BOONE, N.C. — With last week's start of fall camp, the 2019 football opener against East Tennessee State is only 22 days away. Today is the second installment of an eight-part, position-by-position breakdown series presented by Clean Eatz.
Part 2 of the series focuses on the Appalachian State running backs, a group that totaled 2,533 rushing yards without a lost fumble in 2018.
Jalin Moore is now with the New York Jets after having his senior season cut short by an injury, and the Mountaineers return the talented quartet of junior
Darrynton Evans, junior
Marcus Williams Jr., sophomore
Daetrich Harrington and redshirt freshman
Camerun Peoples.
That group is now coached by
Garrett Riley, who worked the previous three seasons at Kansas. He began his college coaching career as a running backs coach and also spent three seasons on East Carolina's staff following a playing career at Texas Tech.
"We've got a nice mixture of veterans, guys that have experience, and you've got some newcomers that haven't played as much that I'm excited about and that give our room even that much more depth," Riley said. "The thing they've been challenged with since I got here was being a close group. I think everybody knows that's a deep position group, and human nature might be to go against each other because you're fighting for those reps, but we've got great chemistry in that room."
With Moore suffering his season-ending injury in early October, Evans didn't become App State's primary back until Game 5 of the 2018 season, but he still led the Sun Belt Conference with 1,187 rushing yards while averaging 6.6 yards per carry and posting six runs of at least 50 yards. He ranked ninth nationally by totaling 1,764 all-purpose yards, and his nine touchdowns included a 100-yard kickoff return against Penn State.
Also a skilled receiver, Evans possesses the type of versatility that head coach
Eliah Drinkwitz capitalized on during his time as NC State's offensive coordinator. Jaylen Samuels totaled 18 rushing touchdowns and 11 receiving touchdowns over his final two seasons even though he was often listed as a tight end in Drinkwitz's offense, and the speedy Nyheim Hines rushed for 1,113 yards while also excelling as a returner in 2017.
"He just wants to get all of his skill guys in space," Evans said. "Not just me, but everybody in good matchups and making sure everything is going to work well.
"It's really good going into this year knowing we have a lot of experience. It doesn't really matter who is in the game. From top to bottom, everyone is going to try to produce."
Evans' ability to line up in multiple spots should help the Mountaineers take advantage of their backfield depth, from top to bottom.
Williams, who actually started the 2018 Sun Belt Championship Game after Evans returned a Louisiana kickoff 97 yards, rushed for at least 500 yards as both a redshirt freshman and sophomore. He has three 100-yard games in his career.
With a 6-foot-2, 210-pound frame to go with his talents as a runner, Peoples showed flashes of his potential during a true freshman season in which he maintained four years of eligibility by appearing in just three games. His 17 carries for 164 yards included two touchdowns, notably a 63-yard score on his second rush of the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, and he turned a relatively short pass into a long touchdown reception during Friday's practice.
Another dangerous option is Harrington, who broke off a long run Wednesday in the team's first scrimmage of fall camp. He had a 100-yard game as a true freshman late in 2017, suffered a torn ACL in the spring before the 2018 season and officially redshirted last year. He still made a quick recovery and appeared in two games late in the year.
Additional depth arrives in the form of freshman
Ben Williams (a standout prep player at Charlotte Christian), Butler University transfer
Gabe Montgomery and
Nakendrick Clark, who was sidelined by an injury last season after transferring in from Louisburg College.
"The good thing about our room is you have a mixture of guys that are good at different things," Riley said. "That's the fun part for us, just putting that puzzle together."
