By David Rogers. CHARLOTTE, N.C. — And so, the Dowell Loggains Era for App State Football begins. A lot of preseason questions were answered in the Aug. 29 Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium, where the Mountaineers dominated Charlotte in all phases of the football game, 34-11.
As much or more than any college football game in 2025, this matchup was unique, featuring two high level programs with new head coaches and coaching staffs, as well as historic levels of roster turnover. More than 100 of the teams’ combined rosters were new to their programs. We counted 43 FBS-level transfers on the Charlotte roster, 33 on App State’s. Throw in some junior college, FCS and even NCAA Division II transfers, as well as a slew of promising freshman recruits, and both coaching staffs faced similar indoctrination challenges. In preparing for this game, both head coaches afterwards described the challenges of preparing for the contest, not fully knowing what they would face in an opponent.
The game produced several storylines:
- Loggains and his staff of assistants — with plenty of NFL and major college coaching experience on their resumes — are the real deal, in all three phases of the game.
- On offense, App State produced a pass-heavy, yet balanced attack that rolled up 586 yards of net total yards (404 passing, 182 rushing), the team’s most prolific offensive output since against Georgia Southern in 2022, a 51-48 double-overtime loss to the Eagles in which App State produced 629 yards of total offense.
- LSU transfer A J Swann emerged as the Mountaineers’ starting quarterback after a months-long competition with redshirt sophomore and Iowa State transfer J J Kohl, as well as strong consideration for 2024 Southern Miss transfer Billy Wiles, redshirt freshman Matthew Wilson, and true freshmen Noah Gillon and Gregory Fee. Loggains revealed after the game that he told the QBs of his decision on Thursday, Aug. 28.
- Swann responded with a record-breaking performance for an App State QB making his debut, completing 31-of-46 passes for 368 yards and three TDs and zero interceptions, plus adding 25 rushing yards at key moments. Kohl came in to lead the last two offensive possession in the fourth quarter, completing two of four passes for big gains of 19 and 17 yards, for 36 yards.
- Swann and Kohl combined to complete passes to 10 different receivers, led by Jaden Barnes (6 catches, 134 yards and 1 TD on 8 targets) and Dalton Stroman (8 catches for 88 yards on 11 targets). Other receivers included Izayah Cummings (5 catches, 57 yards), running back Rashod Dubinion (5-31), tight end David Larkins (3-27), William Fowles (2-30), Jackson Grier (1-19), Kanen Hamlet (1-19, TD), Alex Sanchez (1-1, TD), and Doopah Coleman (1).
- Running back Rashod Dubinion was the focus of App State’s rushing attack, carrying the ball 22 times for 111 yards and 1 TD.
- On defense, App State defensive coordinator D J Smith’s unit smothered Charlotte, limiting the 49ers to 218 net total yards, 142 passing and just 76 rushing. With the Mountaineers leading, 14-3, and less than 25 seconds remaining in the first half, defensive back Ja’Den McBurrows produced the game’s only turnover with an interception of 49er QB Conner Harrell near midfield. Harrell was pressured by redshirt senior defensive lineman Kevin Abrams-Verwayne.
- McBurrows and redshirt sophomore defensive back Zyeir Gamble were the team leaders in tackles, with six each, followed by redshirt sophomore linebacker Colton Phares, with five.
- On special teams, freshman placekicker Dominic De Freitas won the 4-way kicking competition with redshirt sophomore Jackson Moore, redshirt junior Carter Everett, and redshirt senior Cash McVay — and responded with field goals of 47 and 35 yards in the season-opening game for 2025..
- Punter Ian Ratliff only had to punt three times, but put two of them inside the Charlotte 20 yard line. He totaled 110 yards.
Once App State healed itself from self-inflicted wounds, including three penalties on offense and two more on defense just in the first quarter, the Mountaineers got into rhythm and never looked back. The only serious setbacks in the second half were two calls for targeting, resulting in the ejection of Elijah McCantos and Jaelin Willis, both penalties coming in the third quarter after video review.
The first targeting call came at the end of a 17 yard run by Charlotte’s QB, Harrell, for a first down at the App State 6-yard line. The penalty was enforced half the distance to the App State goal line, to the 3-yard line. Charlotte had momentum and appeared poised to score with a first down at the three, but on the very next play, the 49ers senior running back Cameren Smith was met in the backfield by blitzing defensive back Dylan Hasz (a junior transfer from Arkansas). The Mountaineer DB punched out the ball, which went flying back and toward the sidelines where it was scooped up by returning redshirt senior linebacker Kyle Arnholt and run back 8 yards, to the Mountaineer 23-yard line. Just like that, the damage from a targeting call was undone and the 49er scoring threat diminished.
What followed was the rare instance where Swann & Co. could not move the ball, recording a three-and-out, and punted the ball back to Charlotte, at their own 43. After an offensive holding call pushed the 49ers back to their own 33, what at first appeared to be brilliant defensive play by the Mountaineers turned into potential disaster. Harrell scrambled backwards under pressure by App State’s defensive lineman, Nick Campbell, forcing a fumble after a 28-yard loss. But near simultaneous contact by Jaelin Willis was judged to be targeting on video review. The senior linebacker transfer from Lenoir-Rhyne was tossed and the 49ers were given new life with a first down at their own 48.
This time, Charlotte was able to capitalize, fashioning a 12 play drive the rest of the way for their first and only TD of the night.
Even aided by those penalties and player ejections, Charlotte got little relief from App State’s relentless pressure. While Swann and the Mountaineer offense rolled up 586 yards of total offense, the App State defense limited Charlotte to just 218 net total yards, 142 passing (completing 33 of 50 pass attempts) and 76 net rushing yards (on 29 rush attempts).
The most potent offensive weapon for the 49ers on this night? Redshirt junior punter Bronson Long, a 6-4, 200 lb. transfer in 2023 from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, who played high school ball in Gothenburg, Nebraska. On six punts, Long flipped the field position, averaging 48.3 yards per punt and 290 yards total. His longest was 57 yards, but he also had another that travelled more than 50 yards. One of his six punts pinned the Mountaineers back inside their own 20-yard line.
Things won’t get any easier for the 49ers when they host another new head coach team on Sept. 6: Bill Bellichick’s North Carolina Tar Heels, also in Charlotte, at Jerry Richardson Field.
Who is Lindenwood?
App State returns to Boone for a first home game of the 2025 campaign, hosting a new Division I (FCS) school in Lindenwood University, from St. Charles, Missouri. Like App State, the Lions’ colors are black and gold but that may be the only similarity for the Ohio Valley Conference member, with a student enrollment of 7,000. According to an entry in Wikipedia, the private university was founded in 1832 as the The Lindenwood School for Girls, and was the first women’s college west of the Mississippi.
With several steps in between, it became a co-ed school in 1969 and began an extensive expansion of academic, residential and athletic facilities in the mid-1990s. According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article in 2006, Lindenwood University was the fastest growing university in the Midwest from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. The school’s endowment fund has grown since, from approximately $50 million in 2006 to more than $200 million today. It sits on a 500-acre campus overlooking downtown St. Charles and the Missouri River.
Lindenwood’s athletic rise has been relatively swift. Before moving to the FCS level, the Lions and Lady Lions competed (for most sports) in the Great Lakes Valley Conference of the NCAA Division II from 2019 to 2022. Previously, it was an NAIA member school competing in the Heart of America Conference. It was an NAIA member for 40 years before beginning the transition to NCAA DII in 2010.
For the full Wikipedia entry, CLICK HERE.
SELECTED GAME STATS (by StatBroadcast)
