From: ajhammond@aol.com Sent: Thursday, July 30, 2009 6:50 AM To: wallaceralph@yahoo.com; ghammond@pnco.com Subject: Edwards story Ralph, I was out of town for a couple of days. Will get these stories to you ASAP. george By David Coulson Throughout his college football career, Armanti Edwards has faced difficult decisions. But no other dilemma would ever be quite like this. It was the first day of summer training camp at Appalachian State and Edwards, along with fellow freshman quarterback CoCo Hillary, were being asked to rid themselves of their pristine, immaculate dreadlocks by one of the team captains, senior Jeremy Wiggins. Showing his soon-to-be signature quick thinking, Edwards proposed an alternative to the All-American ASU strong safety. Edwards and Hillary would allow their teammates to shave off their eyebrows - moments before they went on the field to take their official team pictures - if they could keep their dreadlocks. "You know some people's eyebrows never grow back," Wiggins warned. Fortunately, Edwards wasn't one of those people. Edwards had taken the first step toward winning the trust of his teammates as the Mountaineers prepared to defend their national championship. ***** It didn't take long for Edwards, a native of Greenwood, S.C., to turn heads after arriving as an under-recruited quarterback at Appalachian State, which had just won its first national championship in 2005. As a true freshman, he won a starting job before the third game of the season, and became one of just six Division I quarterbacks (and only the second freshman) to rush for more than 1,000 yards (1,153) and pass for better than 2,000 (2,251) in the same season, joining a prestigious list that includes Vince Young of Texas, Woody Dantzler of Clemson, Brad Smith of Missouri, Barrick Nealy of Texas State and David Dinkins of Morehead State. Edwards also became only the second freshman quarterback to lead his team to the national championship game (Chad Pennington of Marshall also accomplished the feat in 1995), and the first freshman to win the title. For most of the 2006 college football season, Edwards had stunned coaches, teammates, opponents and fans alike with a poise and calmness under pressure that didn't match his 18 years. But standing on the field in Chattanooga, Tenn., at Finley Stadium on a cold Friday night, Edwards let down his guard momentarily as he prepared to play for the NCAA Division I Football Championship. For a few seconds, he felt butterflies in his stomach and nerves overwhelmed him. "I couldn't believe it," Edwards said. "Knowing that I was going to be in the championship game was exciting, because I had never been in a championship game before." As quickly as the nerves washed over him, Edwards regained his composure. A few hours later, this cool and collected quarterback was quietly answering questions in the news conference after ASU's 28-17 victory over Massachusetts. Edwards had won 13 consecutive starts and become the first freshman to lead his team to a national title. ***** While preparing for his encore as a sophomore, Edwards nearly had his season end before it began. On a long run during a team scrimmage on the final day of training camp, Edwards landed on his left throwing shoulder as cornerback Justin Wozeah tried to strip the ball and tackled Edwards from behind. "I fell on the ball and landed on my shoulder and Justin fell on me," Edwards said. With a date at Michigan just a week away, Edwards rehabilitated an injury that was diagnosed as a Grade 1 strain of the AC joint. Appalachian State opened the season on football's largest canvas - before more than 109,000 fans at Michigan Stadium. Edwards had a near-perfect first half as the Mountaineers roared to a 28-14 lead. Most people wouldn't have suspected that Edwards was hurt in any way as he rushed 17 times for 62 yards and completed 17-of-23 passes for 227 yards and three touchdowns in ASU's monumental 34-32 upset of the Wolverines. Despite re-injuring the AC joint and chipping a bone in the shoulder in the third quarter as he dove in a futile effort to recover his own fumble, Edwards led the Mountaineers down the field in the final minute to set up Julian Rauch's 24-yard field goal to give Appalachian State its final lead. "I was going on adrenaline," Edwards said. He missed two games before returning in the Southern Conference opener against Wofford. Another hit on the injured shoulder forced Edwards to the sidelines in the second quarter, as the Mountaineers had their Division I-long 17-game winning streak ended by the Terriers, 42-31. "It was frustrating," said Edwards, who was on the bench for two more games. "But it helped me to be more patient." When Edwards returned, his lack of activity was quickly apparent when he contributed two interceptions and a fumble to a shocking 38-35 loss - ASU's first home setback after six years and 30 straight victories. But needing to win its final four regular-season games to earn a share of the Southern Conference championship and reach the playoffs, Edwards began to regain his form. The Mountaineers added four victories in the playoffs as Edwards finished the year with 1,948 yards passing, 1,588 yards rushing and accounted for 38 touchdowns. ***** Appalachian State was a couple of hours away from playing Richmond for a spot in the NCAA Division I football championship game at Kidd Brewer Stadium on Dec. 7, 2007. But instead of being a bundle of nerves before one of the most important games of the season, Armanti Edwards was curled up with a blanket, taking a nap near the lockerroom doors. The most dangerous player in the Football Championship Subdivision awoke from that snooze to post one of the most incredible performances in NCAA history, rushing for 315 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries and hitting 14-of-16 passes for 182 yards and three more scores as the Mountaineers pummeled Richmond 55-35. A week later, Edwards - after another pregame nap - sparked Appalachian State to an unprecedented third consecutive national championship with a 49-21 crushing of Delaware. "We have a lot of time before the game," Edwards said of his pregame ritual. "It helps me relax, so I can be well-rested for the game." This soft-spoken assassin of defenses has rarely shown much emotion and is usually as calm as a sloth in a Central American jungle. But once he turns on the turbochargers of his 6-foot, 181-pound frame, he becomes a defensive coordinator's worst nightmare. "Armanti Edwards is the best player we've faced (last) year," said former Richmond coach Dave Clawson, who moved on to become the offensive coordinator at Tennessee