BOONE, N.C. — With the Aug. 1 start of fall camp, the 2019 football opener against East Tennessee State is only 17 days away. Today is the fourth installment of an eight-part, position-by-position breakdown series presented by Clean Eatz.
Part 4 of the series focuses on the Appalachian State quarterbacks, highlighted by the return of
Zac Thomas.
Not only is
Eliah Drinkwitz the first-year head coach for App State, he's also coordinating the offense and coaching the quarterbacks. He spent the previous three seasons as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for record-setting offenses at NC State, as Ryan Finley threw for more than 10,500 yards in that time.
Drinkwitz coached the quarterbacks as Boise State's offensive coordinator in 2015, when the Broncos ranked 15th nationally in total offense, and he was an offensive quality control assistant when Cam Newton led Auburn to a national title during the 2010 season.
"When I was looking at college football jobs, you always want to have a quarterback, and Zac's a guy that's got a lot of talent," Drinkwitz said. "He's a guy that's got great feet, has great intangibles, has leadership ability, and he's a guy that can really spin the football.
"There are things we are working to improve in his game, and he has bought into that. That's the thing I love. He has bought into trying to get better. He knows whatever we accomplished last year is last year. There's plenty of people who've accomplished something and didn't have a great next season. That's not these guys."
Thomas went from being a relatively unknown successor to four-year starter Taylor Lamb and part of a quarterback group that was ranked 10th (or last) in the Sun Belt Conference by the Orlando Sentinel before the 2018 season to emerging as the league's Offensive Player of the Year.
Jacob Huesman is also back after filling in for an injured Thomas and leading the Mountaineers past Coastal Carolina in his first career start.
Jackson Gibbs and
Tanner Wilson both appeared in the win against Gardner-Webb last season, and this year's freshman class includes left-handed quarterback
David Baldwin-Griffin, a highly regarded recruit from California.
As a sophomore quarterback whose top five passing targets included four sophomore receivers, Thomas threw for 2,039 yards with 21 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 2018. He also rushed for 504 yards and 10 touchdowns, making him one of only five FBS quarterbacks with at least 20 passing TDs and 10 rushing TDs last season.
Thomas remains a running threat, but he has worked in the last year to improve his patience as a pocket passer. He hasn't changed the approach that helped him emerge from relative anonymity into an accomplished college quarterback.
"This year is a different standing for me because I did play last year, but I don't need to change my mindset," Thomas said. "You have to keep working. You can't get over the top or be cocky. You just have to keep working, because this game can be taken away from you at any time. You have to keep working and keep proving yourself."
Earlier this summer, Thomas had the honor of serving as a counselor at the prestigious Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana. While in the company of the nation's top quarterbacks, he even placed second in the Air It Out passing challenge.
Thomas' hunger to improve hasn't subsided following a successful debut as a starter, and organizing offseason passing sessions with App State receivers served as one example of how he's embracing a bigger leadership role.
"One of the things I look for in a quarterback is toughness," Drinkwitz said. "He's a physically and mentally tough young man. He loves to compete, and he doesn't take anything personal. The very first thing we did when I got here was we watched all of his throws and tried to say, 'These are the things you have to improve on.' He didn't take it personal. He didn't say, 'Oh gosh, I'm the reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year.' He took those things and said, 'This is exactly what I've got to do to improve.'
"He's been just tremendous from a football standpoint. From a leadership standpoint, he's really grown. He's a quiet young man by nature, but his vocal leadership really stepped forward this summer … It's always fun to coach a quarterback who wants to improve and wants to take the team on his shoulders and really establish that identity."
