BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State's rushing average is anything but pedestrian.
With the offensive line, tight ends and receivers blocking for App State's running backs and quarterbacks, the Mountaineers rank No. 2 nationally at 6.5 yards per carry. Only Memphis, at 7.3 yards, is ahead of Appalachian.
Individual success is part of the bigger picture, as running backs
Jalin Moore,
D'Andre Hicks,
Marcus Williams Jr. and
Darrynton Evans are all averaging at least 6.6 yards per carry. Moore has rushed for 242 yards on 27 attempts in his last four quarters of work — he had 119 yards in one quarter against Gardner-Webb and 123 yards in three quarters against South Alabama — to increase his season average to 6.6 yards per carry, a mark that ranks 20th nationally in the official NCAA statistics. Hicks leads the running backs with an 8.5 average on 21 attempts.
In addition to the four backs, quarterback
Zac Thomas is averaging 4.8 yards (with sacks included), and true freshman running back
Camerun Peoples averaged 5.9 yards in his App State debut against Gardner-Webb.
After rushing for 159 yards and 139 yards in two pass-oriented games, the Mountaineers have posted 432 and 348 rushing yards in their last two games to increase their per-game average to 269.5, which ranks No. 7 nationally. The work up front of center
Noah Hannon, left tackle
Victor Johnson, right tackle
Chandler Greer and guards
Ryan Neuzil,
Baer Hunter and
Cole Garrison has created running lanes for Appalachian's backs and solid protection for Thomas.
With their strong offensive lines, App State and UCF are the only teams in the country averaging at least 250.0 rushing yards per game while also allowing less than 1.5 sacks with at least 25.0 pass attempts per game. The Mountaineers are tied for 17th nationally at 1.25 sacks allowed per game, even as they've attempted an average of 25.3 passes during their 3-1 start.
