Saturday, August 07, 2010
Notes from the opening of preseason camp
Odds and ends from today’s Media Day at Appalachian State:
Daniel Wilcox, a former ASU tight end who played eight seasons in the NFL before being released by the Baltimore Ravens last year, is back in Boone as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
He looks as if he could still play, and was holding out some hope he would be picked up as a free agent last season, but said that it’s time to move on and coaching could be in his future.
“I’m looking forward to helping here in any way I can,” said Wilcox, who is taking classes toward completing a bachelor’s degree.
His presence alone will help, Coach Jerry Moore said.
“Daniel is someone these guys will look up to,” Moore said.
Wilcox said: “That was a big part of the reason I’m back here, I want these guys to know, ‘if you believe it, you can achieve it.’ If you put your mind to something, you can do it. A lot of people told me I couldn’t play in the NFL, that I wasn’t big enough, fast enough or tall enough, but I pulled it off for eight years. I want them to know what it takes to get there.”
ASU has operated from the Shotgun in recent seasons and will continue to do so, but Brad Glenn, the quarterbacks coach, said that quarterbacks will take some snaps under center.
“We’ll do both,” Glenn said. “We’ll sprinkle in a little under-center, to take a little pressure off the quarterbacks at time and be a little more solid in short-yardage, goal-line and play-action situations. But we’re not really going to change anything major in the offense. It will be largely what it’s been.”
There are two significant differences in the way ASU’s schedule unfolds this season.
The Mountaineers have often opened the season against a bowl-division opponent but this year will play Florida in the final regular-season game. And they don’t typically play a Southern Conference opponent until a few weeks into the season, but will open against league foe Chattanooga.
“There’s no margin for error on that one,” said Moore, whose team will be seeking a sixth straight SoCon title.
As for the late-season game against Florida, Moore knows that will be a challenge.
“Urban (Meyer) and I have been really good friends since he was at Utah,” Moore said. “I just hope that he doesn’t forget it.”
The Mountaineers will open the 2011 season at Virginia Tech. Also on next season’s schedule will be N.C. A&T, according to sources, and one home date against a non-conference opponent has yet to be filled.