and then the head coach at Bowling Green. "He made plays in space that no one has made against us. I wouldn't want to trade places with a defensive coordinator in the Southern Conference in the next two years." Clawson was one of many to join the Edwards admiration society during the last two seasons. "The guy can beat you with his legs, as well as beating you with his arm," said Spider defensive lineman Bryan DeMoss, who was one of the defenders chasing Edwards in vain throughout that semifinal night. ***** By his junior year, Edwards had become a marked man as a runner. Defensive coordinators worked overtime to devise defenses to slow him down. Still, Edwards rushed for 941 yards. And much to the chagrin of opponents, he blossomed into a much more dangerous passer, notching 2,902 yards and 30 touchdowns through the air. He had 25 TD tosses with just two interceptions in the regular season. On Halloween night, Edwards was at his best during another nationally televised game, at home against Southern Conference rival Wofford. In just over three quarters of action, this artful dodger ran through one of the best defenses in FCS for 440 yards of total offense as the Mountaineers crushed the Terriers 70-24. Appalachian State wrapped up its third straight SoCon title under Edwards two weeks later with a hard-fought 24-16 victory over Elon. But the victory proved to be costly when a questionable hit in the second half forced Edwards from the game with a hip pointer. He sat out a victory over Western Carolina a week later, but he returned for the first round of the playoffs against South Carolina State in another nationally televised game. Edwards wasn't himself as a runner, being held to 48 yards on 19 carries with one TD, but he was dagger-sharp as a passer, completing 29-of-41 attempts for a career-high and school record 433 yards and four scores as ASU downed the Bulldogs, 37-21. Edwards returned to practice the next Monday with an ominous limp. Not only was he playing with the hip pointer, but now a meniscus tear in his knee was acting up and creating pain and swelling. Debate raged among the ASU coaching staff on who to start for a quarterfinal game in six days against Richmond, the obviously hobbled Edwards, or promising freshman DeAndre Presley. Presley had sparkled in eight previous games, with 793 yards of total offense. In a start against Western Carolina, Presley earned Southern Conference freshman of the week honors after rushing for 156 yards and three TDs and passing for 158 and another score. Quarterback coach Scott Satterfield and other staff members lobbied for Presley to start, but head coach Jerry Moore ultimately decided to go with Edwards. Even though Edwards was obviously playing hurt, the decision worked for a while with Appalachian State holding a 7-6 halftime lead. But the Mountaineers made seven turnovers, five on Edwards' interceptions, to watch their championship run end in a stunning 33-13 defeat. "Armanti really had a tough year physically," Moore said. "We never had the time to get him completely healthy." ***** Edwards returned to Chattanooga two weeks later, but instead of taking his team to the national championship, he was there for The Sports Network awards banquet. He was still limping on the damaged knee, but the fact that Richmond and Montana were playing for a title instead of Appalachian State hurt him more. The pain would ease later that evening when Edwards was announced as the 22nd winner of the Walter Payton Award as the most outstanding player in FCS. "It's a great accomplishment and a great feeling," Edwards said. "I always congratulate my team, because without them, I wouldn't (even) be a finalist." The junior quarterback rushed for 941 yards and 11 touchdowns, while completing 64 percent of his passes for 2,902 yards. He ranked second nationally in passing efficiency, seventh in total offense (296 yards per game, 3,843 total yards) and 11th in passing yards. ***** At the end of Appalachian State's loss to Richmond in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA Division I football playoffs, fans at Kidd Brewer Stadium rose in unison and began to chant "ASU, ASU," as Edwards and the Mountaineer players and coaches ran off the field. It was a classy way to send off the most successful run in Football Championship Subdivision history as ASU's unprecedented three-year run of national championships came to an end. But as the Mountaineers turn the corner toward the 2009 season, Edwards and his teammates are determined to start another championship streak. "It's been real hard," Moore said, shortly after suffering a loss that ended an NCAA record of 13 consecutive playoff victories. "But we're going to work harder than we have ever worked before." Mountaineer players went through a grueling winter conditioning program as some of the veterans on the team challenged the squad to a deeper commitment. The team also had a productive spring that was characterized by spirited competition for starting jobs. As the 2009 campaign approaches, probably no team in FCS has as much depth as the Mountaineers and with Edwards back for his senior year, Appalachian State is an obvious favorite to add its fourth title in five years. The low-keyed leader of ASU's potent spread offense, has rushed for 3,682 yards and 47 touchdowns and has thrown for 7,101 yards and 62 more scores in his first three years as a starter. If Edwards (10,783 yards of total offense) shows the same type of improvement he has displayed thus far, he could move into the top five all-time in total offense for all NCAA quarterbacks and could leave ASU trailing only Alcorn State's Steve McNair (16,823) among FCS players. Edwards also is the favorite to do something that even McNair didn't accomplish - become the first player to win the Payton Award (symbolic of the top player in FCS) twice. This record-breaking quarterback might even earn a little more rest in 2009. Presley showed strong development in the spring as he took most of the snaps with Edwards rehabilitating his surgically repaired knee. The rest of an offense that averaged 464 yards and more than 37 points per game is loaded and the Mountaineers also might field one of their best defenses ever, factors that could make Edwards' journey to another Payton Award and national championship contention all the easier. "He's made a huge difference in our football program from the beginning," Moore said. "He's been a great example on the field and in the classroom. Our team really rallies around him." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Deals at Dell on Popular Laptops perfect for Back to School