Walking tall.
Alex Acey almost cried.
He called his mother. She’d already received the news from Appalachian State football coach Jerry Moore. His mother nearly cried, too.
The news came late last September. Acey, once deemed too short to play college football had just earned his tuition.
“Coach Moore caught me in the hallway,” recalled the former offensive lineman at Clay-Chalkville High. “He was telling me stuff, and then he was like, ‘I told your mom you’re on a full scholarship.’ ”
It was the latest revelation in a season full of surprises.
The offensive lineman started all 12 games last season. Pretty impressive when you consider the walk-on suffered a concussion in camp. He returned to the team the week prior to Va. Tech.
Yeah, he’s short. But size, dog, fight, yadda, yadda yadda.
“It’s completely about size and the measurables,” Hood said. “Every single person agreed he was a phenomenal player. He was just too short.”
Moore ignored those standards. During a recruiting trip to Clay, he liked what he saw out of Acey in a chance meeting at the school’s fieldhouse and invited him to visit Appalachian State. So it was that Acey first laid eyes on the Boone, N.C., campus last February.
“After I came to App, I didn’t take any more visits,” Acey said. He called his mother on the first night of his visit to tell her he’d already made up his mind.
When I played football at App State from 92-95 I sometimes thought if I was smaller I could have got through that block or made that linebacker miss, size does matter, I played tight end and I am 6′-4″ 250 when I was at App I was 270, sometimes it helps being big and small, as for offensive lineman, I have never played with anyone smaller that 5′-8″ 260, what Acey has done is a test of his inter being, being small and everyone telling you that, you have to go out and prove everyone wrong and that seems to be what he has done throughout his career, Coach Moore offering him a full ride, I think that is great, walk on as well, it does not get any better than that, along with playing in all 12 games, what more could you ask of the kid right, the best of luck in 2012 as well?
Well I was only 6’0″ 200 when plying at App and the mid 80′s and I would have gladly traded bodies witha ya. lol. I’ve coached a lot of kids who were “too small” that could flat-out play. We have had some great luck with small o-linemen. Matt Isenhour was one of the best, and might, MIGHT, have been 5’10″. Acitelli as well. Much closer to 230 lbs (per his dad) when he started at NCSU. Acey is doing everything right and busting his butt. With the centers that we’ll have on the roster this year, he’ll have some competition. But I wouldn’t bet against him.