Elder knows the feeling
Trey Elder can relate to DeAndre Presley’s disappointment of no longer being Appalachian State’s starting quarterback.
In 2006, Elder, who had taken the reigns from graduated Richie Williams, was replaced three games into the season by rookie Armanti Edwards. Everybody knows how that turned out.
Now Presley, who won the starting job last season, will give way this Saturday to sophomore Jamal Jackson.
Elder, receivers coach for the Mountaineers, recalls the feeling.
“When you’ve been the starting quarterback, you always want to be that guy,” Elder said. “You want the team on your shoulders. But sometimes when another guy steps in and does a good job it’s tough to fight those feelings of being bitter.
“But DeAndre isn’t that way at all. He and Jamal have a great relationship – a lot like me and Armanti had – but you go from being the guy that’s calling the shots to being more in the background. It’s an adjustment.”
Elder said that he told Presley to “keep his head up,” and that he will continue to be a contributor.
“It’s life,” Elder said. “Sometimes you get thrown a curveball, things that play into your goals and your personal opinion on things, but you have to shift, you have to adjust and be able to roll with it and make the most of it.
“It would be more difficult if he wasn’t being replaced by a guy like Jamal who is a class act and a great quarterback in his own right.
“DeAndre has a lot of character. He’s mature. For him, it’s always about winning. He’s a competitor and he told me he wants to win, and however we need to do it that’s what he wants to do. He’s doing a great job of being a leader, he’s still a captain on our football team, and I haven’t seen him pout for one second.”
Jackson is the latest in a line of quarterbacks that has run ASU’s Spread offense since its installation in 2004, following the likes of big-number performers Williams, Edwards and Presley.
Coach Jerry Moore was asked this week how the Mountaineers keep finding impressive quarterbacks. He chuckled and said, “We’re lucky.”
Then, he added, “We look for particular type of kids. No. 1 for us is that they have to be able to run. Obviously, we want a guy that can throw well but we want a guy that can run.
“I like to think that we train quarterbacks pretty well, too,” Moore said.
The Mountaineers have recruited players that were quarterbacks in high school but are talented enough to play another position. Examples are former receiver CoCo Hillary and current receivers Jamill Lott and Andrew Peacock.
Read more about Jackson and Presley in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal