Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the sound you waited much to hear. It's caused
some of your greatest triumphs, study the feth missing and
walk raids, and your biggest heartbreaks history made by Apple
Lachim's days. They went on presidented large straight national championship.
(00:21):
It's the option at Georgia Tech. It's Howard's rock, the
smoke in Miami and every Saturday you tackle that.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
What's happening again and Apple Leaching stud has done it again.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
The weight is over. College football is here.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yep, Appstace.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
You know I had to give you guys a hard time,
but walcome just to give you a quick review this unit.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
In twenty twenty four, they.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Were a far crop from what they were in twenty
twenty three when they were fifth in scoring defense. Last
year they were twelfth, And we talked about how one
of the staples of app State foot ball is running
the ball and stopping the run. But they were tenth
in run defense last year, fourteenth in defensive efficiency. And
they had some games, man where it was just hugly
give up three hundred and eighteen resting yards to South
(01:12):
Alabama with five touchdowns and then seven hundred and twelve
yards of offense they gave up to the Clemson Tigers.
I get it, but I harkened back to when you
and Founder thought that Appalachia State was going to put
up more of a fight against the Clemson Tigers than
what they did, and that game was over with quickly.
They gave up multiple long touchdowns in the first quarter,
(01:32):
gear down thirty five to nothing. They were zero to
five when giving up thirty plus points. So in that
Clemson game, the game was over with in the first quarter.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
I thought app Stave was going to put up much
more of a fight against every opponent that they played,
not just Clemson. And even with my high expectations for
the Mountaineers last year, there's always that possibility that Clemson
molly WAPs them because of the disparity between the two.
I did not expect them to give up as many
points as they I did not expect that. I think
(02:01):
the big thing about because I wasn't here for the
preview on Monday, just to give you a few of
those thoughts where it went wrong for me and my
assessment of APP and I think for the most part,
where it just went wrong period factually, where it went
wrong for APP we all thought Joey Aguilar was going
to be a four thousand yard passer and it just
didn't happen. So the offense, while the defense was terrible,
the offense didn't really take off and they couldn't run
(02:24):
the ball. Joey Aguilar wasn't a superhero like we all
thought he was going to be. I know you were
clamoring for him to wear a different black and gold
transfer into Wake.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Four US still would have taken well, I know.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
I think that's the thing that goes to point to coaching, right,
the fact that Aguilar is still so coveted, still so
wanted out there in the portal, but did not have
an amazing year at app State last year. So then
we focused on the defense. They got a whole bunch
of different players, one of those you'd like to have
some experience, but also maybe you don't want a whole
lot of returning players on that side exactly when you're
(02:56):
giving up that many point totals. You mentioned some of
the games fifty two to Marshall, forty eight to South Alabama,
thirty eight to Coastal.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
That's not my app State.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
It is not man and so DJ Smith is coming
in to take over that defense app State linebacker from
two thousand and seven to two thousand and ten, and
so we'll start right there, former player, the pride is there.
Do you think that that could be enough to be
able to get this unit close to what they once were?
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I think so.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I think the fact that you're starting to get some
of the talent that you have, and any homegrown talent
that you're going to be able to get is going
to be awesome. But you just need some more dudes
on that side of the ball, and you need more
star players everywhere. Honestly, we can blend offense and defense
when we discussed that, but it just didn't feel like
they had any of their stars played like stars last year,
including going back to that quarterback position. So, now that
(03:48):
you're revamping a defense and trying to find some guys
that you think can be leaders, you do have your
leading or your leading tackler coming back is going to
be Kyle Arnhold, who had fifty five tackles last year,
but like fifty five tackles as your lead guy, well.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
He was a third lead tackler.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Was top guys are going well, but your top returning
is what I'm saying. Yes, yes, your top returning tackler
only had fifty five going to point two. Even the
guys that are returning, it's not like they set the
world on fire. So with some new additions here, hopefully
you can have this nice blend of we can put
all of our superhero prowess and some of the new editions,
and then the other guys can just stay steady. They
(04:25):
know the scheme, they can play a little bit more
up to speed with their familiar Well, I guess nobody
has familiar because it's a new coaching And the.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Thing is, you know, foinding out when we were talking
about this team.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Sometimes every good returning starter isn't a good returning starter, okay.
And so for the defensive line, for a unit that
gave up so much last year, zero starters are back,
so you get a fresh start. Okay, you might've hit
rock bottom last year. And so you've got some new guys.
Thomas Davis, a solid hybrid edge rusher on the outside.
They're going to be depending on a lot from him,
and it k that they brought in through the portal.
(04:55):
Dylan Manuel from Charleston Southern. He had a very strong
last year in the FCS. He was a freshman All
American from phil Steel, so they're going to be depending
on him to rise up the ranks as well. Then
you've also got former NC State transfer Nick Campbell, which
they're kind of counting on him a lot as well,
as well as Kevin Abrams Verwain two and he is
(05:18):
in his seventh year, so the old man needs to
be able to get it done. So this defensive line,
it all starts there. Zero starters return, but they do
have some talent there that's available.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
We'll see how that shakes out.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
You know, it's interesting to me, despite seeing a guy
come from the Power five level in dal Logins taking
over that head coaching vacancy, you don't see a lot
of the Power five transfers where you just think it's
superior talent and they're going to be better as soon
as they go down a level. Really, what app State
did was they got a lot of guys from either
fcs or schools that you would consider beneath app State
(05:50):
up front, and with the guys that had awesome years,
they decided we're going to put a little more stock
into the numbers that they did produce, albeit for a
different school rather than the guys that were supposed to
but didn't. I'll be it at a bigger school. And
so I liked that philosophy as well, perhaps interesting because
it is down Loggins coming from the vaunted SEC at
(06:11):
Arkansas and South Carolina.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
No, he just.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
Subscribes to the if you ball here, then you can
ball anywhere theory, and I like that theory more so
than the other one of well if you didn't ball here,
then I'll just bring you down a level and then
it'll all turn out for you. Now, I mean that's
not how it works all the time. So that's just
an interesting transfer portal strata.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
If you had to pick an aspect that you wanted
to return to this defense to give some of that
bite back. Man, it's really hard because they're kind of
in a position just like the team here. They were
seventh in their conference in sacks last year, and I
talked about how the run defense was abysmal too. But
I think for defense, you have to start with the
run defense because you want to keep teams behind the chains,
(06:50):
and so for app State, you're going to have to
do that. And we talked about the defensive line, but
then as we move into that second level you talked
about Arnholt and him coming back this year as the
third leading tackler. He's going to be a guy that
they want to turn into a stud in that defense.
