Dowell Loggains and his recruiting staff are absolutely phenomenal.

[rbarthle17]

The title game will be interesting because Cristobal is a recruit-first coach. His game plan is to put 11 athletes out there that are better than your 11 at that same time, and hope the disparity is enough to win. We might get a bit of an insight as to how that will play at our level because I see our coach as similar in mindset.

[AppWyo]

Having the highest rated recruiting class is new territory for Appalachian and we just do not know how to react to it yet. I do know from working at a summer camp with team competition that in order to win you do not need the best athletes what you need are the second-best athletes and girls that can play.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years because we have always done more with less. I wonder how much more we can do with more. The fact that an NFL's Quarterback son is wanting to play at Appalachian who is transferring from a Big 10 school really says something. Although we have had a quarterback come from UCLA before, that was a different situation as well as one transferring to UCLA.

[bcoach]

Having the highest rated recruiting class is new territory for Appalachian and we just do not know how to react to it yet. I do know from working at a summer camp with team competition that in order to win you do not need the best athletes what you need are the second-best athletes and girls that can play.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years because we have always done more with less. I wonder how much more we can do with more. The fact that an NFL's Quarterback son is wanting to play at Appalachian who is transferring from a Big 10 school really says something. Although we have had a quarterback come from UCLA before, that was a different situation as well as one transferring to UCLA.

I know he is a pocket passer. Any idea if he has legs?

[mtnjax]

Having the highest rated recruiting class is new territory for Appalachian and we just do not know how to react to it yet. I do know from working at a summer camp with team competition that in order to win you do not need the best athletes what you need are the second-best athletes and girls that can play.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years because we have always done more with less. I wonder how much more we can do with more. The fact that an NFL's Quarterback son is wanting to play at Appalachian who is transferring from a Big 10 school really says something. Although we have had a quarterback come from UCLA before, that was a different situation as well as one transferring to UCLA.

I know he is a pocket passer. Any idea if he has legs?

Yes, he has legs. Go watch his HS tape. His dad, he is not from that standpoint

[Yosefus]

Well. I have not kept up with any of this stuff. I will say this is something we have not to my knowledge been able to talk about in the past to this level. If the Jimmy and Joe's perform on the field at the level they are rated on paper it could be a very exciting year next season. I like the excitement, something we have needed for too many years unfortunately

[Bootsy]

It's definitely encouraging to see the caliber of talent being pulled in this year. Loggains and his staff should be commended.
If team chemistry can quickly be built this spring and player development accelerates, we should have good reasons to be optimistic in the fall.

[bcoach]

Having the highest rated recruiting class is new territory for Appalachian and we just do not know how to react to it yet. I do know from working at a summer camp with team competition that in order to win you do not need the best athletes what you need are the second-best athletes and girls that can play.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few years because we have always done more with less. I wonder how much more we can do with more. The fact that an NFL's Quarterback son is wanting to play at Appalachian who is transferring from a Big 10 school really says something. Although we have had a quarterback come from UCLA before, that was a different situation as well as one transferring to UCLA.

I know he is a pocket passer. Any idea if he has legs?

Yes, he has legs. Go watch his HS tape. His dad, he is not from that standpoint

Looks like I got some bad info on pocket passer. The boy does have legs.

[Stonewall]

He has a track background.

[Cro-Magnon App]

No matter who you got on the team, you got to coach them, you’ve got to put discipline in them and you’ve got to get them to play together and for each other. Cignetti and his staff do that. Can ours? Remains to be seen.

[appstate24]

They are pulling off miracles almost daily. We sit 65th in the country in recruiting. It seems that of the 54 players we currently have, many of the transfers are (missing?) transfer rankings, so I imagine we’re actually ranked a bit higher than that. We are the number One G5 recruiters. Not only are we ahead of Boise and South Florida, we are ahead of teams like UCF, Duke, UVA, etc. More importantly though, we are number 1 in the sun belt, by a country mile. 23 point lead over 2nd place GA State.

I understand winning happens on the field, but if DLo and company get these guys coached up and disciplined, I believe in a playoff run. Let’s not forget this past year was his first year as a HC. Year 2 should be back to the APP STATE FOOTBALL we all know and love.

It’s an exciting time to be a Mountaineer!!!

Don’t temper those expectations or your excitement. It’s January, we are going to the playoff next year. Can’t tell me nothing…at least until September

GO APPS!!

