Wingate inks
WHS guard
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

The original plan for Casey Augustine was for the big offensive lineman to play center.

Augustine worked on making sure all of his center snaps were solid during the summer before his junior year.

He was to be an important part of Watauga’s switch to a spread offense, and the center snaps back to the quarterback, who is in the shotgun formation, had to be good all the time.

He had the hang of it until one practice, when he just couldn’t get it right. He was moved to right guard and in two years, became part of the Pioneers’ foundation on offense.

“I think I hyped myself up too much,” Augustine recalled. “It was a sad day and the next day wasn’t much better. That’s when we made the change. I was actually talking to Creston Triplett. He came into one of my classes and he still talks about that day. Now I can laugh it off, because it’s easier to play right guard instead of center because all you have to do is block.”

Triplett was moved to center, and the Watauga offensive line gelled around the two.

“It really ended up benefitting us because Casey moved to guard and did some good things,” Augustine’s coach at Watauga Adrian Snow said. “Having an All-State offensive lineman is special.”

Wingate will be the next team that will try to best utilize Augustine’s skills. The 6-foot-2, 265-pound guard signed a letter of intent Friday to play for the Bulldogs this fall.

Augustine said he was happy the process was over and he has a team to play for in 2008.

Wofford and Appalachian State offered Augustine a chance to walk-on, and Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne were also interested. Tusculum and Carson-Newman also showed interest.

But in the end, Wingate won out.

“I’m glad to get it off my shoulder and the monkey of my back because I know where I’m going,” he said. “It’s just a relief to me and my family to know where I’m headed next year.”

Augustine said he liked the campus, located six miles east of Monroe. The Bulldogs are a Division II team that plays in the South Atlantic Conference and are coached by Joe Reich, the brother of former Carolina Panthers and Buffalo Bills quarterback Frank Reich.

“It felt really good,” Augustine said. “It felt like a home away from home. I just had a really good feeling about them.”

Augustine earned All-State honors from the Associated Press following the Pioneers’ 12-3 season. He was part of an offensive line that allowed running back Eric Breitenstein to gain 2,620 yards this season and is the second offensive lineman — center Mike Farris inked with Emory & Henry — to sign a letter to play college football.

He is also the fourth Pioneer to advance into college. Breitenstein signed with Wofford and kicker Savva Kostis wants to walk-on at Appalachian State.

“It’s a sign of where we’ve come from to where we are now,” Snow said. “We’ve done a good job trying to get them out to different places. If they want to keep going on, there’s a chance to do that.”

Snow said he remembered playing at A.C. Reynolds during Augustine’s junior year. The guard pulled on a play and blocked the guy he was supposed to hit clean off the field and into the Watauga bench.

“He put the kid on the bench,” Snow said. “He just gets after it and I think at that point we all looked at each other and said ‘Did we just see that?’ It was nice.”

Snow feels Wingate is getting a good lineman who can block the run and pass.

“They’re getting an offensive lineman that does a good job,” Snow said. “We had a back that gained over 6,100 yards and if you go back and look at it, I’ll bet the majority of them were over the right side of the line.