At the linebacker position, They've got a couple of SEC
transfers there, Brayshawn little John followed Coach Loggins from Missouri,
(07:14):
and then Ronnie Porter from South Carolina. So we'll see
who emerges out of those guys. And So if I
had to pick an aspect of this app State defense
that must improve for them to try to get back
to once they once were, I would start with the
run defense, and then if I can get a little
more passwordsh cool.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But I think that the run defense.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
If you can keep teams behind the chains, that's a
big help in and of itself.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
I'm looking for the secondary too, because we've seen some
stars really at all three levels of app State before,
but they've had some really excellent corners in past years.
I do think that app State is one of those
teams that if they can stop the pass, like if
you could have just I'm looking for them to get
back to what they were because app State, if you
go back and form that identity of being one of
(07:57):
the best schools at this level in the country. What
were they looking like. Well, they could run the football
really well. They always had a quarterback that you could
at least trust, even if they weren't the outright star
of the team. And then on defense, you could stop
the run. You had willing tacklers. But they would turn
out some talent in that secondary also, So I'm looking
at also, just can you limit the big plays that
you gave up so many last year?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
They gave up a ton.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Your point is probably a little more enhanced by this
stat but looking at some of the red zone stats,
they were absolutely abysmal. How about allowing foes to score
on thirty six of thirty nine red zone trips. I
just only that's just go aham. Put the points on
the bolt. Just disgusting stuff. So, okay, maybe the defensive
line is the thing you're looking at more so in
the red zone, just because it's hard to get big
(08:42):
plays only twenty twenty five yards out anyway, I just
think if you can limit some of the big plays,
I expect some regression back to the mean in the
red zone. So if the red zone numbers can only
go up from what they saw last year, and you
limit big plays with the secondary lock and some guys
down back there. I think this defense is to be
set up for a lot more success than they were
last year.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
And that leads me to the next segment, going to
the secondary of this defense and the power Ford transfer
that I think will have the biggest impact for them.
It's cornerback Jaden mcburrows. He's a guy that comes over
from the University of Michigan. He appeared in nineteen games
for the Wolverines. He had thirteen tackles and an interception.
So a tricky player because he wasn't very good at Michigan.
(09:22):
There's a reason why he exited the program. But could
he come over to app State and kind to revitalize
what he could have been coming into Michigan. We shall see,
but I think they're going to be leaning on him
a lot and his power for experience to come into
that secondary to help them limit those big plays. He's
also got a couple of SEC transfers at safety, but
(09:44):
those guys are more depth pieces right now. Dylan has
he comes from Arkansas and Emery Floyd comes from South Carolina.
So those guys right now are not slated to be
in the starting lineup, and then you also have returning
corner Ethan Johnson. And then you have Jordan Favors, who
was third team All Sun Built in twenty twenty three
and also Mayo's farmer. He will be the other safety
(10:07):
and he had massed over one hundred tackles in Nebraska
and Syracuse. He played in a few games last year
for app State. So the secondary has some promise. But
I think when you look at the power forward transfer
that I think will make the biggest impact, I would
have to go with Jaden mcburrows from Michigan.
Speaker 4 (10:22):
Yeah, I had mcburrows as well. You also have some
South Carolina guys coming in. When I talked about only
really focusing on some of the players that were coming
from the below levels up, it's really on the defensive line, honestly,
that that point is true everywhere else. There's a lot
of Power five guys to choose from. I'm looking at
the twenty four to seven look right now, a bunch
of three stars all over the place that you have
(10:42):
coming in from the Power five level. And as you
see when coaches come from the Power five level or
Power four, I'm always going to say power five.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
H Power five is still easier, still stick with.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
I know, But so the power four level, you do
have your Ronnie Porter linebacker coming over from South Carolina.
There's a couple of other game cocks that I was
trying to look at as well that you see linked
on twenty four to seven, but a bunch of three stars,
Like you got some three star guys that you're having
to rely on with your what you're losing eight starters
(11:14):
from last year, so there are plenty of guys to
choose from that you have coming over from the big schools.
It's just upfront that you have some of those smaller
school guys that produced at that level.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Axe all right, that's the abstatete defense with twenty twenty
five founder, what are your thoughts on this defense and
what they can bring to the table this year.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Well, damn, they can't be much worse than they were
last year. So I mean for them, I think the
thing that you're looking for is that this team rushes
the passer better than they did a year ago. I mean,
I think coming back they have like three sacks from
a year ago that are back on the roster. Weren't
a team that really got after the quarterback well, and
(11:49):
they only created four interceptions last year. They got to
be better at creating turnovers. So for this unit, I
think those are going to be the key things for them.
Especially if you're going to be a team that's going
to give up yards in the run game or you're
gonna give up yards in the passing game, you've got
to be able to have those havoc plays, those sacks,
those turnovers. So hopefully for app State they get to
(12:11):
see some of those this season.