Monthly Archives: July 2012

54 Days!!!

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:D ASU #54 :thumb:

Small, Darian

DL 6-2 285

Fr. Hampton, Ga.

(Dutchtown)

The big question for Small for 2012 is whether or not he plays. Small was a big recruit, being courted by Georgia Southern as well, but never wavered in wanting to come to Appalachian. Small does not take after his name at all, as he is already a big kid, and whether his game is ready at 18 years of age will be determined in August. Defensive tackle is an area of need based solely on the unknown. Appalachian currently lists two redshirt freshmen in the starting role. Thomas Bronson and Stephen Burns will likely rotate quite a bit and its very possible we see Small in 2012.

@GoASU Memorable Games 28-30

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Catching up with the GoASU memorable games countdown starting on July 4th.

Game 30: Field Hockey 3 Radford 2

We had this game ranked 26th. It was the team’s only road victory on the season in a season that saw only two wins. The other game in contention was a 3-2 home win over Liberty. This gives us one correctly guessed game in the Top 30.

Game 29: Volleyball 3, NCSU 1

We had this game ranked 13th. It was a big win for the program over an ACC school at home. The atmosphere was intense and the students rushed the court after the final point of the match. It is another correct guess which leaves us 2/2. However, the spread between 29th and 13th will hurt us along the way if tiebreakers come into play.

Game 28: Men’s Cross Country 4th of 11 at SoCon Championships

Does close count? We had a meet ranked 27th, but whiffed on the exact meet. Although the team extended its top four conference finish streak to 31 stright years, we didnt feel finishing fourth in conference was memorable enough. We ranked the 4th place finish of 23 teams at the Blue Ridge Open at this spot in the countdown. Appalachian edged out conference foes Furman and Charleston along with East Tennessee State, UNC-Charlotte, UNC-Wilmington and UNC-Asheville. This result drops us to 2/3 on the list.

Baseball: Billy Jones named Head Coach

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This story hit the social media world last night. GoASU has a full biography and group of quotes from colleagues. Jones seems like a blue collar guy who knows how to identify talent, which in baseball, is a vital asset to have in order to build a program. Jones has helped recruit and teach a number of major league players in his time at Oklahoma State, Arizona State, North Carolina State and Oregon State. It does say a lot about him that he coached at schools from power conferences, rich with baseball tradition.

The link here is obvious with Jones spending three seasons at NC State from 2002-04 while current Appalachian athletic director Charlie Cobb was also employed by the Wolfpack. If there is one sour note to this hire, is that Billy Jones was an assistant on a staff that was just recently replaced at Oklahoma State. It happens all the time in college athletics, but if that is the only red flag on his resume, Appalachian should be in good shape. This may cause some turnover on the current roster as is expected, but it will be interesting to see which players stick around. It will also be interesting to see if Jones keeps Chris Moore or Craig Scheffler on the staff.

@GoASU Memorable Games Challenge

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For the past couple years, GoASU has helped us all get through the dog days of summer by reliving the best games of the previous sports year. The thirty day feature takes us right up to the moment when fall practice for football starts. This was a banner year for several teams that usually do not grab as many headlines on a year to year basis. Football and Men’s Basketball have dominated the rankings in the past, but 2011-2012 was a year for other Mountaineer sports to shine. Most notably, the Baseball and Women’s Basketball teams accomplished goals like no other team in school history. GoASU submitted a challenge to fans. List the top thirty games and the entry who picks the most top thirty moments will win a football media guide. So, as GoASU releases their top moments, we will release ours and see how we stack up.