Ready for action!

Perhaps in part because of his locality, Edwards’ popularity with fans in attendance went beyond what one would normally expect from a rookie third-round draft pick. Edwards spent nearly 15 minutes after the morning practice session signing autographs, and the number of attendees waiting for his autograph rivaled that of such established stars as injured wide receiver Steve Smith and running back DeAngelo Williams.

Continuing his professional career in the same states he came to notoriety in as a football player, Edwards said his popularity Thursday was somewhat of a mixed bag.

“It was a great experience,” he said. “A lot of people wanted my autograph, but you’ve got to say no to some people in order to come up here and get done what you have to get done before the next practice.

We can’t help but ask .. was that recliner his?

* picture from chadmitchellphoto.com

Media guide out. Yes, yet another new “third” uniform. /three snaps, a twist and a kiss

New CW – Montana haunts App State. Old CW – Richmond haunts App State.

Preseason by the numbers. App State – “Seven Pre-Season All-Americans.” (Oh, and the Stink is gonna wanna correction on title count)

Prayers. “Chattanooga linebacker Bo Dyer is out indefinitely with a blood clot.”

Spread, schmead. Triple option is the heat.

Clubber Lang new face of SoCon. LeGreedy begs to differ.

The Swag building something Swaggier. “There’s just a positive winning culture around our program right now.”

Speaking of Swag. Look who’s a Cowboy.

‘Whee a wee bit smaller. “Wagner said quarterback Casey Turner and senior offensive lineman Matt Winter left the team for personal reasons.”

IMG to acquire ISP Sports. This mean better buffering?

Playoff vs. bowl debate rages. No, not that debate.

Look who Montana is playing. Cool.

We know who the top dogs are. How’s life on the lower rungs?

As one coach says, it doesn’t matter. It’s obvious we ain’t that good.

“It’s great that these guys are getting recognized, and I think that’s the most important thing,” (UTC coach) Huesman said. “Where they picked us in the league, I think anywhere from three to nine you could throw them in a hat and pick them out and probably be close.”

To buttress that point, consensus pick for third-best team in the league is … Furman? Makes sense, since Furple finished third in the league last season at a pedestrian 6-5, with all but one win in league.

But still … Furman? What have they done for anyone lately?

We’d actually forgot how unimpressive the SoCon was last season from third place on down. Furple and ‘Nooga each finished one game above .500.

The rest of the league? 19-36. /holds nose

Wooford was hurt by injuries last year, so you gotta expect they’ll be much better. The Stink is going back to its original odor thanks to an experienced hand, so you’d like to think it’d be better.

The rest of the league? /shrug Crap shoot. /pun intended

As we all know, App State and the Swag sit nicely atop the league in the meaningless preseason SoCon rankings.

The two met last year in an unofficial championship game, in which Swag won easily App State Dom. In. Ate. Ed.

It’s expected both teams will be just as good again this season. And the early line is each team has something the other covets.

Establish QB versus established team. Who ya got?

With Edwards learning to play wide receiver in the NFL, Moore is trying to decide between a junior and a redshirt freshman to lead a team that many expect to continue to dominate one of the toughest leagues in FCS. He said Tuesday he is confident either DeAndre Presley, who started a game last year when Edwards was injured, or Jamal Jackson can keep the Mountaineers on top.

“It’ not like we don’t have something to work with,” Moore said. “It’s our job as coaches to get those guys in position to show their stuff.”

While the Mountaineers have to replace Edwards’ 10,392 yards passing, 4,361 yards rushing and 139 touchdowns, they have a wealth of talent returning at other positions as they try to tie Georgia Southern’s record of six straight SoCon titles. Nine starters return on offense, including running back Devon Moore, who led the league with 1,374 last season, and seven on defense on a team that lost in the national semifinals to Montana.

Elon has the opposite problem. The Phoenix bring back Riddle, but not a lot of other starters from a team that went 9-3 last season, making their first ever trip to the FCS playoffs.

Riddle should pass Edwards’ league record for career passing yards by the second game of the season. He already owns the SoCon records for most completions and touchdown passes.

There’s little doubt the most debated question of the App State preseason and, heck, probably the first few weeks of the actual season, will be who should start at QB. But looking at the rest of the two-deep .. /long whistle …. we get feelin’ kinda frisky.

38 days ….

Awww – “When UTC hosts App State in the season opener for both teams, both teams will have a “GC” decal on their helmets. All SoCon teams will wear the sticker, commissioner John Iamarino said, as a show of support for all the people along the Gulf Coast affected by the BP oil spill.”

Letting the praise go by – “App State is the consensus choice to win its sixth straight Southern Conference football championship.” No biggie there, but the shock is who’s picked last. Also, Clubber Lang picked as the, uh, baddest man in the league. Our prediction? Pain. (from laughing, of course)

Welcome back – “Byrnes wide receivers coach Trey Elder has resigned to accept the same position at App State. Elder will be the position coach for his brother, Blake Elder, who is entering his senior season with the Mountaineers.” Enjoy your one year back! Or are we being presumptuous?

The faithful were ready for The Greatest App ever this morning at Scott’s Collectibles. /wipes sweat from brow

Probably about 70 people or so lined up at the start of the autograph session. AE was there with his daughter and her mother. That slice of hood you see in the pic is the front end of the Armanti-mobile – a new, all black, chevy camero. /whistles

It was the AE we’ve all known and loved. No bling. No posse. Lots of yes sir/yes ma’am and him thanking fans back when they thanked him.

Never change dude. Never change.

