App State riding momentum of bowl win into next year

Zach Matics’ game-winning field goal didn’t just push Appalachian State to a 31-29 victory against Ohio in the Camellia Bowl; it also pushed expectations sky-high for next year, in what will be one of the most anticipated football seasons in history for the Mountaineers.

Depending on how bowl games shake out, App State could find itself in this season’s top 25 polls.

“The hype is going to be big next year for us,” running back Marcus Cox said. “Just the way we finished off the season, what we did in our first bowl game. A lot of eyes are going to be on us, but we can’t worry what’s on the outside; we’ve got to continue to do what we do and not worry about what everybody is saying.”

The Mountaineers (11-2) anticipate 15 starters returning in 2016, with three of the departing seniors coming from a wide receiving corps that rarely leaned on just one player.

App State’s defense, ranked in the nation’s top 20 in a number of categories, will lose just two starters, albeit key starters, in defensive end Ronald Blair, the Sun Belt’s defensive player of the year, and safety Doug Middleton.

The number of departing seniors – 22 overall – isn’t large, but filling the leadership roles will be among the Mountaineers’ biggest challenges of the offseason.

Players like Jesse Chapman and Simms McElfresh, both walk-ons turned team captains, don’t come around often.

There’s no plug-and-play solution for Blair, who is likely to be taken in the upper-half of the NFL Draft.

Perhaps more important in App State’s culture, however, is the fact that those players helped guide the program through a tough two-year transition from FCS to the FBS.

“I think these seniors have been through a lot, going through the transition seasons,” quarterback Taylor Lamb said.

“That says a whole lot about those seniors that kept it going; they didn’t quit. I’ve learned a lot from them.”

Despite those losses, the returning talent is reason for optimism, despite some of those players not seeing much time on the field.

Lamb set a new school record for touchdown passes with 31 and ranked among the nation’s most efficient passers.

Marcus Cox, the Camellia Bowl MVP, intends to return after a 1,423-yard season, joined in the backfield by Jalin Moore.

Defensively, App State will get back its two leading tacklers in Eric Boggs and John Law, to go along with Latrell Gibbs, who is tied for third in the nation with seven interceptions.

That talented group will have the opportunity to prove itself on the national stage in a season-opening visit to Neyland Stadium to play Tennessee before hosting Miami and new coach Mark Richt two weeks later.

Going into the offseason on an emotional victory in the Camellia Bowl will only help the younger Mountaineers, according to coach Scott Satterfield.

“It’s also going to help us in the offseason as we get ready for next year. … They’ve had a great example of how to lead throughout this senior class that we just finished up,” Satterfield said.

“That momentum, we’ll carry through the offseason, and we’ll shoot it forward to 2016; we’ve got a great group of guys coming back.”

Before App State gets to next season, it will reap the benefits of becoming the first Sun Belt team to win 11 games and the first program to win a bowl game in its first season of full eligibility after moving up to FBS.

Satterfield said he and his staff are itching to get back on the recruiting trail after the holidays with a few new talking points.

“I don’t know if you can duplicate what we did this year. I mean, 11 wins is pretty good,” he said.

“I’ll tell you what this does: It sets us up moving forward in recruiting. We all know that’s the lifeline of programs – everybody wants to be associated with a winner, and so do recruits.

“When you win 11, those phone calls get a lot easier.”

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "App State riding momentum of bowl win into next year."