Notes from Media Day and preseason camp
Odds and ends from Appalachian State’s media day and early stages of preseason camp:
ASU has won or shared six Southern Conference titles in a row. This season, the Mountaineers will try to become the first team to win seven straight.
SoCon coaches picked ASU to win again in an annual preseason poll, but the media went with Georgia Southern, which has 20 of 22 starters back, beat ASU in Statesboro last season and advanced a step further in the playoffs. It was the first time since 2005 that the Mountaineers weren’t picked first.
Preseason polls don’t mean much, but it was a topic during media day.
“I think the only reason we’re hearing about it this year is because we’re not No. 1,” defensive tackle Gordy Witte of ASU said. “If we were No. 1, nobody would be talking that much about it. But it gives us another motivation.”
Witte is a fifth-year senior, and he and receiver Brian Quick are the only two ASU players to have played in any games in 2007, the year ASU last won a national title, although several players on this year’s team were redshirt members that year.
“That’s a big deal because all the fifth-year guys are really the only ones that had even a taste of a national championship,” Witte said. “We’d really like to start a new legacy.”
Some players to watch in preseason camp:
Steven Miller, a junior transfer from Nassau Community College, has gotten some early attention at running back and returning kicks as result of his speed.
He’s small (5-9, 180) but fast.
“The only thing is he’s not had pads on yet,” running backs coach Chris Moore said. “We’ll see what he can do, but he can really run.”
Junior Michael Frazier moved from defensive back to running back in the spring and was impressive, and will fit in the running back rotation that is led by seniors Cedric Baker and Travaris Cadet.
Cadet will see some time as a slot receiver to get him even more involved in the offense, and Baker is expected to get a lot of carries. Miller could help, and Frazier will be used as a “fullback type.”
“He (Frazier) brings a little nastiness to the backfield,” Moore said.
Hopes are that Brandon McGowan, a freshman from Suwannee, Ga., and Jamal Ware, a freshman from Tyrone, Ga., will add needed depth at inside linebacker along with sophomore Karl Anderson.
Henry Barnes, a freshman from Newton Grove, could help at safety.
Trevor Sawyer, a 6-6, 225-pound redshirt freshman, could be a factor at tight end. “He’s a big talented guy, he’s just young,” Moore said
A lot of eyes will be on freshman Sean Price, a 6-5, 200-pound receiver from Reston, Va.
“The dude can gallop,” quarterback DeAndre Presley said. “He’s big, and he can run.”
Senior Brian Quick, who led ASU’s receivers with 47 catches for 844 yards and nine touchdowns, has added bulk to his 6-5 frame and is looking to be more of a physical receiver to add to his big-play capability. He now weighs 220 pounds, and wants to get to 225.
“I worked really hard this summer,” Quick said. “Coach (Mike) Kent and Kareem (Young) and a lot of guys in the weight room really pushed me. I’ve gained 10 pounds and I have gotten stronger.
“This is my senior year and I want to go out with a bang.”
Otherwise, the Mountaineers will depend largely on a group of relatively unknown receivers.
“We are excited about the young guys,” receivers coach Trey Elder said. “(Andrew) Peacock and (Jamill) Lott and (Tony) Washington are all very talented and smart football players. And we’ll have Cadet, too, because he’ll play some slot receiver this year.
“I think we’ll be good. Tony didn’t catch a lot of balls last year but he played a lot. Cadet and Quick have both been in big games.”
Brad Glenn, the Mountaineers’ quarterbacks coach, said of the younger receivers: “The potential is there, they’ve just got to get game reps. I think we could potentially have the most athletic group of wide outs and tight ends we’ve ever had here. I think they sky is the limit for those guys.”
Quick said: “We definitely have a lot of young buys but I feel like they’ll be ready. I’m the only senior so I feel like I need to be a leader for these guys, and we have time in camp for them to learn.”
Seniors Orry Frye and Matt Ruff return to the offensive line, but ASU lost three of its five starters from last season. Several players will battle to fill those spots.
Bob McClain, the Mountaineers’ offensive line coach, said that it’s too early to tell how that will shake out.
“We have a couple of guys who have played a lot of football with Orry Frye and Matt Ruff, but they’re coming back in and competing for jobs just the same as the young ones are,” McClain said. “They know they have an edge, obviously, because of they’re playing experience, but they know they’ll have to compete the same as everyone else. Besides those two, we have a bunch of young talent but it’s a matter of who steps up and takes hold.
“We do have a bunch of guys who are very coachable and really want to be out on the field. They have a lot of energy and are giving a lot of effort.”