By Bret Strelow | App State Athletics
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — App State Football is headed back to The Bank, looking to cash in on the opportunity to begin a new era with a win on a national stage.
Dowell Loggains' first game as the Mountaineers' head coach — or as a head coach at any level — is set for Friday night at 7 p.m. against Charlotte in Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
The Mountaineers have a new coaching staff, plus 55 newcomers on the roster. The 49ers have a new coaching staff, led by former Ohio head coach Tim Albin, and 57 newcomers on their roster.
In the current landscape of college football, the excitement connected to a season opener is paired with curiosity.
"It's an exciting week as you get ready to play your first game," Loggains said. "We're excited that it's in Charlotte, at an NFL venue. It's an awesome experience for our players. With that, you get to see all the hard work we've put into this point. The kids have busted their tails, and now is when it really starts to matter, when it really counts."
No current players on App State's roster participated in the Mountaineers' last trip to the Queen City, a 33-19 victory against East Carolina to open the 2021 season, as the fifth-year players who were App State freshmen that season all redshirted: LB
Kyle Arnholt, DB
Jordan Favors, TE
David Larkins, OL
Jayden Ramsey and WR
Dalton Stroman.
Loggains has coached in three regular season games at Bank of America Stadium, starting with NFL experiences as the quarterbacks coach for the Tennessee Titans (in 2011, with Matt Hasselbeck playing opposite Cam Newton in a 30-3 victory by the Titans) and the Cleveland Browns (in 2014, with Newton's Panthers winning 17-13 against a Browns team quarterbacked by Brian Hoyer and rookie Johnny Manziel).
Sixteen years after entering the NFL, Loggains transitioned to the college game, spending time with James Franklin at Penn State before coaching two seasons apiece at Arkansas and South Carolina. Spencer Rattler was Loggains' quarterback at South Carolina when the Gamecocks opened the 2023 season in Charlotte against North Carolina and eventual No. 3 draft pick Drake Maye, who worked closely with QB guru
Clyde Christensen that year in Chapel Hill.
Loggains and Christensen, connected by a 2018 season together with the Miami Dolphins, have reunited this fall in Boone to provide veteran guidance to an offense with four players on the roster who have scored a touchdown in an App State uniform. There could be a more balanced mix of returners and newcomers on a multiple-front defense, with first-year coordinator
DJ Smith back in Boone after starring for the Mountaineers from 2007-10, playing four seasons in the NFL, working on App State's coaching staff from 2016-19 and spending the previous five seasons with Eliah Drinkwitz at Missouri.
With so many newcomers on each side, scouting and scheming for the opposition is even more challenging than usual.
"Hats off to Coach Albin and Coach (Todd) Fitch," Smith said of Charlotte's head coach and its offensive coordinator, with Fitch (the father of former App State quarterback Curtis Fitch) working at LSU (2024) and Ohio State (2021-23) in the last few seasons.
"Those guys did an amazing job at the previous stops they were at. It's been a lot of gray hairs, stress, pulling, just trying to figure out what are they doing to be and what are they going to do. The biggest thing, it really comes back to us and how we handle things. Do we line up and do the techniques and fundamentals and execute at a high level? Do we block, tackle, get off blocks? If they throw us a ball, do we catch it?"
App State holds a 3-0 lead in the series against Charlotte, with different coaches directing the Mountaineers to victories in 2018 (Scott Satterfield), 2019 (Drinkwitz) and 2020 (Shawn Clark). Brad Lambert and Will Healy were Charlotte's coaches during those matchups, and Albin has arrived at Charlotte after going 33-19 in four years as the head coach at Ohio, where he had been on staff since 2005.
Media reports have tabbed Charlotte's starting quarterback as North Carolina transfer Connor Harrell, a dual-threat option who also worked with Christensen while starting three times during his three seasons in Chapel Hill. The 49ers return 24.2 percent of their offensive starts and 18.9 percent of their defensive starts from last season, but their 36 NCAA transfers have made a combined 212 starts at that level.
"One of the things I keep talking about with our players is survive the assault, work the cut — if you're a boxing fan, you get that," Loggains said. "You've got to be prepared for unscouted looks in Week 1 … We talk to our players about being ready to adjust. Even the way we practice, some of the unscripted things we'll do this week is get those guys ready to think on their feet, react and also stay calm when the water gets choppy, because it will. That's a talented team that's very well-coached."
