From Staff Reports
March 6, 2012. BOONE — Although there were a couple of inches of snow on the ground, spring officially came to the High Country on Monday when Appalachian State University football opened spring practice with a crisp one-hour-and-35-minute workout in the Sofield Family Indoor Practice Facility.
Monday’s practice, the first of 15 allowed by the NCAA during the spring, was an up-tempo affair with the Mountaineers moving at a very quick pace from play-to-play and drill-to-drill. Per NCAA regulations, the Apps wore helmets and shorts with no contact drills during the first practice of the spring.
While all but four of the 82 players participating in spring drills have been a member of the ASU program since at least last fall, Monday’s practice marked the first on-field action for six new Appalachian coaches — offensive coordinator/assistant head coach Scott Satterfield, defensive assistant Bryan Brown, tight ends coach Nic Cardwell, running backs coach Chris Foster, offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford and wide receivers coach Justin Stepp.
The four players that made their debuts in Black and Gold included transfers Alex Coulthard (offensive lineman — North Carolina), Quartterrio Morgan (running back — Western Kentucky) and Matt Roper (defensive lineman — Presbyterian), as well as true freshman running back Tysean Holloway, who graduated from Asheville H.S. in December. Holloway is the first early high-school graduate to participate in spring practice for the Mountaineers since former offensive lineman Sherman Holt in 2007.