College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Appalachian State Mountaineers season with what you need to know.
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– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– Appalachian State Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 13-1 overall, 7-1 in Sun Belt
Head Coach: Shawn Clark, 1st year, 1-0
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 30
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 6
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 74
No one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Offense 3 Things To Know
– The offense wasn’t always dominant, but it was timely, and it was brutally efficient. It averaged a solid 433 yards per game, but it dominated in the red zone, scored whenever there was a chance, and finished ninth in the nation averaging 39 points per game with 30 or more in 11 of the 14 games.
– Leading rusher and scoring machine Darrynton Evans is gone to the Tennessee Titans, but senior Marcus Williams is ready to shine after running for 652 yards and five scores, and junior Daetrich Harrington is a slippery back who averaged over six yards per carry. The backs will be fine, especially behind another amazing line.
Star OT Victor Johnson is gone, but the other four starters are back from a group that was 13th in the nation in sacks allowed and paved the way for 231 rushing yards per game.
C Noah Hannon is only 6-1 and 265, but he’s a First Team All-Sun Belt blocker along with fellow all-stars Cooper Hodges at tackle and guard Baer Hunter on the right side.
– QB Zac Thomas is back after throwing for 2,718 yada and 28 touchdowns with six picks, and he ran for seven scores. He’s the senior veteran who keeps it all moving, and 6-3 senior Jacob Huesman returns as the No. 2.
Virginia Tech transfer Jacoby Pinckney will have to wait a year before he’s ready to go, but everyone else of note is back in a LOADED receiving corps. The top four wide receivers are back – starting with all-Sun Belt stars Thomas Hennigan and Corey Sutton, who combined for 102 catches and 13 scores – along with top tight end Henry Pearson.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Defense 3 Things To Know
4. College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Defense 3 Things To Know
– The offense returns full of talent, veterans, and all-stars. The defense just gave a lot of that away with five of the top five tacklers gone from a group that finished No. 1 in the Sun Belt allowing 336 yards and 20 points per game.
– The secondary that allowed 207 yards per game and was so good at getting off the field only gets back two starters, but they’re good ones at the corner. Junior Shaun Jolly was a First Team All-Sun Belt performer making 45 tackles with five picks, taking two backs for scores, and Shemar Jean-Charles is a nice senior who made 45 stops with a pick and nine broken up passes.
The safeties need junior Ryan Huff and senior Kaiden Smith to step into the holes. They’re veterans, but the ASU safeties were fantastic last year.
– The lost talent at linebacker hurts. Jordan Fehr and Akeem Davis-Gaither were special, and now it’s up to junior D’Marco Jackson to be the new leader of the bunch.
Junior Trey Cobb will grow into a statistical star on the inside coming off a 48-stop season in the rotation. Getting production from the outside, though, might take a bit – sophomore KeSean Brown will have the spotlight on.
The line has to replace EJ Scott on the nose, but the ends are okay with leading pass rusher Demetrius Taylor back after coming up with 44 tackles seven sacks, and Elijah Diarrassouba returns after a 20 tackle season.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Top Appalachian State Mountaineers Players
College Football News Preview 2020: Top Appalachian State Mountaineers Players
Best Appalachian State Mountaineers Offensive Player
QB Zac Thomas, Sr.
It took a lot to replace the steady excellent of longtime starter Taylor Lamb, but but Thomas was able to do it with a good sophomore season followed up by a great junior campaign. The 6-1, 210-pounder threw for 28 touchdowns with six picks, and he ran for 436 yards and seven scores.
Efficient, dependable, and able to keep the chains moving, he might not always be perfect, but he gets the job done. Now he’s going into his third year as the starter.
2. WR Thomas Hennigan, Sr.
3. WR Corey Sutton, Sr.
4. C Noah Hannon, Sr.
5. OT Cooper Hodges, Soph.
Best Appalachian State Mountaineers Defensive Player
CB Shaun Jolly, Jr.
