BOONE, N.C. — With a classic Michael Jackson song playing over the videoboard speakers, defensive end
Kevin Abrams-Verwayne delivered a no-contact sack for a 7-yard loss and showed impressive instincts by immediately breaking into a dance move from the "King of Pop."
Moments later,
Joey Aguilar hit
Kaedin Robinson for a 22-yard completion that moved the offense to the 10-yard line.
There were plenty of highlights on both sides of the ball as App State completed its second and final Saturday scrimmage of the 2024 preseason with some back-and-forth action. The Mountaineers are just 14 days away from their Aug. 31 opener at home against ETSU.
"Our offense was smooth," App State head coach
Shawn Clark said. "The defense did a good job of keeping our offense out of the end zone early on, but the offense did a great job of moving the chains and connecting on big plays."
A week removed from the first Saturday scrimmage of fall camp, with a desire to solidify some depth-chart organization, Clark and his staff used the second scrimmage to get more reps for younger or less-experienced groups than the potential first units.
With possessions starting at various spots on the field — some long fields, some short ones — App State totaled six offensive touchdowns in 16 series before a late switch to more situational matters.
Aguilar at one point led three straight touchdown drives, capped by scores from
Maquel Haywood on a quick-cutting, 22-yard run, receiver
Christan Horn on a 29-yard reception and tight end
Eli Wilson on an 11-yard reception. Defensively, new cornerback
Seth Robertson and safety
DJ Burks both made incredible plays to break up deep pass attempts from Aguilar.
The run game benefited from strong work up front, with line returners such as
Markell Samuel,
Griffin Scroggs and
Thornton Gentry working well together with newcomers such as
Thomas Shrader,
Garner Langlo and
Jack Hollifield, just to name a few.
Anderson Castle averaged more than 7 yards per rushing attempt, starting with an early 13-yard run, while young backs
Michael Dipasquale (25-yard run) and
Khamani Alexander (20-yard run) had explosive runs deeper down the line.
"I'm pleased with the offensive line," Clark said. "Go two weeks into camp, they've gotten better each and every day. They protected the quarterback well, and we ran the ball well at times until we got down into the red area, where we kind of bogged down a little bit."
Second-string quarterback
Billy Wiles started off in a groove, highlighted by a 41-yard completion to
Michael Hetzel on his first pass attempt, and Wiles later threw touchdown passes of 8 yards to receiver
William Fowles and 25 yards to tight end
David Larkins. True freshman quarterback
Matthew Wilson worked through an early hiccup and followed his own scramble for 30 yards with a 20-yard touchdown pass to
Luke Hale.
All in all, the defense performed well in the red zone and forced several short field goal attempts from
Michael Hughes. Abrams-Verwayne continued his strong preseason with his sack, and he also knocked down a pass thanks to heavy backfield pressure.
Kai Fernandes had a similar play in the backfield, while linebacker
Cahari Haynes and
Jalik Thomas forced plays to be blown dead because of their pressure on the quarterback.
