#10Strong Series: Tight Ends Preview

"It's really taught a lot of us how to be leaders. Being able to come together and come up with ideas for this team, where we want to go with it, it's been awesome. It's been a great thing and one of the things I really like about this program since we've gotten here."
              — Collin Reed, App State Junior, Tight Ends
 
Moving forward from a 9-4 season in which Appalachian State claimed a second straight Sun Belt Conference title and a third consecutive bowl victory, the Mountaineers have adopted the #10Strong motto for 2018.
 
In the spring, head coach Scott Satterfield and assistant athletics director of athletic performance Mike Sirignano formed a leadership panel that included one player from each of the 10 assigned position groups and had weekly discussions about the contents of a Jon Gordon book called "The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy."
 
Today's position preview in the #10Strong Series leading up to the Sept. 1 opener at Penn State focuses on the tight ends, with Collin Reed serving as that group's representative on the panel.
 
Reed is one of four redshirt juniors on the 10-player panel.
 
"The qualities we went over, we talked about leading our guys and always bringing positive energy, always coming in to work every day," Reed said. "It's trying to never have a bad attitude and never complain about anything. We try to instill that with our groups."
 
Reed is the most experienced player among a tight end group that includes redshirt sophomore Devin Papenheim, a former defensive end, and two true freshmen in Trey Ross and Henry Pearson. Their position coach, former App State tight end Nic Cardwell, is in a different role after filling the 10th on-field assistant spot that the NCAA added this year.
 
Reed is on the preseason watch list for the John Mackey Award that goes to the nation's top tight end, and only two players on the list topped the five touchdown receptions that he had in 2017. That total also ranks first among returning Sun Belt Conference tight ends, and he has improved as a blocker.
 
Reed and Papenheim, who is known for his strong blocking, both started twice when the Mountaineers took the field with two tight ends last season. With chances to contribute behind those two returners, Ross and Pearson have shown flashes of their potential since fall camp opened in early August.
 
Another freshman, walk-on Miller Gibbs, is adding size to his frame as converts to tight end following a prep career in which he excelled as a receiver, and Mike Evans can practice but not play this year after transferring to App State from nearby Lenoir-Rhyne.
 
"We've got a couple of young guys that have come in and add to the depth of the tight end room," Cardwell said. "Papenheim moving over from D-line last year, he's starting to settle in to the position a whole lot more, and he's done very well. Collin has stepped it up a lot, too, as far as his leadership with our guys and showing our guys what they need to do on and off the field. I'm excited to watch them play, and I know they've put in a lot of hard work."