One of the Sun Belt’s most dangerous playmakers, the 5-9, 175-pounder came up with five picks – taking two for scores – with eight broken up passes. He’s not all that big, but he’s a sure tackler to go along with his tremendous quickness and ball-hawking skills. He’s a true No. 1 corner.
2. DE Demetrius Taylor, Sr.
3. LB D’Marco Jackson, Jr.
4. CB Shemar Jean-Charles, Sr.
5. LB Trey Cobb. Jr.
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Keys To The Season
College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Keys To The Season
Biggest Key To The Appalachian State Mountaineers Offense
Passing accuracy matters. Zac Thomas has been around long enough to be one of the Sun Belt’s best quarterbacks – if not the star of stars – and the receiving corps is loaded. However, the Appalachian State machine goes when the offense is keeping things moving with a crisp passing game.
Thomas had one game last year under the 50% passing mark – the loss to Georgia Southern. He threw for 271 yards and three scores, but there were just enough misfires to keep giving the ball back to the Eagles and their killer rushing offense.
Thomas and the passing game were under the 50% mark four times in 2018 with one loss – again, to Georgia Southern – and several close calls. Louisiana has been a problem when the passing game wasn’t sharp.
When it’s moving and the Mountaineers efficient, forget it. They’re too good.
Biggest Key To The Appalachian State Mountaineers Defense
Come up with playmakers who can get into the backfield. Akeem Davis-Gaither was the star of the show at one outside linebacker spot, but he wasn’t alone. Three of the top four Mountaineers in tackles for loss are gone.
Enough pass rushers are back to be fine, but the Sun Belt’s No. 1 run defense relied on lots and lots of big plays in the backfield. That means the linebacking corps has to be replenished immediately, and the line has to keep the pressure on.
The program hasn’t come up with fewer than 86 tackles for loss over the last three seasons. That can’t stop, which is why …
Key Appalachian State Mountaineers Player To A Successful Season
LB Tim Frizzell, Sr.
And anyone else who wants to provide a big push on the outside.
The 6-1, 230-pound Frizzell has the size to be a hybrid pass rusher – sort of like Akeem Davis-Gaither, but bigger – but he wasn’t able to do too much last year with nine tackles. Now he’ll get his shot to be one of the team’s top disruptive forces – he has the athleticism and size to do it.
Key Game To The Appalachian State Mountaineers Season
at Georgia Southern, Oct. 14
The Eagles have been Appalachian State’s Achilles’ heel over the last two seasons.
The Mountaineers might have been off to the New Year’s Six last year had they been able to get by Georgia Southern and finish the regular season 13-0 with a Sun Belt title, but they couldn’t get everything going on Halloween in a 24-21 loss.
They won the Sun Belt title in 2018, too, but the 34-14 loss was the main misfire along the way. Overall, starting with a win over Georgia Southern in late 2017, ASU is 28-3 with a loss to Penn State and those two defeats to the Eagles.
– Appalachian State Schedule Breakdown & Analysis
2019 Appalachian State Fun Stats
– 2nd Quarter Scoring: Appalachian State 155 – Opponents 57
– 4th Down Conversions: Appalachian State 13-of-16 (81%) – Opponents 15-of-26 (58%)
– Fumbles: Opponents 20 (lost 10) – Appalachian State 9 (lost 3)
NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
1. College Football News Preview 2020: Appalachian State Mountaineers Win Total Prediction, What Will Happen
Mack Brown in 1983, to Sparky Woods, to Jerry Moore, to Scott Satterfield, to Eliah Drinkwitz, and now to Shawn Clark.
No pressure, new guy, but there’s a whole lot to live up to as the Appalachian State head coach.
Clark has been a career offensive line coach who filled in for Drinkwitz – who was off to Missouri – for the New Orleans Bowl win over UAB, and now he has an impossible standard to live up to.
He has the best team in the Sun Belt – and that includes his offensive line – and nothing less than a third straight conference championship season will be okay.
The showdown with Louisiana comes after a week off and it’s at home, and three of the four Sun Belt road games are against teams that didn’t go bowling. Arkansas State, Georgia State and Troy are all home games.
New coach, same success.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Schedule Analysis