[Bigdaddyg1]

My real point about the stars thing is that it’s easy to become enamored with the guy who was a 4 star out of high school, went to a big P4, sat the bench for 2 years and now wants to “transfer down” to App and people focus on his high school numbers. Those ratings are mostly irrelevant now. I completely agree that falling in love with a highly rated high school recruiting class can be fools gold especially if 90% of them leave in a year. The successful G5 coaches will absolutely be the ones who can retool and manage to find those overlooked dudes who can ball.

[EastHallApp]

Not to further downplay the recruiting success, but it's also worth noting for context that one thing boosting our "ranking" is the shear number of players we're bringing in. Our 58 total commits listed on 247 (HS plus portal) are 4th in the nation and 10+ clear of any other Sun Belt team.

Our average player rating - whatever stock you put in that - is in line with most of the rest of the Sun Belt. The programs the OP mentioned as behind us in the rankings - UCF, Boise, Duke, UVa, USF - all have a higher average player rating than we do.

Now of course, volume matters - more players means more chances to hit on good players - but that's also necessitated by the large number of players leaving our team. Most other teams probably don't have a need (or space) to add 58 new players, likely 60+ when we're all done.

In other words, while you'd probably rather retain more of your own productive players than have to turn over nearly the entire roster, doing so doesn't earn you any points in this "race."

[AppWyo]

I would really like to see some enthusiasm with the team this season. It seemed like there was a lack of enthusiasm at times this past season at least during some games. I do not remember it being like that in the past.

[BambooRdApp]

Well, the GameDay threads from 2022 -2024 would contradict the reference to past years.

[biggie]

I would really like to see some enthusiasm with the team this season. It seemed like there was a lack of enthusiasm at times this past season at least during some games. I do not remember it being like that in the past.

This is difficult in the portal age without wins. You don't have a connection with many players due to them just coming in for this year. Long gone are the days where you know everyone on the 2 deep roster because most have been here for 3+ years (5+ right after covid).

[AppStFan1]

Not to further downplay the recruiting success, but it's also worth noting for context that one thing boosting our "ranking" is the shear number of players we're bringing in. Our 58 total commits listed on 247 (HS plus portal) are 4th in the nation and 10+ clear of any other Sun Belt team.

Our average player rating - whatever stock you put in that - is in line with most of the rest of the Sun Belt. The programs the OP mentioned as behind us in the rankings - UCF, Boise, Duke, UVa, USF - all have a higher average player rating than we do.

Now of course, volume matters - more players means more chances to hit on good players - but that's also necessitated by the large number of players leaving our team. Most other teams probably don't have a need (or space) to add 58 new players, likely 60+ when we're all done.

In other words, while you'd probably rather retain more of your own productive players than have to turn over nearly the entire roster, doing so doesn't earn you any points in this "race."

The size of a class is a big part of the 247 ratings. I just know going back that our best players either had no stars or 2 stars until the last few years when we signed a 4-star Hopper and a couple other high 3-star players who panned out but overall stars never even matter for us. Our seniors who won a national title in FCS were never the top rated class out of high school but they won the titles.

I don't blame Loggains and our marketing people for wanting it to market that but it really puts pressure on him and his staff. He is setting the expectation for a big year. If we go 7-5 or 8-4 after signing the highest rated class then a lot of people will be let down despite the fact we will have improved our record. The reality is we don't know if the class is the best until we see them play.

[EastHallApp]

People would be disappointed with 8-4? I would consider that a pleasant surprise.

[BambooRdApp]

People would be disappointed with 8-4? I would consider that a pleasant surprise.

From a losing record to 8-4. Yes, I would be happy. Year 3, would like to see improvement on that.

[Saint3333]

The first step is getting back to a winning record in the SBC, that is a non-negotiable. Those are our "peers" and we should be winning 5 of the 8 at a minimum.

Given our OOC games in the future the floor is 7, 8 is ok, 9 is a good year.

Each year is a completely new team for everyone now.

[AppWyo]

The first step is getting back to a winning record in the SBC, that is a non-negotiable. Those are our "peers" and we should be winning 5 of the 8 at a minimum.

Given our OOC games in the future the floor is 7, 8 is ok, 9 is a good year.

Each year is a completely new team for everyone now.

Some would argue that if you do not win it all every year you need to fire everyone and start over.