BOONE, N.C. — Through injuries and illness, missed games and abbreviated outings, the reigning Sun Belt Conference rushing champion has returned to a familiar place.
Jalin Moore is again the Sun Belt's most productive back.
Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, with Appalachian State (7-4, 6-1) needing a home victory against Louisiana to earn a share of another conference championship, Moore has both the most rushing yards (680) and highest yards-per-game average (113.3) in league play. He's climbed to the top despite missing the equivalent of two Sun Belt games, considering he left the lineup for good after one second-half carry at Texas State, missed the entire second half against Coastal Carolina and sat out all of a Nov. 9 victory against Georgia Southern.
Moore has still managed some eye-popping performances, including a 241-yard game against New Mexico State and 239 yards — or approximately the length of two Freddie Freeman home runs — with one touchdown on 32 carries last weekend at Georgia State.
"He's been dinged up really the whole season," App State head coach
Scott Satterfield said. "For him to come out there and get over 30 carries and run the ball like he did was tremendous. I have a lot of respect for him for that."
With a 244-yard game at Idaho in 2015 and a career-high 257 yards at Akron in 2016, Moore is now the only active FBS back to have rushed for at least 235 yards in four career games. LSU's Derrius Guice, Tulsa's D'Angelo Brewer and Florida Atlantic's Devin Singletary have three apiece.
Moore's return to the starting lineup in Atlanta doubled as his first game action in 21 days, and App State amassed 323 rushing yards against the only FBS team that hadn't allowed an opponent to produce a 100-yard rusher this season. The largest total had come from Tennessee State's Treon Harris, who accounted for 91 of the previous season-high 238 rushing yards against Georgia State's defense.
With seniors
Beau Nunn and
Colby Gossett anchoring the right side of a line that includes true freshman
Noah Hannon at center, redshirt freshman
Ryan Neuzil at left guard and sophomore
Victor Johnson at right tackle, the Mountaineers ran on 46 of their 69 plays in Atlanta. Thirteen of their 14 fourth-quarter plays were runs, with true freshman
Daetrich Harrington gaining 18 yards on three attempts and App State's final drive beginning with nine straight runs from Moore. The 10-play possession ended with a 14-yard touchdown run from quarterback
Taylor Lamb.
"We finished them out running the football," Satterfield said. "This is how Mountaineer football should be, just like this in the fourth quarter."
Moore had gains of 25, 20 and 18 yards during a 109-yard first half at Georgia State Stadium, and his 58-yard rush on the fourth play of the third quarter helped App State take a 17-7 lead in its 31-10 victory.
Admittedly impatient at times as a back, Moore waited for a running lane to open before exploding through an up-the-middle hole created by Gossett and Nunn. Moore went from App State's 36 to the Georgia State 6 on the Mountaineers' longest rush of the season and the fourth-longest carry of his career.
"Every time I'd get hurt and come back, I'd just want to hurry up and hit the hole," Moore said. "Coach was stressing that, 'I know you're ready to break long runs, but it's the same offense as when you left. Don't try to be a super hero. Don't try to do anything you haven't done in the past.' It just all came back naturally."
Moore had a combined 47 rushes for 136 yards four games into this year, as he labored through 16 attempts for 27 yards against Wake Forest a week after an injury limited him to 14 yards on nine rushes at Texas State. He had one carry on the opening possession of the second half in San Marcos, Texas, but sat out the rest of a 20-13 victory.
Two weeks after his 241-yard game against New Mexico State, Moore didn't play in the second half of a comeback win against Coastal Carolina, and he sat out a nonconference loss at UMass before earning praise and respect for his impromptu effort off the bench at ULM.
Dealing with severe flu-like symptoms that led to him being quarantined at the team hotel in Monroe, La., after two weeks without practicing, Moore entered the game with App State trailing 14-0 and put up 198 total yards with three touchdowns. He rushed for 114 yards and scored a 75-yard touchdown on a swing pass from Lamb.
Another injury sidelined him for the Thursday night game against Georgia Southern five days later, but the prolific showing at Georgia State increased his season total to 802 rushing yards with Saturday's regular season finale and a yet-to-be-determined bowl game left on App State's schedule.
Moore has officially averaged 89.1 rushing yards in nine games this year. In reality, he's played what amounts to seven and a half games based on injuries and sitting out the second half of a lopsided victory against Savannah State. His 113.3-yard average in Sun Belt games leads the second-place number by 27.3 yards, and Moore's average bumps up to 136.0 if two halves as an observer are removed.
"I'm not 100 percent, and a lot of people can maybe see that," Moore said, "but I'm good enough to come out there and help the team."
