Transcript
Speaker: All right, welcome everybody back to warm weather fans the Sun Belt podcast. My name is Brian Stone along with Zeke Palermo your two hosts of this podcast on a regular basis and we are joined by Aikman Chambers App State fan aficionado expert whatever title he wants to bestow upon himself as far as App State football goes. We're here to talk about the 2026 Mountaineers but Aikman just to start off with how's it going man.
Speaker: Man, it's going good, guys. Thanks for having me back for another year. College football is in the air and always good when we can get together to talk App State football and just Sunbelt football in general because three of us, we're all big fans of, you know, group of five football. And anytime we get to this point the year, it's fun for us.
Speaker: Absolutely. And Zeke, how's it going with you, man? ah It's good, man. It's good. I'm just excited to talk about AppState. This is a program that's been through a good bit in the past two, three years, fairly turbulent, just kind of in terms of results, stuff inside, outside of the program. so um And it's also you know one of the more brand names in the conference, so excited to get to chat about them.
Speaker: Absolutely. um Aikman, as we start off here, before we dive into like position groups or just you know sides of the ball as a whole, we've been asking any guests that we have coming on, what is sort of the feeling around App State football right now? like You guys have this you know even more recent history than a lot of teams, like going back to you know the the late 10s, 2020s, stuff like that, where you guys were... winning, you know, Sunbelt championships and you get the Sean Clark era, which was had its ups and downs, you know, RIP to him, obviously. ah And now you've got Dowell Loggins, you know, we've been at like, us you know, Zeke talked to Brady Weiler, who came on to talk about Georgia State. We talked to the Gata talk guys, which that episode hasn't dropped yet, but it will.
Speaker: what What is sort of the feeling around App State football as a whole, like in your opinion, like what's the temperature? It's interesting because it can vary from depending on who you talk to. You you really have a fan base that honestly I feel like is split into three sections. You have the people that are completely gung-ho that the route they're going with Coach Loggins is the the way and the only way. You have this second section of people that are – not fans of this at all that think that this is headed for a crash and burn scenario sooner rather than later that it's going to happen. And then you have this other group of fans that really are just hands off completely that are like, I honestly don't know because you have a lot of people that don't feel as connected. You have a lot of people that don't feel like they they are –
Speaker: connected with this team in the way of knowing the players and knowing things the way they were used to for so many years, because that's the new landscape of college athletics as a whole is it's like, you know, a turnstile each and every off season, a player comes, a player goes, you don't really have time to build a connection with a lot of players anymore. And that has alienated part of this fan base, but overall,
Speaker: People still are going to hold a little bit of optimism because it is App State and because of the rich tradition and the history that the program has. But to say it's standing on the legs that it was five years ago, I can't tell you that those legs are as strong as they were.
Speaker: Yeah, that's interesting. You know, um you guys situation last year actually kind of reminded me of ah Troy in 2024, where it's like, there's this program that has like all this like recent success and historical success, but but, you know, highlighted by recent success. And in 2024, they had like a really rough season. I think they won like four games that season. Yeah. Cycled through a bunch of quarterbacks similar to to what App did last year where it was it was sort of just like a revolving door of of quarterback play where it was like, we don't know who's going to start on Saturday. We don't know what we're going to get from the people that start on Saturday.
Speaker: um The results are mixed and like all over the board. so i don't I don't know if this is going to be a one-to-one, but Jared Parker was able to get Troy like back on the right track last year, and you know there's a chance that Dowell Loggins is able to do that too.
Speaker: So there's at least a precedent within the conference of like, hey, there are these teams that will have like a down season or two with a head coach, and then they kind of bounce back like once he gets his guys in and and all of that sort of stuff. Yeah.
Speaker: but Loggins isn't in the boat of like the Butch Joneses, the Clay Heltons yet, where it's like he's been there a number of years. He's underachieved most of the time, if not every single year. And we're just doing a thing where we can't get rid of him, but also...
Speaker: they're afraid to like venture into the the unknown and see what else is out there coach-wise. you know Coastal finally cut bait with Tim Beck last year, and that was that was like a big thing of like they finished better than a lot of the teams in the in the conference. Some of the teams in the conference that kept their coaches around for another year. so it's like It's just interesting to see their like varying levels with athletic departments around the conference of like this is acceptable and we're okay with having like this record this year.
Speaker: We don't want to repeat it. And then some it's like they're better than others. And they're like, nah, this this guy just doesn't isn't it. Let's just cut bait and and start fresh. So I don't i don't know. It's going be interesting to see what what app does this year. um Zeke, do you have do you have an opening kind of question for for eight minutes? We kind of push along.
Speaker: Yeah, and we'll definitely like break this down more position by position, but my impression of App State um from a roster perspective this year is they for a team that is returning like four five starters, um they didn't really dip into the transfer portal. It's a lot of homegrown guys. There are obviously, and we'll talk like Jaquez Cross at running back is like the headline name, I think, um but Like, do I have a right read on that that? This is a lot more of like bringing guys up from within the program as opposed to trying to snag like premier D2, premier Juco guys. Like what is that a fair assessment of this roster composition?
Speaker: They went heavy in new player acquisition. Only two guys returned that started at least half the games last year, and that's Colton Ferris on defense and Caden Sweat on the offensive line. You've got a lot of new faces that people have not seen in black and gold on that field in game situations before. for this year. You've got a lot of young kids. There's a lot of freshmen on this football team. Certain position rooms, like the tight end room, for example, there's a lot of freshmen that could see some playing time this year. But some of the kids they were able to get out of the transfer portal, ah I think they do they do lean to where you see the potential that they have.
Speaker: They were able to pull some kids up from the Division II or the FCS ranks that were very good at their respective levels from a year ago, and we'll talk about a couple of those. At least I'll mention them as we go through this thing here. But you're also betting on a lot of unproven talent. There is so much unproven talent.
Speaker: That's what makes it hard to decide who is actually a starter in a lot of these positions, especially on the outside at wide receiver. especially on the defensive line. like There is not a clear-cut rotation that you can sit and look at to say, well, this guy's head and shoulders above this guy, this guy's head and shoulders above this guy.
Speaker: This team, I do think, is going to have better depth this year. One of the things you saw last year was as guys were getting hurt and guys were filling into play, depth was not really a thing that they had much of a season ago. And as the season went on, that showed more and more that the fall off from one to two and two to three just continued to be a downhill slope and a snowball effect as guys got hurt. Part of that was because Dow kind of came in late in, what was it, December? It was around Christmas time when Dow came in. You had that first transfer portal window that was opening right up. He didn't, he was worried about, he had a skeleton crew staff when he got the job with the transfer portal opening a week later. He kind of just had to go through year one. He had to get his staff together, get who they could, and put a team on the field to be ready to go. This is really the first true offseason that we're going to see Dow Loggins have is this past spring into this summer. So,
Speaker: There's a lot about this team from a year ago that you've just got to burn it in the can and just let it go because last year was just what they were able to put on the field. This, to me, is going to be one of the first true test seasons you see with Dal August because they've had all the time together.
Speaker: They've got a lot of new coaches still again this year, but there's more continuity as to who they could pick and choose from and who they wanted to go after. And you you really, i mean, i guess this is sort of my lasting impression of the 2025 App State team was the the team that they fielded in the bowl game where it was like,
Speaker: You don't really have a quarterback that has taken any college snaps. I mean, I i felt like if... You know, the the final score was was Georgia Southern beat them twenty nine to ten But i I was like, if App had a J.J. Cole or like just even a passable quarterback out there, like this game is is a lot closer than then it should be. But it was like...
