Ragin' Dave APP STATE Breakdown
Sorry it has been a while, Baby duty and “dooty” got in the way.
Here is a small breakdown of the App State Mountaineers football team this year.
App is 7-2 this year; they and they are getting some love from the National Polls, even though they are not as dominant as they have been in the past. This week they were listed at #31 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and have received votes in the past in the AP Poll, although not this week. Their 2 losses have been against 2 very good teams. They lost @ Marshall early in the season 17-7 and lost just recently to Nationally Ranked Coastal Carolina 34-23. Although they have not had any clear signature wins this season, they have taken care of the teams they were supposed to beat. At home the defeated Charlotte 35-20, Campbell 52-21, Arkansas State 45-17, Georgia State 17-13 and Troy 47-10. On the road they have defeated Monroe 31-13 and Texas State 38-17. So if you are reading this correctly they are 5-0 and on the road they are 2-2. Clearly their 2 toughest games so far have been on the road vs. two very good Nationally Ranked G5 teams.
They are averaging 32.8 points per game while giving up 18 ppg. As always they are a very balanced team both through the air and on the ground. They are averaging 256 yards per game on the ground and 201 yards per game through the air. But like us, they will use the run to set up the pass. This is a team that would much prefer to pound you with running the ball and then beat you when they can with the pass. They are averaging 5.6 yards per play on the ground and 7.8 yards per play in the air, but almost 12 yards per reception. They are averaging 457 yards per game on offense and they have a pretty stingy defense. The one interesting thing for them, that is not usually indicative of an APP team is that they are committing more penalty yards then they usually do at 7.22 penalties per game for a 64.9 yard average per game. They are basically at 50% on 3rd down and 4th down conversions. And they have been controlling the ball with average time of possession of 32.05 minutes per game vs their opponents only having it 27.55 minutes per game. This is not unusual as again they are going to try to control the game on the ground. They also do not give up many sacks, so far through 9 games they have given up 15 sacks (less than 2 a game) for 86 yards.
On Defense they are balanced as well, as they are only giving up 139.8 yards per game on the ground and only 180.2 yards through the air. They have forced 13 turnovers on the year, 11 INT’s and 2 fumble recoveries. And they are averaging about 2.5 sacks per game on defense. More to come on this, when we breakdown their defense individually.
Let’s start at QB, we all know him as he has seemed to be at APP for about 100 years, maybe it only seems that way because he has been really good against us. The offense runs through Zac Thomas. He did get injured in one game this year, but has started and played in all 9 of their games. He is completing almost 67% of his passes and thrown 17 touchdowns vs. 8 INT’s, which is high for him. His backup is Jacob Huesman who has played in 5 games but only attempted 4 passes. Thomas is throwing for almost 200 yards a game. But he can also, as we know hurt you with his legs. He has rushed for 272 yards this year with a 4.1 yard average and scored 2 TD’s via the run. He is the 5th leading rusher on the team and if you back out his sacks, then he is 3rd. So he is a serious dual threat QB as we have learned when we have played him in the past.
At Running Back they have really been a running back by committee team as they have 4 guys with over 300 yards rushing and 2 of them have over 600. But one of those 600 yard backs is out indefinitely. Daetrich Harrington who is their #2 leading rusher, according to Coach Shawn Clark, “is out for an extended period of time” since the Texas State game on November 7th. At the time of the injury he was leading the team in rushing. His backups are Cameron Peoples, who is leading the team with 639 yards and 6 TD’s and Marcus Williams JR who has 376 yards on the season and 2 TD’s, Nate Noel is the other back with 309 yards on the season and 1 TD. So they are more than capable of running the ball with these 3 guys, plus Thomas very well. All of their running backs are averaging over 5 yards per carry. PSSST, a little secret they like to run the ball.
