New App State football defensive coordinator DJ Smith already has a storied history with the Mountaineers, both as a player and coach.
Smith is eager to write a new chapter in his story, this time in a much larger role as he looks to help guide the Mountaineers back to the top of the Sun Belt Conference with an old-school approach.
This is Smith’s third stint in the High Country. He began as a star linebacker on the Mountaineers from 2007-10, winning a national championship in his first year with the program. Following four seasons in the NFL, he returned to App State in 2016 as the director of recruiting relations, eventually becoming the outside linebackers coach for two seasons before leaving to coach at the University of Missouri in December 2019.
After four seasons on the Tigers’ coaching staff, Smith is back where it all began.
“I’m really excited,” Smith said. “I never thought the opportunity would happen. It’s unfortunate what happened with coach Clark and those guys, hats off to them, they did a great job, but the opportunity to come home and be the defensive coordinator? Can’t beat it.”
Smith had not set foot on campus in five years prior to getting the offer in December 2024 to come back to App State as the defensive coordinator.
A lot has changed since Smith was last in Boone, and he’s still taking some time to get acclimated. He hasn’t had the time to decorate his new office since he’s been busy getting to know the rest of the coaching staff. He joked about how the Mountaineer Walk is going to be very different for him, as the last time he walked up Stadium Drive on game day, the majority of the west side residence halls hadn’t been built yet.
Smith had several reasons for his decision to come back to the High Country but made it clear it was the fans that ultimately made him want to return.
“When I was a player here, the community embraced me,” Smith said. “Just always humble, always open to meet. Everybody’s so friendly. It’s a homely environment, and you still have that true college feel where there’s not a lot going on other than the Mountaineers.”
Smith knows how loud Kidd Brewer Stadium can get on game day and is excited to experience that atmosphere again.
“Everybody’s about the Mountaineers,” Smith said. “It’s not ‘we like Elon, we like Carolina,’ it’s strictly App State, man. That’s one of the things that draws me here to this place.”
Smith hopes to instill that same sense of being at home and the significance of playing for the Mountaineers into his defense.
“It’s home for me,” Smith said. “So to be able to come back, just have that feeling, and be able to give what I had as a player and as a coach to the guys that are coming up behind me and the players that we have in the locker room now is a big deal to me. I take a lot of pride in that.”
He should feel right at home sharing the field with new head coach Dowell Loggains, as they coached against each other in the SEC. Smith was the co-defensive coordinator at Missouri at the same time Loggains was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of South Carolina, so they’re fairly familiar with each others’ coaching styles.
“It’s going to be fun,” Smith said. “We’re gonna have some great battles, man. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another man, so it’s definitely going to be fun.”
So, what can fans expect from a Smith-led defense? It’s all about bringing back the old-school, physical App State defense.
Smith wants his guys to bring the toughness, energy and excitement from the very first snap. It’s a simple outlook of the game, modeled after his playing characteristics: be aggressive, run and hit hard, be fast, get off blocks quickly and have a high football IQ or, as he put it, “be situationally elite.”
“If we get into a situation where it’s third down, it’s third and short, a big-time tendency is for the offense to go hard count,” Smith said. “But being situationally elite and having situational awareness is where if I’m a defensive lineman, I know to dig my cleats in the ground, know it’s going to be a hard count, and know they’re not going to go on first sound.”
Smith added that knowing to play tight coverage in the red zone was another example of that.
Stopping the run and making teams one-dimensional was a big point of emphasis as well. App State is known for its stout defenses, but the Mountaineers allowed nearly 200 yards of rushing per game last season and were dead last in the SBC in red zone defense.
Shoring up the run defense and forcing opponents to pass their way down the field against tight coverage will be a main priority.
It’s a new era for Smith and App State football as a whole, and he is excited to help lead the way into uncharted territory. Smith is looking to restore the Mountaineers’ defense to its former glory and get back to the top of the SBC. If App State can pull off the turnaround after having a losing record last season, could he be making a postgame trip to one of his favorite spots on campus, the duck pond?
“I’m not jumping in the duck pond,” he said. “But, hey, if the fans want it, we’ll give the fans what they want.”
