March 20, the App State men’s basketball team had its season ended by Wake Forest in the first round of the NIT. It was a strong season for the Black and Gold, highlighted by an undefeated record in the Holmes Convocation Center and a regular season Sun Belt Championship.
Not a single starter from that game has returned for this season.
In total, the Mountaineers lost 60.8 points per game of their season total 78.5 points to either the transfer portal or through running out of eligibility. Head coach Dustin Kerns combated that, getting players from all different levels.
Kerns brought in six freshmen and seven transfers, 13 players who will be new to the program wanting to leave their mark on the High Country.
“We are going to rely on our championship culture,” Kerns said in a press conference on Oct. 22. “In five years here, we have won two championships. I think today, rosters come and go, that’s just the way things go. You can look at Alabama, a Final Four team last year; they have eight new players themselves. I just think that us coaches try and rely on our culture, rely on the things we’ve established.”
Kerns is familiar with the transfer portal and its workings. App State’s leading returner in points and minutes, senior guard Myles Tate, transferred from Butler in the 2022-23 season.
“It’s a lot of hours in this room here. It’s a lot of visits and a lot of time,” Kerns said. “As a staff, you gotta know what works here, you gotta know our core values from a character standpoint and obviously from a basketball standpoint whether it’s shooting, whether it’s ball handling. Certainly today in college athletics, there are a lot of factors that go in. I think it has to be a mix and match of everything.”
Graduate student guard Jackson Threadgill is one of the headlines of the Mountaineers’ transfer portal class. Threadgill transferred to App State from Charlotte after four years with the program. In those four years, Threadgill averaged 5.1 points per game on over 40% shooting. In his time at Charlotte, he never played fewer than 20 minutes per game in a single season. This past season, he struggled from behind the arc, averaging 28% from three-point range, but he is a career 33% three-point shooter.
Threadgill will be playing with two of his former high school teammates at Davidson Day in Davidson: graduate student forward CJ Huntley and fellow transfer graduate student guard Will Coble. Coble came from Division III Randolph-Macon, where he averaged 5.9 points per game on 41% from the field.
Playing with old teammates was a major factor in Threadgill’s decision.
“Will committed after me, so CJ being here definitely impacted my decision, and I think me coming and CJ already being here impacted Will coming here,” Threadgill said in a press conference on Oct. 22. “But the familiarity piece was very important for me, just ‘cause it’s my fifth year here, and it’s only gonna be one year here. I think that having those people around has made the transition easier for me.”
Threadgill is planning on being one of the leaders of a new team that also has six new freshmen on it, being in his fifth and final year of college basketball.
“I hope to bring experience, leadership and a veteran presence to this year’s team,” Threadgill said. “We have a lot of new faces and young guys on the team, and I think I can help lead the charge with my prior experience in college basketball.”
There are two other Division I transfers coming to the High Country this season, and they both come from Texas schools. Senior forward Jalil Beaubrun averaged 8 points a game last season at Stephen F. Austin, shooting 52.8% from the field and 41.7% from three-point range. Junior guard Alonzo Dodd came from Texas A&M Commerce where he averaged 6.6 points and shot 39% from the field last year.
“Some of my strengths include getting my teammates involved at a high level and taking what the defense gives me. I can see the floor very well. I hope to bring energy, knowledge and leadership to this team and help us win in any way possible,” Dodd said.
Kerns was able to get players from numerous places at the lower levels of college athletics. There is Coble from Randolph-Macon, but there also will be a number of players who come from junior colleges and community colleges who will be very impactful for the Mountaineers.
Of those players, there is junior guard Dior Conners, who averaged 14 points per game at Triton College in River Grove, Illinois, shooting 44% from the field.
“I would describe myself as an impact player and I hope I can build off the team’s success from last season and help bring more this season,” Conners said.
Junior forward Ben Ezeagu averaged 12.8 points per game at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas, shooting 63% from the field. Ezeagu is the first Canadian-born player to play for the Mountaineers since Jake Babic in 2017.
“I’m a coachable player who will do whatever it takes to help my team win games,” Ezeagu said. “I hope to bring energy and toughness to the team that will help impact winning.”
Junior guard Jamil Muttilib averaged 19.2 points at Kilgore College in Kilgore, Texas, which is the second highest scoring transfer the Mountaineers have gotten in Kerns’ time at App State, only behind Tyree Boykin in 2022.
“I’m a player willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Muttilib said. “I’m going to bring energy, tenacity and excitement to App State both offensively and defensively.”
This upcoming team is tied with the 2019-20 team for the most freshmen in Kerns’ tenure with the Black and Gold with six newcomers who have now played their first games for the Mountaineers.
Forward Michael Marcus Jr. is from Indian Trail and Covenant Day High School. In his senior season at Covenant Day, Marcus averaged 14.9 points in 23 games and led his team to a 4A semifinal appearance.
Hailing from Winterthur, Switzerland, Forward Andrin Njock is the first Swiss-born player to ever play for the Mountaineers. During the U18 world championships, Njock averaged 14 points while shooting 60.6% from the field. His best game was against Iceland, where he finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds, his only double-double of the tournament.
Guard Jonah Long is from Hickory, just down the road from App State. In Long’s final season at University Christian High School, he averaged 19.1 points on 42% shooting from the field.
Guard Anthony Alston is from Fayetteville. Alston helped Grayson High School receive a top-five national ranking and the number one rank in the state of Georgia in his final season at the school.
Guard Cameron O’Kelley is from Seneca, South Carolina. In O’Kelly’s final season at Seneca High School, he averaged 16.9 points per game on 40% shooting from the field.
Guard Jason Clarke Jr. is from Silver Spring, Maryland. In Clarke’s final season at Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia, he averaged 17.5 points per game and led his school to a Virginia Division II state championship, winning every game in the tournament by more than 20 points. Clarke averaged 21.3 points per game in the state tournament.
“I would describe myself as a high-energy point guard who brings intensity on both ends of the floor and makes plays for the team,” Clarke said. “What I hope to bring to our team is a mindset that I’ll do what it takes to win while playing alongside guys who have won in the past.”
Center Luke Wilson is a redshirt freshman who was with the Mountaineers last year but did not appear in a single game. Wilson expects to receive an increase in role in this upcoming season, and he is someone Kerns thinks of highly.
“You can now see it, and he has had some really good days. He is a guy we really expect to be in the rotation,” Kerns said. “He has got great size and shot-blocking ability, but he’s also got some really good athleticism. So he just needs some reps.”
The new roster is off to a strong start for the Mountaineers. The game against St. Andrews was an important win for team chemistry. Fifteen different players got into the game, and each scored at least once. Marcus was the highest point in a game full of them, with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