Speaker: Loggins, I don't know if he like big brained a lot of things in that game, but it was like to throw in certain situations that they did with like a fourth string quarterback like baffled me like especially there was one of the opening series when you guys were just running the ball down the field at will.
Speaker: And then your fourth string quarterback like uncorks this ball that looks like an end-over-end punt almost. and And one of our defenders just picked it off. And I was like, what is Loggins doing? like if you're If you're running for five yards a carry, like what what's the thought process like other than I'm going to catch him off guard? But it's like, I don't know. it it It was just a strange season overall. I think one of the things that... A couple of things i mean we made fun of just because of how ridiculous they were. It was like...
Speaker: You know, Loggins didn't have an OC last year, which we we brought up ad nauseam, but they had, i mean, they scored 24 points a game last year. So it wasn't like, oh, we don't need the help. Like, we've got it in the can. It was like, no, any little bit helps. You know, there are games where it's like, you guys started off pretty well. I mean, two wins, Charlotte, Lindenwood to start the season. Zeke and I were were pretty optimistic about the team.
Speaker: And then once conference play started, it's like blowout. You know, you you ah what was it? Lost to Southern Miss. um it It was just it it was just a strange season all around. You get all the way to the JMU game.
Speaker: Loggins' son is on the sideline, like reading the tablet, like when they're getting beat like 58 to 10 or whatever the final score was. It was just a strange, it was bad optics, I would say. Like the the team was not great. And I understand what you're saying about throwing everything out there. But it's like to have that plus the bad like PR moments on top of it, it had to just be so annoying to deal with where it's like,
Speaker: Can we just have a normal football team that is five and seven? Like we can't, can we not have this like weird, i don't want to say it was like a clown show, but this weird thing where it's like no other team operates like this. Why are, why are we doing this? You know, for you as a fan.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's when I talked about those three sections of the fan bases that currently exist, that's what drives that second to third base of I really just don't know and don't care as much or I'm completely against this thing. They pulled from a lot of that last year to use as their fuel because weekly coaches shows, it was a lot of talking about the time in the NFL when you're game planning for a college game and people that didn't sit well with a lot of people. A lot of people was like, why aren't we talking about going over the game plan with Spencer Rattler in New Orleans versus, you know what I mean? like Yeah, what are you talking about? It's one of those things where and maybe it's just a guy learning how to be a head coach at at this level, and it's part of what you just have to go through being that you're group of five program and you're the guy's first head coaching coach. gig at this level who's always been an offensive coordinator or an offensive position coach of some of some stance, but there's still things that you look at and you just got to be like, man
Speaker: can we not just the the season hurt enough, much less to add this other on top of it? Yeah, it was insult to injury at that point. um So it it seems at least in the coaches side, Loggins has learned a little bit of a lesson by, he now has an offensive coordinator in Mike Anthony, who was an assistant under Kendall Bryles at six different schools. So he's got that like spread type background.
Speaker: Um, We'll see, you know, what it, I also felt like with app last year, like the scheme was all over the place. Like you you couldn't really nail down. Like what is it that this team does well offensively, especially to have this guy who, like you said, has this NFL pedigree and talks about game planning with, know,
Speaker: guys for like the Tennessee Titans and and the South Carolina Gamecocks and stuff and you're like okay but are we going to go out and run the ball like 40 times or are we going to drop back like 50 times like there's just no there's no consistency and you can't a lot of teams you can point to and go okay they do this this and this and you need to look out for this whereas like app it was like a grab bag it's like I knew AJ Swan, like we got kind of got fooled by the first two games, but as as it, as it went on, I was like, AJ Swan's kind of a turnover machine. Like there's no consistency here.
Speaker: Cole was up and down. I mean, he'd have a good game and then he'd follow it up with a bad game and you were just sort of like, what, what's going on. So it's going to be interesting to see if they have like a offensive philosophy now that like you've said, Loggins may have his guys in his mind in the building.
Speaker: um, So we we I just brought it up. So let's go ahead and start with the quarterback spot. ah It was tenuous last year, like I said, with Swan and Cole. um Now you have a transfer, at least according to Phil Steele. This could be incorrect, but he talked to Loggins. So this is this is straight from Loggins' mouth as of...
Speaker: you know, July 1st or whatever. ah Malachi Singleton, the junior transfer from Purdue, supposed to come in um as the presumed starter. I mean, things could change. You know, we saw the Swan Cole thing last year where it was like in and out.
Speaker: Uh, I, I gotta say, i didn't watch a lot of Purdue the last couple of years. They've not been good since Brom went to Louisville. Um, haven't exactly been appointment viewing for me on Saturdays with a lot of other teams playing.
Speaker: Is there any, is there any sort of like pulse as to like, what do, what do you guys expect out of Singleton? What does he profile as, as like a quarterback? Is he more of like a dual threat guy? Is he more of a pocket passer?
Speaker: Well, with Malachi Singleton, a a quarterback, he is a true dual-threat quarterback. You can see this young man hurt you with his legs and with his arm. Now, the key in all this is going to be new offensive coordinator Mike Anthony. he Yes, you mentioned the Browse disciple that he is, that spread it out, RPO. You're going to see a lot of RPO, I think, out of this ah offense, and it's more true RPO. Swan and Cole had a little bit of – go to them not to the level that App has this year between Malachi Singleton and Henry Hasselbeck, you've got two guys that are true RPO dual threat quarterbacks. Now, I think a lot of people, if the last name Hasselbeck rings a bell, it's because his dad was a big time quarterback in the NFL in the early to mid two thousand with the Seahawks. And ah it's he's a kid that a lot of people, I think, wanted to see win this job, possibly. But I think his time's coming. It's just going to be Malachi Singleton for this year. I think Henry's time is coming in Boone. But Malachi, I do believe, will be the starter this year from everybody I've talked to. Things that I've seen, my understanding is he really kind of took hold in the spring and just kind of started to separate himself, which this is a kid.
Speaker: Coming from Arkansas and Purdue, that he's play he was you know you go big-time college football for a reason based on what you can do. So just I think you're going to see a lot better quarterback play overall in this scheme this year. I think you're going to have a kid that really does fit this scheme, and I think that's going to be – One of the things, just because, though, I want to caution people, just because i hired an ah offensive coordinator does not mean Dow Loggins is turning the play call duties over. I would be willing to bet you everything I have that Mike Anthony –
Speaker: While he may do a lot of the offensive work in practice, he may have a heavy hand in the schemes and things like that, I guarantee you Dow Loggins is still going to call the plays. I have a hard time believing. it Now, if he doesn't, that's great. You hire offensive coordinator, you give him play call duties that takes off from you as a head coach, where you can be that game manager on the sidelines that a lot of head coaches like to be. But I will be heavily surprised if Dow Loggins is not still calling the plays.
Speaker: Is that good? Is that bad? Maybe having an extra ear in his headset is a good thing if he's calling the plays because last year he was kind of on his own to do his own thing on ah offense. And that's where you saw a lot of people's frustration at times last year was because the early in the year, Rashad DeBinion was running the football really well for App. And then obviously it's hard to keep up that level on your body of production throughout an entire 12, 13-game season.
