BOONE, N.C. — App State Football begins the 2022 season with a Sept. 3 home opener against North Carolina.
Eighteen total players who started at least one game in 2021 return from a team that enjoyed a 10-win regular season and captured a Sun Belt East Division title during
Shawn Clark's second full season as head coach.
In previewing the season, here's a closer look at App State's tight ends:
TIGHT ENDS
Coached by
Justin Watts, the tight ends are a deep and important group, whether they're blocking up front or catching passes downfield.
While it remains to be seen what kind of role the tight ends will have in new coordinator
Kevin Barbay's offense, the Mountaineers opened the game with two tight ends on the field (or one H-back with a tight end) in eight games last season.
Henry Pearson,
Miller Gibbs and
Eli Wilson have all caught touchdown passes during their App State careers, and redshirt freshman
David Larkins could be next on the list.
More depth comes from the likes of
August Drews,
Peter Hennigan and
Gerry Snyder.
Kanen Hamlett has joined that room as a freshman newcomer.
Pearson leads the way with career totals of 47 games played, 31 starts, 49 receptions and six touchdowns. Gibbs, who was put on scholarship during fall camp, has played in 33 games and made four starts. He scored for the first time in 2020 and added two more TD grabs last season.
Wilson, a gifted receiver, scored the first touchdown of his career at Troy last season. Larkins, meanwhile, played in one game as a redshirting true freshman in 2021.
