BOONE, N.C. – Two straight goal-line stops sent the App State defensive sideline into a frenzy of celebratory shouts and chants that had been building throughout the first week of the Mountaineers' spring practice.
Saturday's practice, which featured about 30 minutes of 11-on-11 scrimmaging in full pads at Kidd Brewer Stadium, culminated with two energetic goal-line sessions that ended with fourth-down breakups by
Steven Jones and Nick Ross, respectively.
Below is a recap of the day, including thoughts from head coach
Shawn Clark, top plays and a position spotlight.
App State's 2021 season opens Thursday, Sept. 2 with a neutral-site game against East Carolina at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium. The 2021 home opener is Sept. 18 vs. Elon.
The season ticket renewal and parking request deadline is April 30. Season ticket holders who haven't renewed as of yet need to refer to their activation email from Paciolan to activate their account (you retained your same account number). At that point, you can renew your season tickets online.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH CLARK
"I really liked our energy out there today. Our guys were flying around on both sides of the football. The first two days, the defense got after us pretty good. The last two days, the offense has really stepped up and come a long way. The offensive line is blocking better.
Chase Brice is doing a great job at quarterback getting us in the right plays. That's very important for us. The receivers are running great routes. I'm very pleased with the offense so far.
"We have a lot of team speed on defense. We can really run. Our linebackers are outstanding. We have two good corners. (Defensive linemen)
Demetrius Taylor and Jordan Earle have done a great job. But when you bring pressure, you need to cover. In tight coverage, our receivers were getting open, Chase was getting the ball off on time. You have to get the ball out quick, and our playmakers made plays today."
TOP PLAYS
With 10 of 11 defensive starters returning from last year, defensive coordinator
Dale Jones' side of the ball has had the upper hand and looked very strong the first week of practice.
The front seven was stingy against the run Saturday, with inside linebacker
D'Marco Jackson stuffing several runs up the middle and the unit not allowing much in the final goal-line scenarios.
For most of the scrimmage portions, though, the offense dialed up passing plays. And the defense dialed up a lot pressure, which resulted in sacks by
Trevor Willard,
Chris Washington,
Logan Doublin and
Tim Frizzell.
As he has displayed on fall Saturdays throughout his career,
Demetrius Taylor caused havoc in the backfield for quarterbacks
Chase Brice,
DC Tabscott and
Navy Shuler. The pressure from Taylor and crew created a number of opportunities at the second and third levels of the defense, where
Ronald Clarke,
Brendan Harrington,
Steven Jones and Nick Ross all had nice breakups. Ross also snagged an interception on a deep 50-50 ball down the sideline.
Despite the pressure, the offense still managed to produce several highlights in scrimmage portions that mostly started with the ball near midfield.
The play of the day may have been a deep strike from Brice to
Malik Williams down the middle of the field for a 65-yard touchdown that was made possible thanks to a perfect blitz pickup by running back
Ben Williams.
Brice found
Thomas Hennigan – one of 13 super seniors on the App State roster – for a number of quality gains, with the pair at one point converting three straight first-down passes on three different routes. Brice stepped into pressure and completed a 15-yard laser of a throw to
Jalen Virgil and also connected with
Christian Wells on a deep out along the sideline.
Other top plays included a 15-yard slant completion from Tabscott to
Christian Wells and a conversion from Tabscott to
Milan Tucker just past the first-down marker. Freshman offensive lineman
Jaden Lindsay received some oohs and ahs from the sideline when his powerful block paved the way for a Tabscott-to-
Christan Horn bubble screen to gain solid yardage.
POSITION HIGHLIGHT: CORNERBACKS
App State has enjoyed a string of six straight years with a first-team All-Sun Belt cornerback, including its first two FBS All-America corners the last two years in
Shaun Jolly and
Shemar Jean-Charles.
Jean-Charles is gone to pursue an NFL career, but Jolly returns for his senior year to lead what should be a strength of the Mountaineers again in 2021. Fellow senior
Steven Jones has taken first-team reps through the first week of spring ball, and new corners coach
Rod West is working to build depth behind those two known commodities.
Candidates to earn snaps behind Jolly and Jones this spring include redshirt-freshman
Stan Ellis, freshman
Travis McNichols, sophomore
Mike Smith and sophomore
Tommy Wright.