Speaker: But there were times last year in games that the running game just disappeared. It's like we were playing seven-on-seven brand of football, and it's like aired out – became an air-raid offense at times ah last year at the imbalance between pass and run. Now, I don't know that you'll see that as much this year because this running back room is deep this year. You've still got talent in this running back room, and I really believe with more of Mike Anthony coming on, I think you're going to see this team go back to form because, as you guys know, for years, when App State started in the Sun Belt a decade ago, everybody knew App State was a run-first football team with the running backs that this program has had. It was going to be downhill. Whether it was zone, whether it was power, it didn't matter. This was a team that was going to run the football. Sean Clark hung his hat on an ah offense that would run the football first, and that's what people would become accustomed to. And I think you will see a lot more of leaning on the running game this year, and rightfully so, because there's talent there.
Speaker: Can I say one thing, too? i think the reason that the running game started to kind of fall off for you guys was I think other defensive coordinators looked and said, let's make their quarterbacks throw the ball more than they're comfortable doing. And so, like, let's start stacking the box. Let's maybe bring a safety up and and just dare an A.J. Swan or a Cole or somebody to throw it over our head. And it's like,
Speaker: Cole did it sometimes and it it like hurt some teams but then when Swan would come in it was just like what what is he doing like i don't I don't really get like what his thought process is a lot of times like when he's throwing the ball but luckily for you guys you kind of jettisoned Swan I mean Cole by extension but Swan as well where it was like this but he just didn't have it it seemed like from from the games that I watched um may Last note on the quarterbacks, ah Aikman, maybe come Halloween, we will have the matchup between Southern and and ah App of of two guys whose dads were just okay NFL quarterbacks when we get Max Johnson versus Hasselbeck. And maybe we'll just i'm like...
Speaker: Brad Johnson does have a ring, so there is that. He does. but you know Trent Dilfer also has a ring. so Yeah, was about to say. Brad Johnson's a big-time carry job. Listen, as a as a as a Washington fan, i always hated that they lost Brad Johnson to Tampa Bay because i always thought Brad had a great arm that could just like get the football there. So I always have been a fan of Brad Johnson just because of where he played for Washington when I was in my early, early youth.
Speaker: Yeah. ah Well, all you need is your defense to pick off like nine passes in the Super Bowl and you can you too can have a ring. Exactly right. So so let's we talked about him a little bit as well. So the running back room that you you talked about that was deep. i I think this is a better running back room than what you guys fielded last year.
Speaker: i know Dubinian. at least according to Phil Steele's magazine, got nicked up sort of at the end of the year, and it it really affected his production. But when he fell off, it felt like he fell off hard. And one of the things that Zeke and I would come on and say is that this Jakari Lewis, or or however his name it I think it's Jakari, but maybe I'm pronouncing that incorrectly. Jakari Lewis seemed to have more juice, especially during the second half of the season last year. And Zeke and I would come on and go,
Speaker: why Other than being the freshman, why is he not getting more game reps when he's he's more efficient than Dubinian? It seemed like he was doing more with his touches. ah But now you you basically slot out Dubinian and put Arkansas State transfer Jaquez Cross in. Given...
Speaker: given how Arkansas state's running attack fell off a cliff, the second cross got hurt last year, which was very early. And they basically forced Jalen Rayner to do everything by himself. um I like this running back room for you guys a lot. Like I think as long as cross is fully healthy from his, I think it was an ACL tear. It might've been another ligament, but it was ah it was some sort of ligament tear in his knee um provided that he's back to a hundred percent. And you got Lewis coming in as like the one B I think you could get back to this this run scheme. I think the the main hurdle, and this remains will remain to be seen, is whether Loggins will kind of just let that play or if he tries to like galaxy brain it the way that he did at times last year where he's like, they'll never expect this, and then it's like a double wide receiver of a reverse pass that gets taken back for six, and you're like, we were running the ball at five and a half yards of carry. like what
Speaker: What happened? Well, i know that they're big fans of Ja'Kari Lewis at what he was able to do as a freshman last year. The other key wild card that comes into play here is what does Kanye Roberts look like coming off of his season-long knee injury last year that was lost in camp when he went down before the season? Because if Kanye is able to come back and just be 80%, 85% of what he was to complement Ja'Kuez Cross and Ja'Kari Lewis,
Speaker: I do think you have a three-headed running back monster on your hands. that you're Who starts is not going to be – it's not going matter who starts. It's going to be what guy becomes the hot hand during the course of each game because I think each guy's skill set is going to kind of determine in certain games. Like some teams may have a harder time stopping Jacare between – the guards and tackles, but then other games with cross or Kanye on the outside, it may be that they're the better play and they're the ones that get hot. Like who starts at running back for this football team, I think is one of the smallest things to worry about because they have capable starters throughout, especially the top three or four,
Speaker: And that's what's going to be interesting to see here because it's deep. This is a deep room. They had kids that were red shirts last year that I think you'll see maybe pop up here and there. Some in special teams that are running back still get some kick return reps. I'm really – there's a kid that's a running back named Max Guest who was a beast here in North Carolina in high school football. that I really want to see. He could kind of be that next homegrown prodigy story, kid similar to an Anderson Castle kind of deal where a kid that's from the area is able to – he's on the App State team and slowly but surely creates a role for himself years from now down the road. So that's one I would keep an eye on because I think special teams is where he'll start to make his first impact.
Speaker: on this football team. And so I'm just, I think running back is going to be, you're crazy not to ride this three headed wave. If Kanye is showing you that he can do a lot of what he did before the injury, Jaquez cross changes everything because to get a kid of that caliber late in the cycle that they were able to get him. is a real blessing for this football team because now you really open yourself a lot more, especially in two back sets. If you have Singleton back there with Cross on one side, Jacare on the other side, you basically have three running backs standing back there that any single guy can take off and run with the football. And that's an advantage to have this day and age with the way the game's played.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, Jaquez Cross, when he was at Arkansas, before the injury, obviously, that kept him out most of last year, like we were waiting for him to take that like next big step from being like a top four running back in the conference to the guy having run for 700 yards in each of the past two seasons. I'm really excited. Same thing with Kanye Roberts, honestly. I was expecting him to like honestly take that role that Dominion had. I don't know if I was off...
Speaker: Chance, you know, off the mark with that in prediction wise, but like before the injury, both of those guys, I thought we're going to be like running back to running back three in the conference. So it's like from from just a pedigree perspective.
Speaker: How do you not go to the how do you not like this group? Right. Yeah, absolutely. um All right. So let's let's get into the guys that will be catching passes from ah Singleton, presumably. ah These three are not anybody that I'm familiar with as far as the three wide receiver sets that ah you know I'm used to kind of seeing from App where it's like, oh, I remember that guy. Like he caught...
