BOONE, N.C. — Rain that blanketed Boone all week gave way to blue skies Friday afternoon.
Maybe it's a coincidence that the weather turned just in time for Appalachian State's first preseason football practice.
Less than a month away from their 2018 opener at No. 9 Penn State, the Mountaineers conducted their first official workout in Kidd Brewer Stadium. Travis Tritt's "It's a Great Day to be Alive," blared from the large videoboard as drills kicked into high gear around 4:30 p.m.
"We do a split-squad practice, half on the first (part) and the other half on the second, and you see some good stuff out of both sides of the ball," App State head coach
Scott Satterfield said. "Not a whole lot of special teams, and it was really kind of a short practice, but there was good energy. We got some good stuff on film that we'll go back and correct."
App State returns six offensive starters and five defensive starters from a team that closed out a 9-4 season in 2017 with its second straight Sun Belt Conference title and a 34-0 shutout of Toledo in the Dollar General Bowl. The Mountaineers totaled 16 voting points in the Amway Coaches Poll that was released a day earlier, giving them an unofficial preseason ranking of No. 39 among their FBS peers.
Appalachian's roster has a healthy mix of experienced veterans, led by an 11-man senior class, and talented newcomers, some of whom reported to campus Thursday night to join classmates who had enrolled in January or participated in summer school.
The opening-day schedule broke the team into the two groups that had separate sessions on the field and in the weight room. Moving forward without the likes of departed seniors
Taylor Lamb,
Colby Gossett,
Beau Nunn,
Eric Boggs and
A.J. Howard, there were still plenty of accomplished returners present with preseason All-Sun Belt selections
Clifton Duck,
Jalin Moore,
Victor Johnson,
Anthony Flory,
Collin Reed,
Tae Hayes and
MyQuon Stout going through drills.
They shared the field with a group of freshmen, newcomers and promising underclassmen that included
Zac Thomas,
Corey Sutton and
Elijah Diarrassouba. One highlight involved redshirt freshman cornerback
Steven Jones intercepting a pass and racing to the end zone, where he was swarmed by several defensive teammates who left the sideline to celebrate.
"We've been training and working hard all summer, so it was finally good to get out here and show it," senior defensive end
Okon Godwin said. "All the young guys out here, there was a lot of energy. Everybody's hyped up right now."
App State will hold its second practice Saturday following the conclusion of Media Day in Boone.
