Mountaineers strive to keep rolling under new head coach
Appalachian State named Eliah Drinkwitz the successor to Scott Satterfield, who departed for Louisville. Drinkwitz spent the previous three seasons as North Carolina State’s offensive coordinator. Drinkwitz inherits a team that returns talent on both sides of the ball and should once again be one of the top teams in the Sun Belt.
Orlando Sentinel college insider Matt Murschel ranked all 130 FBS teams in the country entering the 2019 season. The Sentinel staff will take a closer look at a new team daily, counting backward from No. 130 to our projected No. 1 team.
Today at No. 52: Appalachian State
Coach: Eliah Drinkwitz (0-0, entering first season, 0-0 overall)
2018 record: 11-2, 7-1 in Sun Belt, tied for first in East Division
Look back: The Mountaineers almost pulled off another major upset in the opening week of the 2018 season. Appalachian State lost 45-38 in overtime against No. 9 Penn State in the opening week, almost replicating one of the biggest upsets in college football history when the Mountaineers defeated No. 5 Michigan in 2007.
The Mountaineers rode the momentum into a Sun Belt Conference championship, finishing 11-2 and winning the inaugural Sun Belt title game 30-19 over Louisiana.
App State went on to trounce Middle Tennessee 45-13 in the New Orleans Bowl.
Offensive starters returning: 10
Offensive starters lost: 1 Defensive starters returning: 7 Defensive starters lost: 4 Key losses: OL Chandler Greer, WR Dominique Heath, DL MyQuon Stout, LB Anthony Flory, DB Clifton Duck, DB Tae Hayes
Top returnees: QB Zac Thomas, RB Darrynton Evans, WR Corey Sutton, WR Thomas Hennigan, OL Victor Johnson, OL Ryan Neuzil, OL Noah Hannon, DL Chris Willis, DL Elijah Diarrassouba, LB Jordan Fehr, LB Akeem Davis-Gaither, LB Noel Cook, DB Josh Thomas, DB Desmond Franklin
Strengths: App State’s offense, which ranked 37th in the country last season in yards per game at 431, returns virtually everybody.
Quarterback Zac Thomas is back after being named the 2018 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year after scoring 31 total touchdowns.
Running back Darrynton Evans led the Sun Belt in rushing with 1,187 yards, and he scored seven touchdowns. The wide receivers were productive last season and the trio of Corey Sutton, Thomas Hennigan and Malik Williams are among the best in the conference.
The linebacker group is also among the best in the Sun Belt. Jordan Fehr was a first-team allconference selection in 2018 after racking up 86 total tackles and 5.5 sacks.
Akeem Davis-Gaither led the team with 105 tackles.
Weaknesses: Adjusting to a new coach is never easy, but there are not many glaring weaknesses on the Mountaineers.
The team has to replace two starters in the secondary in Clifton Duck and Tae Hayes, who both signed as NFL undrafted free agents.
Outlook: Drinkwitz probably couldn’t have asked for a better first head-coaching job.
The Mountaineers are the favorites to repeat as Sun Belt champions in large part because of the amount of talent and experience returning.
Drinkwitz’s offenses at NC State got better in each of his three seasons, and he will implement some of his own concepts to an offense that was prolific last season.
App State’s schedule this season includes games on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The regular-season finale against Troy could determine who will play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship game on Dec. 7.