By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Appalachian State fans may not get to look at a complete starting lineup with it comes to the Mountaineers’ offensive line.

They came close Saturday when four original starters were out on the field at the beginning of Appalachian State’s 34-27 victory over Furman. Left guard Kerry Brown, center Scott Suttle, right guard Jon Holt and right tackle Jonathan Bieschke took their turns at their positions. Only left tackle Mario Acitelli was out.

Acitelli broke his leg last week against Georgia Southern and may miss anywhere from three to five weeks.

It doesn’t mean he’s been the only offensive lineman to miss time to injury, and that goes right to the beginning of the season. Suttle missed Appalachian State’s 34-32 win over Michigan because of injury and was replaced by Brett Irvin.

Bieschke also has missed time because of knee injury. He returned to the starting lineup for the first time since the Elon game.

“It feels good,” Bieschke said. “I tweaked it a couple of times, but it feels good.”

It’s not like the Mountaineers are completely healthy up front. Brown injured his right thumb Saturday, but kept playing. He’s listed as day-to-day.

“It was an amazing deal,” Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. “ Kerry Brown breaks a thumb and as a player, you love to line up next to a guy like that. They gave him a bunch of pain killers on the sideline and put a soft cast on it, but the grittiness of doing something like that and playing like that — (offensive line coach) Shawn (Elliott) does a great job of putting them together.”

The injuries aren’t limited to the starters. Bieschke’s backup, Pat Mills, is still out with a ankle injury. When Holt moved over to right tackle to replace Mills, Holt’s backup, Daniel Kilgore, eventually broke his leg and is out three to five weeks.

Despite the injuries, the Mountaineers’ offense continues to roll up big numbers. Even with Bieschke out and Kilgore playing on his broken leg for most of the second half, the Mountaineers rolled up 557 total yards in a loss to Georgia Southern.

Appalachian quarterback Armanti Edwards gained 220 yards on the ground in that game and rolled up over 400 yards in total offense.

It continued Saturday at Furman. Appalachian State gained 511 total yards against the Paladins as Edwards (126 yards) and Kevin Richardson (124) gained over 100 yards on the ground.

Overall, the Mountaineers average 449.9 yards per game. They’ve gained over 500 yards in three games (Elon, Georgia Southern and Furman) and have been held under 400 just two times — at Michigan and at Wofford.

“We’ve had good coaches and we’ve got solid backups,” Bieschke said. “We’ve got everyone (back) except one starter (Acitelli). We did a good job without the one starter.”

It helps that several Mountaineers can play different positions. Brad Coley, who stepped in for Acitelli at right tackle, can also play guard and center. Holt, who subbed in last year at guard for Jeremy Robertson, can also play tackle.

“Sometimes you have to bring more bullets than you need to shoot,” Brown said. “You’ve got to have some backups. Kilgore, before he got hurt, had a great rotation going. He filled in for Holt when he moved over.”

Brown said that it helps to get everybody involved during practice. The backups get as many reps as the starters, which builds the team’s depth.

“In practice, we’re constantly changing out players,” Coley said. “We work different lines all the time. We kind of practice with any five out there and we learn to work together.”

It also builds belief in each other.

“I think that we just trust everybody,” Brown said. “You wouldn’t be on the bus if you couldn’t play.”