Speaker: 38 balls last year. Like, oh, it's it's cool that he's moving up in the depth chart. It's it's a brand new group, seemingly. it's ah Number one listed is ah Chris Lofton, who was a transfer from Gardner-Webb at FCS school. um Sam Mbake, I think his last name is, from Kilgore Junior College. And then Dasmond James, who didn't play last year but is a transfer from Cal,
Speaker: um I'm going to be interested to see because we've had these teams where like Old Dominion last year, for example, brought in a lot of transfers, especially from like community colleges and junior colleges. And Zeke and I were kind of like, man, I don't know. And they definitely like outperformed what we had expected for sure. But then there's sometimes where these guys come in and it's like, it's tough to settle on one. um They all kind of have,
Speaker: their skill set and their role but you don't have a guy who it's like all right it's third and eight who are we going to to make like a big play for us and it just kind of there are teams that just cycle receivers constantly and it's it's tough to get any sort of um stability in place have have you heard anything about any of the receiving core like guys you you guys expect to step up or anything like that The guy I've heard the most out of that is really kind of – he's the one set in stone guy that you can guarantee is going to be out there, whether it's in the slot, whether it's a number two, however they want to line him up, and that's Chris Lofton, the transfer from Gardner-Webb, who had a really good season for the running Bulldogs last year. That young man is going to be a starter and a contributor on the outside. I think he's he's a versatile wide receiver, so that plays well into this scheme. So he's a kid. I think you will get to know his name.
Speaker: Sam Mbake is a kid that I think has also got the potential to do really well. If I'm not mistaken, he was the number one Juco wide receiver in the country when he made his way to Boone last season. And so there was obviously with guys like Dalton Stroman and the guys that they had in front of him, his path to a lot of playing time a year ago was – you know, not not as not as easily to come by. But now this year, it's a wide open playing field at wide receiver. If there was a guy was going to put my money on to take that big leap, I think it would be him.
Speaker: I think he's the guy that could come out of nowhere and really step up to be a go-to option on this team. And I think that's what Dow Loggins and company are betting on. I mean, When you bring in a kid that was the top guy from the JUCO ranks, that's a kid that you really think has the potential to contribute. And like you mentioned with Old Dominion last year, that played off well for them to get guys to make that transition and make it successfully. So if Appalachian can get guys to do that, especially at wide receiver where it feels as more of a wide open playing field,
Speaker: as Just because a guy might be the fourth or fifth wide receiver on the chart going into week one against Maine doesn't mean by weeks three, four, or five he could have worked his way up to number three. That's how open I feel this wide receiver room is.
Speaker: Interesting. um Yeah, i ah I mean, according... Apparently, Phil Steele, I think, does his own ah junior college ah rankings. He had Mbake as, like, the number 10 player, I think. But either way, I mean, having a top 10 Juco guy come in, like...
Speaker: Huge, you know, to to come in and especially when it's like I said, you have not a ton of continuity at the receiver position. And then we can mention briefly here, the tight end ah Darren Fugit is a transfer from Lindenwood, another pass catching option. And then, like you said, just sort of like a a mishmash of like young guys behind him, you know, seeing who's going to get playing time. Yeah.
Speaker: Let's talk about a little bit about the offensive line here. So you basically have, i would say, two guys that have played at app on the offensive line, you know, decent number of starts. You have Caden Sweat, who started 12 games last year for the Mountaineers, and then you have the other guard, Trent Ramsey, who started seven games and then got hurt and was out for the season.
Speaker: Outside of that, it's like, the The center, Lance Williams, has played but not has one start had one start last year. um you know he But he has game experience, so that's at least something to kind of hang your hat on. And then at the tackle spots, you have Devin Manuel, who...
Speaker: played four games the last two years at Florida, also spent some time at Arkansas. And then your right tackle is Tyreek Poindexter, ah who made one start at app last year and then was out for the season as well. So a lot of a a lot of guys who have played and then got hurt last year or you know something like that, whereas you know a lot of the teams that are recycling their offensive lines ah are just – Here are guys at P5 schools that have never really suited up at the college level, and we're just throwing them out there and hoping it all like sort of gels. So what's what's the ah the outlook, you would would you say, for the offensive line?
Speaker: I know Tyreek Poindexter at right tackle is a guy that he started in that Charlotte game week one last year, injured his shoulder, never really was able to come back from it as the season went on last year. That's a guy they were counting on. mean, that was their guy at right tackle. He was the starter, clear cut. So you lose him week one, that was a blow to that ah offensive line to lose him. um Caden Sweat is is really the anchor returning that that's coming back on that ah offensive line. This is a guy that,
Speaker: They've got him at guard, but he can also play center. When he originally was coming to app being recruited, he was a center. So he's been able to play both. So would I be surprised if they want to move somebody else to guard and move Caden to center? That would not surprise me at all. I still think that whether he plays a guard or center is something that you can look at to decide, you know, whatever scheme base that coach wants to figure out on the offensive line that works best because he does he does have that ability to play multiple positions. on the line. The big one I'm interested in is Devin Manuel. If he starts at left tackle, that is a mountain of a man at App State. I mean, this kid's 6'7", over 300 pounds. I mean, you cannot miss this young man when he's out there.
Speaker: This is one of the bigger kids App has been able to get. It's it's always good at this level when you can get ah offensive linemen of his size. Now, it's a lot of unproven size, a lot of unproven ability, as we've talked about with a lot of these guys that have transferred down that they've been able to get. from power programs. And it's like you said, it's all it almost feels like at times, and I think this is the case across with a lot of group of five programs now is, okay, we're able to get these kids. They haven't seen a lot of reps at their, whether it's the Florida's or the Georgia's or wherever they get them from.
Speaker: but we're going to put them out there at our level and just see if it sticks. ah It almost feels like a spitball kind of thing to a degree, and that's that's not a negative term. It's just calling it basically what it is. It's like, oh, okay, we're App State. We're Georgia Southern. We get these kids from Georgia, Florida, Alabama. Let's see if they can just go out here and play from the get-go for us and kind of recapture whatever it was that got them recruited to that level out of high school to begin with. I do think that the offensive line is going to be, if they can stay healthy, this is one of the strengths of this football team. I do think that. I think this could this team could be really good up front, but it's like last year. All it takes is one injury to send you on a downhill slope. We saw it when Poindexter went down first game. The offensive line wasn't the same as other guys got hurt and other shuffles had to take place throughout the year. I mean, Caden Sweat's got the most returning experience, but a lot of guys that would have had experience missed it last year due to due to injury that are back.
Speaker: Yeah. ah Offensive line, I i joked with ah bra Brady on the Georgia State episode, Brian, that, like, the official stance of this podcast is that, like, generally we don't really care how big you are on the offensive line. when When you're restructuring like this, it is have you played at a high level? Have you played at all, really?
Speaker: um But I've seen – I saw at Georgia State. I think we're starting to see as, you know – shocker NIL transfer stuff changes, we're seeing a lot more of teams like trying to find out, are we still at a level where like raw strength can still beat you?
Speaker: um And obviously that's most ah exemplified on the offensive line, but we're starting to see that in bits and pieces on like defensive lines too. It's like, Hey, can we just pick up this nose tackle? A kid who is six, five by the year, he by the time he was a high school sophomore picked up a recruit or a offer, but then never had like the raw ability to perform.
Speaker: So it's like this is, on one hand, I worry about experience. Obviously, um the the upside is there. But also, this might just be the way we're going now. This might just be how like offensive lines in this conference are constructed from here forth.
Speaker: Well, i I think too, one of the things that we don't talk about a lot, because there's not a really there's not really a way to quantify this, because there aren't, I mean, unless you're like a PFF subscriber or whatever, there's not really a way to quantify like offensive line play, unless someone, like an analyst has made it like their forte to to rate offensive lines.
Speaker: I think there are some teams that bring guys in and say, okay, these guys have raw tools, but they really need to be developed. And they do the developing, you know, whether it be like the JMU's of the world or whoever.
