Last year, the Battle at the Rock was a disorganized mess. Or so it seemed. Fans had no clue who was on the rosters, what was going on, what the scoring system or whatever else.
Around 10,000 people shows up on a frigid 30-degree to watch that team last year. This year, in a high 70s day with no threat of storms til later, there was maybe 6,000 people? No one really knows because they didn’t scan the free tickets.
This year, the rosters were updated the day before, there were QR codes with roster links all over the stadium (the first one you see walking up was on the open women’s bathroom door) and Athletics released the schedule. Not Football, Athletics released it.
For the most part, this was adhered to. It got a little loosy-goosy at the end, but more scrimmage reps is a good thing.
Basic overview things. The team wasn’t wearing any App State logos on the helmets, instead wearing the T.N.P. mantra they’ve worn all spring. It stands for The Next Play.
The defense wasn’t fully tacking in space. They would hold onto the ball carrier and the refs would whistle it down. You don’t want to kill your players over 100 days out from the season, so that’s understandable.
If you want as close to a blow by blow as possible, I live Tweeted the experience. Click the link below and go from there.
The important parts were end of half, scrimmage, red zone and end of game. This is when you saw all 22 players on the field, including the quarterback.
If the QB1 versus Maine isn’t Malachi Singleton, it’s due to injury. He got the first reps and you saw why. Out of everyone, he consistently put the ball in the strike zone for his receivers. His arm strength in less than either of last year’s main QBs, but he offers something Dowell covets: a run option.
There were lots of checkdowns. WRs across the middle, tight ends and running backs seeping out of the backfield, it was all there.
Dowell spoke at length after last season about the need for a dual-threat QB. I believe this was solidified in his mind the second J.J. Kohl slid short of the first down at ODU. If your QB is a mediocre passer and never runs, the defense can stack the box.
Henry Hasselbeck, son of Dowell’s good friend Matt, is the QB2. He ran a lot, probably too much. If the WRs weren’t open, Henry would take off. In fact, we saw more QB runs in this spring game than all 2025 combined. Henry had some good passes, but he also, using a baseball analogy, threw it in the dirt more than once.
Trigg Lewis was the RB1 as Kanye Roberts wasn’t available. Nothing breakaway, which was a running game issue last season. Hopefully Kanye can offer breakaway speed.
All this led to an effective App State offense between the 30s. In field goal range/red zone, not as much.
That’s Singleton. No. 3.
The red zone offense was a major issue last season, with turnovers coming aplenty. And then I noticed something during both the end of half and end of game sessions.
In both, there would be a set time on the clock (1:18 for end of half, just under two minutes for end of game) and the ball would be on the other 35 or thereabouts. Job was for the offense to get down the field before time ran out, just like a two-minute drill.
In every one of these situations, there was a score on the clock. It was usually 24-21 or 33-30 or something of the sort. In all of these, the offense was down by, at most, three points. Thus, a field goal was a positive outcome.
I get it, going down to kick a field goal is a good outcome to force overtime or win, but if that’s the goal, then you’re not getting the ball into the end zone.
In my unqualified opinion, there need to be greater emphasis on finishing drives. Especially after last season. Maybe some of the QB runs we saw would have been more fruitful if QBs weren’t under touch rules, but in some ways, it looked a lot like last year.
There was a red zone period, where the ball was put at the 25. Singleton got two chances, Hasselbeck and Ulatowski each had one. Singleton got a touchdown and a field goal, Hassebeck got a field goal and Ulatowski got a touchdown. I’ll concede that’s not bad, but 50% touchdowns starting from the offensive 25 might not cut it in certain games.
By the way, James London is definitely kicker No. 1. Booted it out of the endzone on his lone kickoff and got the lion’s share of field goal attempts. He gets air on the ball. And for those who weren’t there, it was a high school extra point defense, where the defense just stood up and didn’t rush the kicker.
Dowell admitted postgame the playcalling was plain, which was too be expected. Can’t show off the entire arsenal to people with Twitter fingers!
Now we got into the dark period. No more practices til late July/early August. Some players might be encouraged to leave while others might be brought in (if they could, I don’t know what the portal rules are currently).
FanFest is Aug. 15, which will likely be an autograph session and merch sale.
Overall, I want to be excited. There’s not much given to us fans to be excited over. Unless you subscribe to 247, then you get morsels. Until Dowell feels they’re gaining too much info and smacks their hand again.
Dowell has talked about how he was here to fix the culture and the DNA and basically has called the 2024 team a bunch of losers. Well, that five-win team became a five-win team now under a man who can’t call red zone offense from the sidelines.
It’s up to him to beat Coastal, beat Georgia Southern, go to NC State and avoid comparing Carter-Finley to an NFL stadium and finish this four-game series with ECU undefeated. Throw the ball to the tight end and let the defense fly around.
pipedreams 
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