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BOONE, N.C. — The echo of popping pads returned to Kidd Brewer Stadium on Tuesday as Appalachian State University football donned full pads for the first time this year for a two-and-a-half-hour practice.

As is expected when hitting commences, Tuesday’s practice was a spirited one with a lot of hard hits and emotion on both sides of the ball. The hoots and hollers extended to the coaching staff, who appeared to be into the action as much as the players during a hard-fought, fun-to-watch period of 11-on-11 red-zone drills to end the day.

The final period consisted of eight series with the offense starting inside the 20 yard line — three possessions that began with first down and 10 from the 20, three that began with first-and-goal from the 10 and two that began with first-and-goal from the three.

The Mountaineer defense got the better of their offensive counterparts for much of the period, as it held the offense out of the end zone on five of the eight series. Buck Buchanan Award candidate D.J. Smith turned in the biggest defensive play of the period when he snuffed out a reverse to fellow senior B.J. Frazier and took him down with a hard hit for a four-yard loss on first-and-goal from the 10. Smith was also in on a tackle for loss on second-and-goal from the one yard line earlier in the period.

Other defensive standouts during the red-zone drill included defensive ends John Rizor and Jabari Fletcher and defensive tackle Dan Wylie.

Offensively, the first-team offense accounted for all three touchdowns, including two by running back Devin Radford. The third score came courtesy of an 11-yard touchdown pass from DeAndre Presley to tight end Ben Jorden on a fourth-and-goal play.

Appalachian also held its customary 11-on-11 period prior to the entertaining red-zone session. Highlights included:

• a diving interception by right cornerback Troy Sanders on a pass near the line of scrimmage.

• Rizor and Gordy Witte combining to sack Presley and causing a fumble that was recovered by Rizor.

• tight end Brad Hardee catching a short pass from Jamal Jackson in the flat, breaking several tackles while making his way down the right sideline and eventually up the middle of the field for a long gain.

• Wes Stringfield catching a pass from Jackson over the middle then holding on after linebacker Karl Anderson delivered one of several big hits that he dealt out during the afternoon.

• redshirt freshman Andrew Peacock catching a pass over the middle and using every bit of his 5-10, 185-pound frame to deliver a big hit to the tackler.

Up next for the Mountaineers is the first day of two-a-day practices on Wednesday.

mcveyrl wrote:Is the Peacock WR related to the good Chancellor?

ASUG8 wrote:

mcveyrl wrote:Is the Peacock WR related to the good Chancellor?

Unless the chancellor had a dark liason in Durham, NC - then no.

Edit: oh, and he's a RB.

mcveyrl wrote:

ASUG8 wrote:
Unless the chancellor had a dark liason in Durham, NC - then no.

Edit: oh, and he's a RB.

You know, right after I posted that I thought "Maybe I should go to the ASU site and find a picture..."

Skjellyfetti wrote:... Can't wait for the season to start....

BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University football wrapped up its first two-a-day practice sessions with first intrasquad scrimmage of the year on Wednesday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium.

Appalachian’s 125-play scrimmage went nearly two-and-a-half hours and capped the Mountaineers longest day of fall camp thus far. ASU opened its first two-a-day of the year by holding a 90-minute walk-through practice (no pads, no contact) on Wednesday morning.

The afternoon’s intrasquad scrimmage featured 17 series, 15 of which started at the offense’s 20 yard line and two that pinned the offense’s back against the wall on its own one yard line. Following the initial 17 series, the scrimmage concluded with eight red-zone possessions, with the offense getting the ball at the defense’s 20 yard line for four possessions, the 10 yard line for two possessions and the three yard line for the final two.

For the most part, Appalachian’s defense stood out during the scrimmage, as it held its offensive counterparts out of the end zone on 16-of-17 series, including seven three-and-outs. However, ASU’s offense was utilizing what head coach Jerry Moore termed as a “vanilla” playbook, with the vast majority of the calls being for running plays or short play-action passes. Considering the conservative nature of the play-calling, the offense managed a very respectable 448 total yards over 102 snaps (4.4 yards per play).

“I thought the defense played very well,” Moore said. “They ran to the ball well and tackled well. Offensively, while it probably would have been very boring if any fans were watching, we got to see a number of things that we needed to see as coaches. In the first scrimmage, we were primarily looking for guys who can block and tackle and I think that we did those things well.”

Individual defensive standouts included cornerback Troy Sanders, who was especially impressive in run support and was in on multiple stops behind the line of scrimmage, defensive end John Rizor, who also notched multiple tackles for loss and all-American D.J. Smith, who made several tackles from his weakside linebacker position.

Rod Chisholm, Devin Radford and Travaris Cadet shouldered the bulk of the load offensively. Chisholm rushed 17 times for 57 yards, Radford ran 11 times for 81 yards, including an afternoon-best 41-yard gain on a third-down play from his own five-yard line early in the scrimmage, and Cadet, who has is primarily a wide receiver, saw plenty of time at running back and carried the ball 18 times for 72 yards. Cadet also scored the only touchdown of the afternoon on a one-yard dive that capped an 80-yard drive which included a 22-yard by the junior.

Junior DeAndre Presley and redshirt freshman Jamal Jackson, who are locked in a battle to be the Mountaineers’ starting quarterback this year, combined to throw only 24 passes on the afternoon. Working primarily with the first team, Presley completed 7-of-11 passes for 64 yards and Jackson connected on 6-of-13 passes for 65 yards while splitting time with the first and second units. Both signal-callers were plagued by dropped passes, with the wide receiving corps missing several key players due to minor injuries. The scrimmage’s leading receivers were true freshman tight end Trevor Sawyer, who caught four passes for 54 yards, and redshirt freshman Tony Washington, who hauled in three receptions for 48 yards.

The biggest hit of the day came when true freshman linebacker A.J. McDonald leveled Nathan Dorton after the redshirt freshman caught a pass from Jackson over the middle (Dorton valiantly held onto the ball for a four-yard gain). The top offensive play came when safeties Mark LeGree and Dominique McDuffie converged to drill Andrew Peacock and seemingly break up a pass, only for B.J. Frazier to run under the tipped ball and catch it for an 18-yard gain.

ASUG8 wrote:Wednesday, 8/11 report: notably, no word on Hillary, Quick, or Cline....