Hillary taking reps

at quarterback
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

Appalachian State’s CoCo Hillary has every reason to believe he will return to receiver when the Mountaineers open against LSU next fall.

However, as a precaution, Hillary has been taking plenty of reps at quarterback during spring practice. The rising redshirt sophomore initially was recruited as a quarterback, but after redshirting his first season, was moved to receiver.

So far, that move has been highly successful. Hillary caught 23 passes for 339 yards last season after spending his freshman season on the scout team. He did not score any touchdowns last year, but his reception of an Armanti Edwards pass late in the fourth quarter helped set up Julian Rauch’s game-winning field goal against Michigan.

“Whatever I can do to help the team, I’ll do,” Hillary said. “(Mountaineers) Coach (Jerry) Moore asked me how I felt about it and I said whatever I can do to make the team better.”

When fall practices begin, Moore said Hillary will be moved back to receiver. Until incoming freshman DeAndre Presley, who is from Tampa, Fla., can prove he’s the backup to Edwards, Hillary will keep getting ready for the fall by working at quarterback in the spring.

“That’s probably going to take a little bit of time,” quarterbacks coach Scott Satterfield said. “Armanti’s as sharp as they come, but it took Armanti all of camp and a couple of games in the season. Hopefully we can bring DeAndre along enough that he will be OK.”

Moore said that the team counts on everybody they recruit, but does not know if Presley can step in right away and be the No. 2 quarterback.

“We don’t know that,” Moore said. “There are a couple of other kids who are here right now and we’ll give them another look. If (the season) started today, it would be CoCo. We’ll look at CoCo this spring. He’ll concentrate on being a receiver this fall. But if something happens, at least he’s got this spring’s background.”
Hillary isn’t just going through the motions to give Edwards a rest. He’s working on regaining his accuracy, but Hillary said the hardest part is learning the plays as a quarterback and not just as a receiver.

Quarterbacks have to know what everybody is doing.

“It’s very tiring on you’re brain more than it is physical,” Hillary said. “You’ve got to change into so many different modes. It’s definitely tiring, but you have to keep up and it’s going to keep me strong knowing the system. It’s going to help me out in the long run down the road.”

Hillary, who also has worked at running back, said he liked the idea of moving to receiver when it was given to him in his freshman year. Hillary has game-breaking speed and will be expected to pick up some of the big-play slack left by Dexter Jackson and Hans Batichon, who combined to catch 88 passes and score 15 touchdowns.

“I liked the change,” Hillary said. “It lets me showcase some of my other talents and athletic ability. Coach Moore gave me an opportunity to do this and on a championship team, you can’t be disappointed by that.”

Hillary played a little in Appalachian State’s 45-7 win over Gardner-Webb during Homecoming last year. He even added to the Appalachian State scoring column, tossing a 22-yard touchdown pass to Josh Johnson in the third quarter.

He ended up connecting on 4-of-5 passes for 83 yards and his touchdown. He also was called to throw an option pass to Johnson against Michigan, but Johnson was covered on the play and Hillary was forced to run.
“That was a quick-pitch option,” he said. “I had to run because the defense wouldn’t let me pass.”

Moore said Hillary probably would have gotten reps if the Mountaineers were deep at quarterback or otherwise. The Mountaineers had the luxury of having Trey Elder back up Edwards last year.

Elder led the Mountaineers to a four-game winning streak while Edwards nursed a shoulder injury.

“We probably would have done that regardless,” Moore said. “We don’t have another quarterback in here right now. Just like during last year, CoCo jumped in at quarterback and played really well. CoCo’s not just good as a token deal. When he throws a bad ball or makes a bad read, it bothers him. He’s not just fluffing it off saying he’s a wide receiver. He wants to do a good job as a quarterback and as a wide receiver.”

If something unforeseen happens to Edwards, Hillary may get a chance to do both in the fall.