Speaker: And then there's certain teams that just go out and grab guys that have the the raw size, strength, you know, the measurables. And they just, I think we alluded to it a minute ago, but just kind of throw them out there and go, all right, man, you got to figure it out because like you were a You were a four-star recruit that went to Florida for two years, and you sat on the bench and didn't really get in the game.
Speaker: um But now you're our starting left tackle, so you need to figure it out. And we don't do much development here because we are just banking on big-name transfers from big-name schools. So, I mean, nobody's going to come out and flat say that, but you can tell on a yearly basis it's like – there are teams that consistently have good offensive lines and defensive lines, but offensive lines and in the Sunbelt. And then there's teams that feel like, oh, we just grabbed five of the biggest dudes we could find and threw them on the field together. And m sometimes it works because of just like raw power. And then other times it's like they just look...
Speaker: discombobulated. like they don't They don't really know what they need need to do. The technique's not great. like Things like that. so i mean I'm not saying that that's going to happen here. I'm just saying like there are a lot of teams that we watch on Saturday where it's like guys are just going on they're just having unblocked rushers come through because it feels like they haven't been coached to the degree that they need to to develop as like a high-end offensive lineman in this conference. and It's just like It's tough because I feel like a lot of these guys get like shortchanged a little bit where it's like if if you put them on a team with like a good you know a sean clark ahawn el computer Sean Clark, Sean Elliott, one of those type of guys where it's like well we have an offensive line background. um you know Those guys get developed and and you know Sean Elliott put a number of guys into the NFL just from Georgia State and it's like
Speaker: Georgia State's not a football powerhouse. like you know The fact that those guys, Jordan Morgan and like all those other guys or or whoever, get sent to the NFL, like that stuff obviously matters to NFL teams. it's like We can look at a guy and and be like, he knows what to do with his hands.
Speaker: He knows what to do with like his splits, things like that. Whereas you know they could look at a team that has a better offensive line like on paper and the and they just don't. They're not the sum of their parts. It's like once you kind of put this guy on an island by himself, you're like,
Speaker: he's just not that good. So I'm, I'm interested to see with a lot of teams this year, it's like who is able to kind of coach up a lot of these transfers coming in. Cause I, I don't know, like we we're in the middle of doing our sunbelt previews and there haven't been a ton of teams with sunbelt continuity at the offensive line spot. It'll be like,
Speaker: Two guys here, one guy here, four new people who have taken like one start in three years. um Not a lot of game action or if they played, it was at like a lower level or they played for a low level P5, like those types guys. So it'll be interesting to see. Yeah.
Speaker: so getting over to the, the defensive side of the ball, uh, highlighted mostly by Colton Ferris. I would say, uh, the linebacker, uh, who was the second team all sunbelt last year had 101 tackles, nine and a half tackles for a loss and six past defenses. Um, um,
Speaker: Aikman last year, ah people were complaining that we didn't name off enough App State defenders um in our preview. So we need to make sure we dot you know every I and cross every T on the on this section. So outside of Ferris, who do you see as kind of being like the bigger contributors on this defense?
Speaker: That's the thing. There's guys all over this defense that you can just kind of To say that they're going to be the guy right now, I think, would be selling other guys short. Because if you don't mention a guy right now, there's a chance by midseason he's exploded and kind of taken the reins. Because there's a lot of – you talk about the unprovenness on ah offense, I think there's even more unproven talent you know on defense. You've got Colton Ferris, but like outside of that, so many guys off of this defense went into the portal, left the program. There's so many new faces. Right. on this defense from a season ago. And to say that's a good thing is probably honestly the case because it wasn't a great defense by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker: a season ago. There's a kid I'm really excited about, a really good Division II transfer that I think will carve out a role. He's kind of a hybrid type of kid. He could play that nickel defensive back, could play outside linebacker, however they want to kind of use this kid. And Kevin Henderson, he was really good, had 15 and a half tackles for a loss last year at the Division II level, seven pass breakups. He showed his ability to come down, make tackles from an in-the-box set while also drop back and do some things as well. So um'm I'm excited to see if this young man carves out a role for himself on this defense.
Speaker: The linebacking unit, I think, is where a lot of the strength in this in this defense lies, not just because Colton Farris, he has his spot, but the other guys around him is where I think it's going to be more – of a quantity thing because there's three or four different guys for those outside spots that I think you're just going to see rotated in depending on if it's more of a, you know, early down kind of set, if it's a true passing kind of set.
Speaker: there's a lot more of a rotation to be carved out on at those outside linebacker spots because Colton Ferris, he's the one guy you're going to pencil in and say you can guarantee no matter if it's first down, third down, it doesn't matter down in distance, that young man's going to be on the field. so But there's a lot also a lot of other talent.
Speaker: at linebacker a lot of a lot of older talent this is where i think ah most of your older guys lie in this football team because you've got other guys like queshawn thomas and uh jaden mcburrows as well you got a bunch of different guys that i think you can see do some different things on this defense this year that's going to be that's going to be leaders and going to be playmakers because colton ferris can't do it all he's only one guy now he's a great piece to have as a starting block to build your defense around, but it's going to take those other guys with him that's going to put it together and make this one cohesive unit. It seems like, I know from the past couple years when I've been on with you guys, how many times have we talked about you know defense just being one of the things that has let this team down, and I think that you want to see an App State defense again come back around that you can hang its hat on that's going to hold teams to twist
Speaker: 24 points a game or whatever it may be, something sub 28, 25 points a game. It's been quite a while since we've been able to see that consistently because there was times this defense shined last year in certain games, albeit it was more cases, I think, of who they were playing versus anything else. There was a lot of cases last year where this defense did not put four quarters of football um together by any stretch of the imagination, especially in the secondary. There was times the secondary was just absolutely shredded last year. And that's why getting guys um like Dre Walker and Khalil Conley, some of these other guys in the secondary to beef it up, I think you're going to see a better unit. I think defensive coordinator DJ Smith, who is an App State guy, played in the mid-2000s under Coach Moore, he is that he's kind of that legacy guy
Speaker: Mountaineer guy in the vein of Sean Clark and others, ah you're going to see, you're going to see, I think a better defensive unit. I'm more intrigued by how the defense looks this year. I know everybody wants to talk about ah offense and everything else.
Speaker: If this defense can turn it around and be a unit that can consistently stop people from getting in the end zone and be a unit that can force turnover, something that was needed a lot last year, that didn't really happen a lot last year, if they can force some turnovers and just kind of get back to being an all-around defense of guys just all over the field. It's going to take so much pressure off a Malachi Singleton and this offense if they have a defense that they can go out and rely on you know game after game, week after week. But seeing is believing, and we've got to see it before we can believe it.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. on the On the defensive note from last year, what you what you said, especially about the secondary, I basically have two big points that I want to hit. And and then, Zeke, if you have anything else, we could you could definitely get into that. I think number one...
Speaker: a lot of teams in the Sun Belt, at least the ones we've profiled thus far, didn't put up like gaudy passing numbers by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you just took the the passing numbers of the opposing quarterbacks that faced at last year, you would have had one of the top passing units probably in the entire conference because it was the secondary allowed 63% completion percentage and an average of 268 yards per game through the air, which is like...
Speaker: insane to be closer to like 300 than to 200. Um, but I think that, I think that's one big thing. And then for me, I think getting that, uh, transfer Keyshawn Thomas from old dominion is interesting because he's a linebacker.
