BOONE, N.C — There have been plenty of firsts for App State's fifth-year seniors.
Saturday will mark their final time playing a regular season game at The Rock.
Ranked in all three major polls, the league-leading Mountaineers (9-1, 5-1 Sun Belt) face Texas State (3-7, 2-4) on Senior Day at Kidd Brewer Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
There will be 17 players honored, including eight starters. Five of those are fifth-year seniors who enrolled before App State had ever played — and, as a result, won — an FBS bowl game.
With the potential for more in the coming weeks,
Akeem Davis-Gaither,
Desmond Franklin,
Victor Johnson,
Collin Reed and
Josh Thomas have experienced four straight bowl victories, three consecutive Sun Belt titles and a 50-12 overall record. That total includes a 34-5 record against Sun Belt programs and a 25-4 home record.
"It's guys who always put their head down and worked," Thomas said.
In addition to the fifth-year players, defensive starters
Jordan Fehr,
Noel Cook and
E.J. Scott have played prominent roles for this distinguished class of seniors. In alphabetical order, the pregame ceremony will also recognize
Jake Appling,
Joey Cave (graduate transfer),
Willie Edwards (graduate transfer),
Will Hardin,
Cameron Pack,
Ivan Reyes,
Keishawn Watson (graduate transfer),
Matt Williams and
Logan Wright.
With a conference title in each of their first three seasons, the fourth-year seniors have helped App State post a 39-10 overall record, including a 27-4 record against Sun Belt teams and 20-3 home record.
The FBS firsts are numerous, highlighted by a 2019 team that's become the first Sun Belt team to win a game as a ranked team, enter the top 20 and defeat two Power Five teams in the same season. The 34-31 win at North Carolina and 20-15 victory at South Carolina contributed to App State being the first Sun Belt team to earn an in-season College Football Playoff ranking.
"That's a tribute to those guys," first-year App State head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz said. "Our football team and our coaching staff is very excited to help send them out the right way."
The big nonconference wins are in the rearview mirror, with the attention focused ahead on the pursuit of another Sun Belt title.
At 5-1 in league play with two games left, App State has a one-game lead in the East Division over second-place Georgia Southern (4-2). Louisiana, which lost to App State in early October, leads the West Division with a 5-1 league record, and the two division champions will square off in the Sun Belt Championship Game on Dec. 7.
Saturday's game in Boone features a pair of first-year head coaches in the 36-year-old Drinkwitz and 34-year-old Jake Spavital of Texas State. They are the second- and sixth-youngest FBS head coaches, respectively.
The Bobcats' two Sun Belt wins include a triple-overtime home victory against Georgia State, and they followed a 30-28 win against South Alabama with a 63-27 loss at Troy last weekend. Tyler Vitt has thrown for a combined 839 yards in the last three games, and Texas State's defense is led by senior linebacker Bryan London II. He leads active FBS players with 435 career tackles.
App State's 4-0 series record against Texas State involves three FBS meetings, starting with a 35-10 home win in 2016. The Mountaineers played in San Marcos, Texas, each of the last two seasons and won both games.
On Saturday, the seniors have a chance to win one more regular-season game at The Rock.
"It's crazy that it's already Senior Week of senior year," Fehr said. "It's flown by, but we're taking our preparation the exact same as we do each and every week, having that 1-0 mentality. We have a good opponent coming in here. There's extra incentive to try to go out with a bang for our senior class, but we're just going to continue to work hard like we do every week."
