BOONE, N.C. — The sun was out, the wind was whipping, and Appalachian State football held its first spring scrimmage under head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz to positive results Saturday morning.
In front of about 50 high school prospects and their families, the Drinkwitz-led Mountaineer offense and
Ted Roof-directed defense matched wits and exchanged highlights for just over an hour of scrimmage time. Players wore full pads but did not tackle to the ground.
Drinkwitz called it a positive scrimmage with the players giving good effort throughout the wind chill-influenced session. The biggest highlight came about midway through the scrimmage on a fourth-down call that saw junior quarterback
Zac Thomas scramble out of the pocket and lob a toss back into the middle of the field where senior tight end
Collin Reed high-pointed the ball over the defender's shoulders and came down with a highlight-reel grab.
"It was an unbelievable catch," Drinkwitz said. "Fourth-down call. I made us go for it. It wasn't really fair to the defense. But it was a great play catch by that young man. Always exciting when you see a guy go make a play."
Redshirt-freshman running back
Camerun Peoples sprinted around the right side for a 5-yard touchdown on the next play for the scrimmage's lone touchdown.
The first scrimmage of the spring featured a variety of formations and personnel groupings on both sides of the ball as the coaching staff focuses more on fundamentals than scheme. The majority of the team saw snaps at some point with the first-, second- or third-string units.
"We're trying to improve in fundamentals and technique," Drinkwitz explained. "We'll get to the scheme when we get into the season. Right now, we're laying the foundations and trying to improve individually, which is the goal of the spring."
App State will continue spring practice next week. Fans are welcome to attend an open scrimmage at 10 a.m. on March 30. Details about parking and seating will be coming soon.