At Wide Receiver they have had a multitude of issues, but they are still pretty good there. Their top 2 guys are guys we should all remember. Malik Williams and Thomas Hennigan. Hennigan is their possession guy and Williams is their deep threat guy. Williams leads the team with 35 catches for 483 yards and 3 TD’s and Hennigan has 463 yards and 2 TD’s. The 2 guys they are missing this year is a transfer from Va Tech, Jacoby Pinkney who was ruled ineligible by the NCAA and Corey Sutton who opted out with Covid concerns. They have also had a few guys that have missed games throughout the season. They do spread the ball around though as they have 4 other guys that have double digit catches. Christian Wells has 14 catches and 4 TD’s, Jalen Virgil has 14 catches and 2 TD’s, Dashaun Davis has 11 catches and 0 TD’s and finally their Tight End Henry Pearson has 10 catches and 2 TD’s. An interesting guy on their roster is Caleb Spurlin, he is a 5’11” 245 lb Defensive lineman who has 2 receptions for 3 yards and 2 TD’s. They do not throw the ball to the RB’s very much as Peoples had 3 receptions, Marcus Williams has 3 receptions, Noel Nate has 2 receptions and Harrington has 2 receptions. So combined they have 10 receptions for a total of 60 yards and zero TD’s. Hennigan and Wiliams are their two guys that make up a total of 44% of their receptions and 52% of their yards and 29% of their TD’s. But it is easier said than done to stop these 2 guys.
As with any running team, they have a very good offensive line including 2 projected All SBC 1st team conference players and both are Seniors. Noah Hannon at Center and John “Baer” Hunter at RG. Cooper Hodges at RT was a preseason 2nd team player and Ryan Neuzil was a preseason 3rd team. The final piece of the line is Cole Garrison, who has started all 9 games. Of the players listed above 4 are Seniors and 1 sophomore and of the players 4 have started all 9 games and the other started 8 of those games. There are big, experienced and good at the offensive line.
Oh and then there is the Defense, and it all starts up front with one guy and he is “REALLY GOOD”. Demetrius Taylor is their Senior Defense End. Listen to these numbers. He is 5th on the team in tackles with 31 total but 11 of those are TFL’s and 6 of those are sacks. I told you we would come back to the sacks. D-Taylor makes up exactly 20% of their TFL’s and 28% of their Sacks. He is ridiculous.
At the LB position they have 2 really good ones. D’marco Jackson and Trey Cobb lead the way, Cobb is 2nd on the team in tackles with 59 and the other and Jackson leads the team in tackles with 63, they only combine for 4.5 sacks, but they are tackle machines from the 2nd level. These 2 guys combined with Demetrius Taylor, means that 3 of their front 7 are really good. We need to be able to block Taylor and our running backs are going to have to be able to avoid getting lit up and tackled by Jackson and Cobb. Their number 3 guy is pretty good too, Branden Harrington is tied for the lead in INT;s with 3.
In the back half they have some athletes there as well. They have 2 pretty good CB’s in Shaun Jolly and Shemar Jean Charles. They have combined for 68 tackles and have combined for 21 pass breakups. They only have 1 INT between them, but their Safeties are good too. Kaiden Smith is 3rd on the team in tackles with 45. At Free Safety Ryan Huff has 3 INT’s and is tied with Branden Harrington for the team lead.
Special teams is led by Chandler Staton who is 10-14 on FG and 37-38 on XP. His long is only 45 but is 3-4 on kicks between 40-49. They have Ryker Casey doing kickoffs and 1/3 of this kickoffs have been TB;s, We should have a chance to return some vs. App. Chris Smith needs to break one in this game, field position will be key. Xavier Subotsh is their punter and he is pretty good. He is averaging 42.1 yards per punt with 2 over 50 and a 56 yard long. Hennigan and Malik Williams both return punts, Hennigan catches everything and Williams is a breakaway guy. Kick returns are handled by Steven Jones who averages 22.2 yards per return and has a long of 41.
Shawn Clark is the Head Coach of APP State. Clark has been at APP since 2016, but also played their in the late 90’s. He is an APP Guy through and through. He has also coached at Louisville, Eastern Kentucky, Purdue and Kent State. This is his first year as a HC, he played Guard at APP.
GEAUX CAJUNS!!!! Thanks for being patient with me on my breakdowns, baby "DOOTY" calls.
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Re: Ragin' Dave APP STATE Breakdown
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Re: Ragin' Dave APP STATE Breakdown
Re: Ragin' Dave APP STATE Breakdown