We also gave out some AppFan.com decals/lapel buttons and met some fans. /blushes

Congrats to Appfans James and Brendan for winning our free AE ink contest. And hands down our favorite AE memory was that shared by Craig.

Dude! We totally forgot about this!

My favorite memory was when Armanti and I were flying on our unicorns, Feathers and Tom Cruise, and Armanti said, “Hey, best friend Craig, before we pick up Erin Andrews, I need to stop by Ann Arbor for a sec.” I was like, “Ok, best friend Armanti,” so we made a detour in Ann Arbor, where we landed smack in the middle of the Big House. The stands were packed with overweight midwesterners, who were all eating casseroles, and in the middle of the field Chad Henne was giving mouth-to-mouth to a dolphin. Weird, I know.

Well, Armanti dismounts, walks up to Henne, and proceeds to punch him in the throat. I was like, “Man I didn’t see that coming,” and Abe Lincoln who was standing next to me replied, “Ah, the entire Michigan program deserves to be punched in the throat.” Now this is where it gets weird: there’s a huge stage set up in one of the endzones and Springsteen is up there belting out “Dancing in the Dark.” He looks down at me and Armanti, reaches his hand out, and pulls both of on stage. I look at Armanti, and he’s like, “Dude this is so awesome!” And I’m like, “I know, it’s crazy!”

But then Appfan Midwest comes out from backstage and begins yelling out something about how Appalachian needs to move up a division instead of wallowing in the Southern Conference. A couple security guards tried to pull him off stage, but he kept shouting something about Napoleon and Appalachian joining the Big Ten, and that’s when Clarence Clemmons comes from behind and beats the hell out of App Fan Midwest with his sax.

Springsteen, Armanti, and I are laughing hysterically, when Bruce says, “Man, let’s get out of here and go grab some beers at Klondike. My treat!” That’s when Erin Andrews appears with Cousin Oliver from the Brady Bunch, and she’s like, “You guys weren’t going without me?” And I was like, “girl do you think we’d forget about you?” It was absolutely crazy!

/high five

In talking the latest scandal(?), Mike & Mike touched on players getting paid. Golic ain’t having it – “Stop with the poor player stuff at the big-time Division I schools.” He says students game the system, but doesn’t acknowledge those games are more lucrative at big schools. Unfair advantage?

Meet the Razorbacks’ QB – “I mean, I played App State at Michigan. I was part of that team. We got beat in the first game of the season. I kind of learned my lesson from that as far as overlooking people. We have to set the tone in the first game and keep building, keep progressing, keep getting better.”

Awe. Some. – “Brig. Gen. Ed Reeder, who was born on Fort Bragg and grew up in Fayetteville, took command of the Army’s Green Berets on Wednesday. Reeder went to App State on a football scholarship.” He’s not mentioned in media guide, but regardless – American Hero.

As you may know, the Greatest App Ever will be at Scott’s Collectibles Saturday signing autographs and kissing babies showing the guns demanding a Jason Hunter card inspiring sighs from any App fan in sight.

We plan to be there. And we plan to give something away.

AE will be autographing just about anything sensible for $20 a scribble. Tickets have to be purchased for the write right. Thanks to Scott’s, we’re having a contest for two of those black and golden tickets.

One winner will be selected from this here post on our humble $5 blog. The other at our Facebook page.

The rules? Simple. Post a comment to either/or/both pages with your favorite AE memory. It can be on the field, off the field, in the classroom or your own imagination (references to lawns by law prohibited).

Friday we’ll randomly select one winner per site to get a free ticket for an AE autograph. (If you want it personalized, it’s still gonna cost ya $5).

So have at it. When you think AE, what flashes in your mind? His name called on draft night? Going airborne in Ann Arbor? Posing with the Walter Payton award? Reading to kids in a classroom? Getting his hair done? What makes ya smile?

Since the economy fell down a well several months ago, a regular meme in the sports world has been summed up in two words – empty seats.

With college football 2010 set to start soon, news is trickling out that “Recovery Summer” isn’t seeing too many new season ticket holders created or saved.

Season ticket sales at USC are down 9 percent from last year and have dropped about 20 percent since 2008, when athletics director Eric Hyman introduced the controversial YES program that requires fans to pay a separate fee — in addition to their Gamecock Club donation and cost of the ticket — for the right to buy their seat.

But flagging ticket sales is not a problem unique to the Gamecocks.

Georgia recently lowered its cost for a first-time season ticket buyer to $1,550 — down from $10,651 two years ago and $4,205 in 2009 — after more than 2,000 Bulldog fans chose not to renew their tickets.

Tennessee invited fans into Neyland Stadium last month to check out the more than 1,000 seats available for Year One of the Post-Lane Kiffin Era.

At Clemson, ticket sales have dropped 13 percent since 2008, when the school sold out its season tickets amid excitement about a team ranked in the top 10 in the preseason polls.

“You look at other schools and it’s the same story,” Clemson ticket manager Travis Furbee said.

The deadline to renew App State season tickets passed a few weeks ago, but sales continue. So of course we offer a poll.

Panthers talk WR. AE comes in at 1:40. /tingles up the leg

First a 7-footer. Then a Zag tranfer. Now an Oak Ridge kid – “Michael Neal, a 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard, was slowed by injuries last season at Northern Guilford. He will be a senior in the fall after transferring to Oak Ridge.” Plus, there’s a game at Tulsa set for Nov. 12. Schedule lookin’ good!

Hmmmm – “We’ve learned that the NCAA is conducting investigations into several high-profile draft prospects’ dealings with agents at both North Carolina and South Carolina. On Monday Florida acknowledged it turned over information to law enforcement officials.”