Speaker: And the one thing that we've known is that, um, Old Dominion is like linebacker you within the conference. like they They almost have like an embarrassment of riches at the linebacker position, even going back to like Jason Henderson and like all these other guys, to where they honestly couldn't get them all on the field at the same time. um So you end up having guys go elsewhere to play like you know Thomas here. So I'm interested to see how that goes. And um Yeah, that's I mean, that's about it for me. It's like the secondary has to step up and and and play better than they did last year because you guys were getting shredded through there. It was it was tough.
Speaker: It was, and the secondary is going to be one of the key components that makes or breaks this football team this year. I would do one. I had two. There's a lot of games we struggled to stop the run up front on the defensive line as well, and part of that was I don't think we were big enough. When you lose guys like Santana Hopper and other guys that we did before last year to the portal, you lost some big, beefy guys up front, and that was one of the things we didn't recover from. We were able to get bigger,
Speaker: up front between the portal and guys that they were bringing up, can they stop the run is going to be a big thing as well, because that was one of the things last year. it just At times last year, you watched and you felt like the defensive tackles were just like, it was snap the ball, and then they were just getting moved to wherever the opposing ah offensive lineman wanted to move them. It felt like that on so many levels week after week watching last year. And so I'm really curious to see with this defensive line group how much progress is made with these new guys. Again, it's so much unproven talent. it's hard It is hard to do season previews in group of five football in 2026 because there's so many guys you have so much limited tape on or no tape at all.
Speaker: You're just, again, it it almost feels a gamble to the level of if you had a college draft at a high school, it's what it kind of feels like to a degree. Yeah. Yeah. Is the defense headed in the right direction? Because those last couple Sean Clark years, the defense was kind of starting. The wheels were falling off there as well.
Speaker: Like, is the overall outlook of the defense heading in the right spot? Or is it is App State going to be one of those teams that just is perpetually allowing 28 points a game and it's like.
Speaker: you know, that that's good enough, you know, in in the Sun Belt, because it is, it is good enough in the Sun Belt, but like, are they ever going to take that step or they kind of stack, like, projection-wise, long-term?
Speaker: Well, you you hope so. And will say the fan base is going to be giving to DJ at defensive coordinator more than they probably are any coach on the entire staff, just because he's the legacy guy. He played for Coach Moore. We know how that runs through App State's DNA when it comes back to former players that had success coaching. And you do think if there's one guy that can do it,
Speaker: It can be him. And with guys they brought in, like you mentioned, with Keyshawn Thomas to go with Colton Ferris at linebacker and some of these other kids, you I don't think it's far-fetched to be very optimistic if this de defense can go in the right direction going into this year. Now, we could get two or three weeks into the season and any optimism be drained within an absolute instance. and And we always know you're one or two injuries away from changing that side of the football tremendously as well. But overall, I do think there is more optimism going for the defense going into this year. There is a still a little bit of a wait-and-see approach, obviously, but you've got you've brought some players in that if if things go if things go well and the scheme goes the way that DJ envisions it to go and plans for it to go, you've got guys that can do what he's asking them to do.
Speaker: Sure. And then kind of like a higher level question, because this also relates to the offense, is returning, you know, of your 10 leading tacklers last year, you only get um one back, that obviously being Ferris, and that's the important one to keep, obviously. But it's like all this turnover, ah some graduates, but a lot of transfers.
Speaker: How many guys were shown the door versus how many said, i don't want to be here? like Where is that balance struck? Do you have any insight to that? Therein lies the million-dollar question because I think depending on who you ask, you're going to get a different answer with that because I think it's going to depend on how they were used versus – what the tape actually says when you turn the tape on, it you're going to have two sides to every story when it comes to that question individually. There's some guys that I do think could be addition by subtraction, kind of the same thing was before last season. There's other guys I think, you know, it will hurt, but it at the same time, if you go back and watch the tape from last year,
Speaker: Outside of Colton Ferris, not talking about kids that graduated, I'm talking about kids that transferred out, of the ones that saw decent enough playing time where you could get a feel for.
Speaker: I don't think you're going to have people lining up multiple rows deep saying, doggone it, we really should have found money to keep that kid. I just don't think you're going to do it. Because, I mean, the the production wasn't there. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: yeah Yeah, especially in the secondary. um So that you know that was something that obviously needed to get solved pretty quickly in order to have you know success on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker: ah So let's transition to the the schedule, Aikman, and we can get into this with you. ah so you start off with FCS Maine. That should be a victory at home to kind of open the season up. I said that about Lindenwood last year too, by the way.
Speaker: Well, and that game was down to the wire and had no reason to be. So, you know, then continue on anyway. Well, I mean, as long as you don't have a quarterback thrown into the other team, it will. That helps a lot.
Speaker: ah That does a lot for you, especially if it's FCS opponents. ah So then you get at East Carolina. I do not keep up with them. I have no idea what kind of team they're fielding. Yeah.
Speaker: ah do you have Do you have any, i mean, you live in North Carolina. do you have any inkling as to, are they supposed to be good or? i think they're goingnna I think they will be decent. To what degree, I don't really know. I know that i did I did hear from someone that kind of had thrown around the idea that they might do something to honor Chris Johnson for that game with his recent ALS diagnosis. And I think if you're going to do that, if you're App State, you're walking into a hornet's nest in Greenville. if they're gonna If they find a way to get Chris Johnson there to do some kind of shout-out for him that day, that means emotions are going to be high. They're going to be pumped up, ready to play. It's also going to be hot. You're talking about a noon kickoff, the second week of September in Greenville, North Carolina. I mean, that is just – that is – oh, man, that's almost hell on earth kind of heat and humidity. that you're going into to that game. And East Carolina kind of has a bad taste in their mouth when it comes to App, because over the last few years, even when App's been down and not as good, one of the teams they have still found a way to beat has been East Carolina. and so you're gonna get
Speaker: you're going to get one of the best shots of any team on your schedule that you get when you go to Gribble to play ECU. Yeah, ah that's definitely understandable. And yeah, the Chris Johnson thing would be that that would be tough to overcome environment wise, like if that if that happened. ah So then the last ah game of this, like initial chunk, you guys are at NC State.
Speaker: um Zeke, this is a fun little fact for you. I looked on NC State's roster the other day. ah There's one Tad Hudson listed quarterback quarterback. For them, at least at least as an option. He's probably not starting for North Carolina State, ah given how the the the tenure at Coastal went, but there is a familiar face there, so there is a chance that he he becomes you know something for them. I don't know.
Speaker: C.J. Bailey would have to probably injure both legs and both arms for that not to be the case. Trust me. He comes out in just like a full body cast. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Full body cast. Like C.J. Bailey, this is a kid who really impressed even a couple of weeks ago at the Manning Passing Academy. This is a kid whose draft stock is on the rise at NC State. If he comes out and if NC State has a good season led by C.J. Bailey because they found the money to keep him, and keep him in Raleigh. I mean, you're talking about a kid that had SEC-level, big-time interest in the portal.
