Football: Injury Concerns

A few days ago, a couple of freshman players suffered injuries in fall camp and one of those injuries has really raised some eyebrows. Dante Blackmon was a highly touted recruit from Covington HS in Georgia. According to the media guide, Blackmon was slated to be a return specialist and there were reports of him pushing for an opportunity to start in the defensive backfield.

Blackmon is a versatile athlete who played on both sides of the ball in high school. It can be rare for a true freshman at Appalachian to play a significant number of snaps, especially at a position which requires coaching and experience to play at a high level. As mentioned, Blackmon was penciled in as a returner, not knowing whether that means punt returner or kick returner. Appalachian has not returned a kickoff for a touchdown since the days of CoCo Hillary in 2007 at Wofford. The last time the Mountaineers returned a punt for a touchdown was when Dexter Jackson returned two punts for touchdowns against Gardner Webb in 2006.

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