pick to date.

[GlassOnion]

Jason Hunter gets a mention but not Marques Murrell?

Hard to believe. Murrell stayed eligible, and won 2 NCs, also led our last "best" defense in 2006.

[Kgfish]

A lot of our younger alumni don't know much about the early years, which is a shame, but here are a few others to consider. Gil Beck received AA votes when App played at the same level of the big boys. Robbie Price led the Apps to it's first ever win over an ACC school WF and shocked South Carolina a few weeks later. Rick Beasley was one of the top receivers in the country - again while we were at the highest level. Quinton McKinney was one of the most feared DB's in the Southeast back in the mid 70's. Larry Hand should absolutely be in the top 5. Two-time NAIA All-American (when there were half the D-I teams as today), drafted in the tenth round of the 1964 as a junior and played 13 seasons with the Lions mostly as a starter.

[McLeansvilleAppFan]

Nobody's list has Ed Gainey? Come on!

Come On! are you GOB.

(You either get the reference or you don't)

[JTApps1]

A lot of our younger alumni don't know much about the early years, which is a shame, but here are a few others to consider. Gil Beck received AA votes when App played at the same level of the big boys. Robbie Price led the Apps to it's first ever win over an ACC school WF and shocked South Carolina a few weeks later. Rick Beasley was one of the top receivers in the country - again while we were at the highest level. Quinton McKinney was one of the most feared DB's in the Southeast back in the mid 70's. Larry Hand should absolutely be in the top 5. Two-time NAIA All-American (when there were half the D-I teams as today), drafted in the tenth round of the 1964 as a junior and played 13 seasons with the Lions mostly as a starter.

So who do you remove for Hand?

Willaims, Hacket, or Settle... Edwards and Coakley are #1 and #2 without question.

[GreatAppSt]

[fjblair]

Dino Hacket
Armanti Edwards
Dexter Croakily
Brian Quick
Larry Hand

Surprised no one has gone with Quick so far. Rewrote the receiver record books and was our highest draft pick to date.

I don't know anything about Larry Hand but the argument for Quick is mighty strong. I would have a hard time taking Settle off the list. I don't know it's really tough.

[appdaze]

Its hard to make a top 5 because we are really adding up some great players, especially within the last 20 years. The one I find hardest to keep out of the top 5 that seems to be getting left off is Kevin Richardson.
most career rushing yards, most rushing yards in a season, most all purpose yards, and most TD's in a single season.
I also find it no coincidence that after guys like hunter and murrell we kept winning NC's, After Richie left we kept winning, we had a number of great players come through but the magic really just seemed to stop when K-Rich graduated. SS was still here in 2008 when we lost as well so you can't pull the SS wasn't here card for the offense. Something really left when K-Rich graduated. Even the AE/quick combo couldn't keep things going.

[GlassOnion]

Its hard to make a top 5 because we are really adding up some great players, especially within the last 20 years. The one I find hardest to keep out of the top 5 that seems to be getting left off is Kevin Richardson.
most career rushing yards, most rushing yards in a season, most all purpose yards, and most TD's in a single season.
I also find it no coincidence that after guys like hunter and murrell we kept winning NC's, After Richie left we kept winning, we had a number of great players come through but the magic really just seemed to stop when K-Rich graduated. SS was still here in 2008 when we lost as well so you can't pull the SS wasn't here card for the offense. Something really left when K-Rich graduated. Even the AE/quick combo couldn't keep things going.

Without Hunter and Murrell, we dont win the NC in 2005. Without the best defense we've had in the Spread era in 2006, we dont win the NC in 2006. 2007, App had one of the best offenses I've ever seen, but of which Richardson was only a part.

The All Americans that blocked for Kevin Richardson:
Matt Isenhour, 2005, 2006
Daniel Bettis, 2006
Kerry Brown, 2006, 2007
John Holt, 2007
Scott Suttle, 2007
Mario Acitelli, future AA in 2009
John Bieschke, future AA in 2008
Daniel Kilgore, future AA in 2010
Orry Frye, future AA in 2011

Grant Oliver, and Brad Coley were 2 time All Socon OL in the same era.

He was also in the backfield with Armanti Edwards, who took ALOT of pressure off KR. If we'd have had a healthy Devon Moore in 2008, we'd likely have won another NC. That year AE ran for almost 1200 yards, and more than double the yardage of our leading RB. We had about 5 injured RBs that year.

The loss of Satterfield, was in fact, a huge blow. It was downhill from there.

[MAD Doctor]

All great ones. I'd have to have Corey Lynch as a high honorable mention for his intangibles. That guy was just a winner- plain and simple.

[appdaze]

Its hard to make a top 5 because we are really adding up some great players, especially within the last 20 years. The one I find hardest to keep out of the top 5 that seems to be getting left off is Kevin Richardson.
most career rushing yards, most rushing yards in a season, most all purpose yards, and most TD's in a single season.
I also find it no coincidence that after guys like hunter and murrell we kept winning NC's, After Richie left we kept winning, we had a number of great players come through but the magic really just seemed to stop when K-Rich graduated. SS was still here in 2008 when we lost as well so you can't pull the SS wasn't here card for the offense. Something really left when K-Rich graduated. Even the AE/quick combo couldn't keep things going.

Without Hunter and Murrell, we dont win the NC in 2005. Without the best defense we've had in the Spread era in 2006, we dont win the NC in 2006. 2007, App had one of the best offenses I've ever seen, but of which Richardson was only a part.

The All Americans that blocked for Kevin Richardson:
Matt Isenhour, 2005, 2006
Daniel Bettis, 2006
Kerry Brown, 2006, 2007
John Holt, 2007
Scott Suttle, 2007
Mario Acitelli, future AA in 2009
John Bieschke, future AA in 2008
Daniel Kilgore, future AA in 2010
Orry Frye, future AA in 2011

He was also in the backfield with Armanti Edwards, who took ALOT of pressure off KR. If we'd have had a healthy Devon Moore in 2008, we'd likely have won another NC. That year AE ran for almost 1200 yards, and more than double the yardage of our leading RB. We had about 5 injured RBs that year.

The loss of Satterfield, was in fact, a huge blow. It was downhill from there.

You're right, he did have a lot of good players around him be we also had a lot of good players the last 5 years and yet it slipped away each year. He was the consistency that was lost. BUT remember this is a top 5 players list so this is all about the Individual not the team play. If you start throwing in all the ifs with injuries and all that kind of thing you could make arguments for a bunch of players. What ifs didn't happen. AE and Moore had all those AA blockers in front of them but couldn't manage to get there. Again with SS we still had him in 2008. The consistency was K-Rich and this is a list of individual players. None of the guys get on the list without the players around them.

[GlassOnion]

You're right, he did have a lot of good players around him be we also had a lot of good players the last 5 years and yet it slipped away each year. He was the consistency that was lost. BUT remember this is a top 5 players list so this is all about the Individual not the team play. If you start throwing in all the ifs with injuries and all that kind of thing you could make arguments for a bunch of players. What ifs didn't happen. AE and Moore had all those AA blockers in front of them but couldn't manage to get there. Again with SS we still had him in 2008. The consistency was K-Rich and this is a list of individual players. None of the guys get on the list without the players around them.

Moore gained 1400 yards in 2009, and if Brian Quick had made the catch on the goal line, we would have beaten a very good Montana team, IN Montana, and been playing for another NC. Without Satterfield. You think Satterfield would have taken the ball out of AE's hands on the goal line?

Couldnt manage to get there? App was literally a few feet from another NC game, and through one of the toughest playoff road trips in the FCS.

In 2008 we had about 5 injured RBs to work with.