Speaker: like It was a big, big feather in the cap of NC State to keep this kid at quarterback. So that's going to be one of the fun games on App State's schedule because if App can find a way to be – 3-0 or 2-1 going into that NC State game with some solid momentum on their side, you're going to get a great atmosphere in Raleigh because app fans are going to travel to NC State. These two teams do not play very often. It's been, yeah I think, close to 20 years since they've played. So a lot of football history has happened for both of these schools since the last time that they've played. This is one of those teams that app fans have had circled for a while because we've played Carolina, we've played Wake Forest, You get the ECU, South Carolina, like a lot of these more regional-based teams. NC State was the one we hadn't got to yet that we'd really wanted. And now to get them on the schedule is a big feather in the cap as well because App really prides themselves on scheduling regional out-of-conference football games from a travel perspective, from an overall cost perspective as well. By no means am I saying app's going to go into Raleigh and knock NC state off. But I do think if they have some momentum going into that from the likes of East Carolina and Charlotte, that's the other thing app is basically playing an emotional rollercoaster. Once you get past main week one,
Speaker: In-state battle with ECU. In-state battle with Charlotte, who, I mean, they can't be much worse than they were a season ago at 1-11. Now, I know they had a lot of injuries last year with Charlotte as well, but Charlotte app, is that that's a G5 rivalry. like there The fan bases go at it online with each other. Charlotte's fan base is a... unique thing to watch on on X sometimes because i think that sometimes they think they are bigger than what they really are. but And they're hungry to beat App State because they haven't been able to to taste that since they made the jump to Big D1 football. And so for App, there's a lot of emotional games in the early portion of this schedule.
Speaker: Not to mention you come out of the gate with Murderer's Row and the Sunbelt Conference when conference play starts. like This schedule's tough. I mean, you cannot look at this schedule. If somebody tells me they look at this schedule and guarantees me that they see three or four wins, I'm going to tell them I'm not confident in it. Not from a standpoint that they can't do it, but there's no guarantee. I mean, you you look at Maine and you think, okay, there's a guarantee. you there's no If you lose this game, okay, you might as well go ahead and get ready to start some kind of pitchfork deal and boon if you lose to Maine. But then between the emotional roller coaster of going to play ECU, you have Charlotte. It's going to be an emotional atmosphere just from a rivalry perspective of in-state schools. NC State's emotional just because of you're going to play the big boy in Raleigh.
Speaker: Old Dominion, Coastal, JMU, Georgia Southern out of the gate. Like, man, it is tough. The only two games I look at that I feel comfortable at saying w on this schedule is main in week one, and then you've got to go all the way down to the bottom at UL Monroe the the weekend before Thanksgiving that I look at and say those are the only two games I look on this schedule, and I feel comfortable that if I will just come out and play that it's going to be a W. All the rest of them,
Speaker: Man, it's tough. It is a tough road to hoe for this team through this schedule. i I think I have two more on here that I'm pretty confident that you guys are going to be able to beat. And one is Zeke's Georgia State team. yeah ah they They seem to be...
Speaker: I don't know. It's weird to, for their coach to be in year three. And he's like, I don't know. I'm just kind of finding things out. Like, as I go, like, it just seems to be throw a bunch of stuff at the wall. And like, I know they've kind of got their quarterback position figured out.
Speaker: um But other than that, everything's sort of up in the air. I mean, if they still had Ted Hurst, maybe, but that's, that's a big thing to be like, all right, well, you know, and it's in Boone. So there's one right there. And then right at the end of the season playing at South Alabama,
Speaker: I don't know if major Applewhite is going to make it through this season. ah They were really, really bad last year. They, they were okay in his year one when they had Gio Lopez. And then when he left for, um what was it?
Speaker: North Carolina. Like they, they could not figure out what they wanted to do at the quarterback spot. And nobody was, they couldn't do anything. Well, like it was, it was all below average from the top, you know, from the quarterback play down to like,
Speaker: the secondary, you could look at the entire roster and be like, do we have any dis... ah you know difference makers here? Not really. like It's just kind of like a roster of dudes that like, all right, well, we couldn't get we couldn't get scholarships elsewhere, so we came to South Alabama and we don't have a ton of expectations. They've fallen a long way off from the Kane Womack days where he was the coach and they were you know within three points of like beating Troy when Troy was you know in their heyday ah recently. So I think those are four wins right there. I think he got Charlotte, Maine, Georgia State, and ULM and South Alabama. So that's five. And then I think the rest of them, Coastal maybe. Coastal's starting over now. We don't know what they are.
Speaker: ah Old Dominion and James Madison in a three-week span is is really tough. ah In fact, you have to play... ah Old Dominion and James Madison, those days those games are 12 days apart with another game sandwiched in the between.
Speaker: ah That's brutal, ah even if it is at Coastal on a Friday. ah Georgia Southern is coming off of a bye on Halloween, ah and you're like right in the middle of your like tough chunk of games. i't I don't know what to expect from Georgia Southern, but it's in Statesboro, so i mean who knows there.
Speaker: And then, like I said, once you hit the Georgia State-Marshall-ULM South Alabama, you should be able to carve out some wins. That's like three or four wins right there. Like Marshall might be the only team that really gives you trouble.
Speaker: It's at Marshall, but like Georgia state, like Del McGee's closer to packing his bags than he is to being there for year four ULM. We just did our Brian, the, the episode that just came out today, ah you know, ju July 2nd, Brian Vincent's kind of the same way. Like he's probably closer being fired than he is keeping the job for another year. And then major Applewhite, like,
Speaker: since Gio Lopez left, they don't seem to have a direction. So I think you've got an easy, so you've got a tough stretch at the beginning. The middle is, is tough in conference, but right at the end, I mean, if you could kind of put it together with those four, you could end the season for no three and one, like against some, some teams that aren't great.
Speaker: I would say the thing, the thing is though, if we turn the clock back, say five years, um, Who would have – and if somebody would have told you in five years you would be looking at an Amp State football team that you're searching to find four to five guaranteed wins on a schedule.
Speaker: You wouldn't have believed it. You would not have believed it because it was constantly, is this team at eight wins? Is this team at nine wins? Is this team challenging for NY6 for a couple of years there around 2021? Like, it that's where a lot of fans are just – they're – yeah I'm not going to say live support, but they're just really – it's been a tough transition to have to go through the last couple of years. And granted, a lot of this started when the hurricane rolled through a couple years ago. It's like been a slow bounce back. Ever since then, when that rocked and that Southern Miss game got canceled, it's been a slow, turbulent ride, it's felt like, for a lot of people. with this football team since then. If there was a year that maybe you put it all back together and you surprise people and some breaks go your way, maybe it is this year with some guys. Because you have guys that on this football team that I don't think a lot of people –
Speaker: is going to be you know specifically game planning for – you don't have that guy on offense that's like, okay, we know we've got to stop this guy, and if we stop this guy, that's going to force this guy to do something he doesn't want to do and let it be. There's a lot of unprovenness where you don't know who to stop from from a perspective of ah of a lot of teams. But you're right, that that last month of the season – If there's any place where you could make, hey, it's that last group of games from Georgia State to Marshall to UL Monroe to South Alabama. Marshall is like a big-time friendly kind of rivalry, whereas it may get visceral between App and JMU or App and Georgia Southern or App and Coastal. It stays pretty friendly with App and Marshall. There's a heavy years, decades worth of respect between those two programs. because they And they really went out of their way to do some good things when Coach Clark passed away too, being that he was from West Virginia. ah So I think that earned a lot of good graces from the App State people with Marshall. There is a heavy load of respect there. I've actually attended an App State Marshall game at Marshall back during COVID.
Speaker: Fans were great to deal with. They were super nice. I loved going to go into Marshall to watch that game. it was It was a cool place to go watch a football game. So I have a lot of respect for that Marshall football team as well. But there's a chance that if you're struggling, if you've come out and say you've lost – say you lose the Old Dominion game, JMU and Georgia Southern with Coastal being your only win. If you're at one and three, will you have a big time chance to flip that record completely around the last month of the season? Catapult yourself into bowl eligibility. And I think at this point,
Speaker: Just get to a bowl game healthy. Try to get guys to stay and play and win. I think if you do that, I'm going to be happy with that outcome based on how the last couple of years have went. um you know If you can put a nice feather in your cap in non-conference play and you can go 3-0 in non-conference leading into that NC State game and that be maybe where you drop the ball, I think that's that could be hedging in the right direction. So there's...
Speaker: All it takes is one, though. If you can knock off an Old Dominion or if you can knock off a JMU, I mean, there's a history where at JMU, I know last year was how it was, but these two teams always play each other tough. Those two teams that go at it with each other. And if you could find a way to pull one of those out, you're talking about that's the difference between a chance of playing in the conference championship game versus fourth or fifth in the league. And I really believe that's how thin the margin is. this year for this team because it's one of the tougher draws, especially the first eight weeks of the season that you're going to find in the conference.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, if if you guys were going to make a run or anybody, any other of the serious like teams that want to be competitive in the East that aren't just like kind of fine with just doing whatever, if you were going to make a run and and try to take advantage of JMU and Old Dominion, I think this would be the year to do it.
Speaker: i I think Old Dominion is going to be good, but I don't think they're going to be as good as they were with Colton Joseph. I think... Hennacle is not as polished of a passer ah as as Joseph was. he He can still hurt you with his legs, and that's that's primarily where the danger comes from. But just completion percentage-wise, things like that, like he's just not where Joseph was, was a passer. And then James Madison...
Speaker: when I don't know if this trend will hold, but it seems like every year or every time they hire a new head coach that comes in or it's you know whatever, it'll be like the first year they'll be good in an 8-9 win team, but they won't be the 12-0 death roller that just like pounds teams and you're just like, all right, well, we lost by 40. There was nothing we could do today. It seems to be like they're they're at the top of the East, but there's a lot of room for maneuverability with like, think about two years ago, like Marshall, stuff like that. Like there there are teams that have come and and kind of taken their spot, um especially in year one of these new ah coach tenures. So yeah, if there, if anybody in the East wants to make a run, it feels like this is the year to kind of capitalize on that and be like,
Speaker: all right, we we basically have to win the two games, Old Dominion and JMU, if they're on our schedule, and we're an East team, and then from there, we kind of control our own destiny, whereas like,
Speaker: i don' I don't know. you know we We saw last year Old Dominion can trip up. they are you know They're a good team, but that loss to Marshall was kind of inexplicable, and then and then they went and played JMU, and they had like 10 yards of offense in the second half. So it's like they're very good, but they are not like this you know Troy 2022 or whatever steamroller type team where you're just like, they're just killing teams, and we've got no shot. like It's not it's not to that extent.
Speaker: yeah Well, how many years have we, you know, it seems like since the Sun Belt went to this East and West Division format with since happened, Georgia Southern joined the league and everything else. And it's kind of gotten settled around these teams that are in the conference now.
Speaker: For years, how many years was it? It's like whoever comes out of the East Division is the most battle-tested team in the conference. It just felt like for years the West was Louisiana or Troy.
Speaker: Louisiana or Troy. That was it. While the East you had App, Georgia Southern. You throw JMU as of recently the last couple years. into the mix and then, you know, Marshall as well. I mean, Troy used to be in the East. Like it was like a three, it was like a three horse race for a bit. Yeah, exactly. would be like some combination of like coastal making their run with McCall or Southern when, when we had the 10 win season under Lunsford app having all that success or Troy back when,
Speaker: Neil Brown was the coach. So it's like, yeah, like the the it used to, I mean, it still kind of is the de facto, like if, if Troy doesn't field one of their like John Summerall, like head hunting, like defensive killing teams, like it's just kind of like, yeah, whoever wins the East is probably going to win the Sunbelt title. Yeah. And that's where my question was going to throw it back to you. Do you feel like it's another year where it's like it's the East Division and then it's just, you know, this one or two that comes out of the West? Maybe maybe Troy continues building on what they did last year, but it's like...
Speaker: i was We were talking about this on the ULM episode. mean By the way, I'll throw this out there. App State's win total, according to MGM, is five and a half. They're in they're in sort of a glut with a lot of other teams that are like sitting right at six, basically. ah Yeah, we were talking about this last year. It's like...
Speaker: Okay, Louisiana's win total this year, according to the the sports books, is seven and a half. And I'm just like, I don't know, man. I got i got duped by them last year. we We heard Walker Howard is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And he comes out and throws like three picks in the opener against Rice and they lose. And they don't have an offensive line. And like ah the receiving weapons don't do a whole lot for you.
Speaker: And it i don't know, it's weird because it's like Troy feels like the clear cut, like we have a plan, we have our quarterbacks in place, like it is our division basically to lose. And then the East is just like,
Speaker: You got JMU and Old Dominion presumably at the top. And then if somebody wants to make like a 2024 Marshall run where all of a sudden you're you go from, oh, this team's not really a contender to like, oh, they just won the East. And now they're beating the team in the from the West in the title game. Like this is the year for that to happen. But yeah, it doesn't it doesn't feel like the West.
Speaker: I mean, since Napier was coaching at Louisiana it and, you know, Summerall, it doesn't feel anymore like the West is is kind of on par. It feels like there are a lot of teams in the West that I don't really consider like serious teams.
Speaker: And you bring in and a new team in Louisiana Tech – now officially that it's we're into July when we're recording this. And so you're going to bring in a new aspect there. Now, granted what to expect, you just kind of, you know, wait and see approach with them. But I mean, you're, you're right. I think whoever comes out of the East is the team to be as far as a Sunbelt championship game, unless, unless you mentioned like the Troy, who just is like a heat seeking missile from Troy team.
Speaker: Definitely. Yeah. All right, Aikman, as we wrap up here, let people know where they can find you on socials, and then we'll throw it to Zeke, and then I'll finish up and we'll get out of here.
Speaker: All right, Zeke, you go. Aikman's on mute. Yeah, I'm on Twitter at Zeke Palermo, Z-E-K-E-P-A-L-E-R-M-O. The World Cup's got my feed kind of full right now, but once that wraps, we're Sunbelt, baby.
Speaker: um A lot can change very quickly in this conference as App State has shown. Old Dominion last year showed. Marshall, over the past several years, shoot even Southern Miss.
Speaker: um So it's very exciting. Always excited to watch. um And it's just ah always a good time there, man. Absolutely. ah As always, you can find the show on X at warm weather fans. You can find me on X at watch the stone. Aikman can be found on X at radio guy AC.
Speaker: We thank him again for joining us and giving us, you know, a portion of his time to come on and talk about ah app state football as always. And Aikman will, we'll look forward to have you on, ah during the season if you're available. you know if If you guys have any big wins or anything like that, any news breaks, things like that, we we would be more than happy to welcome you on and as a you know third chair again. so Thank you so much for joining us and this has been another episode of Warm Weather Fans.
