DeAndre Presley has good memories of playing at Finley Stadium.
In 2008, during Appalachian State's 49-7 thumping of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Presley replaced Armanti Edwards at quarterback in the third quarter and ran for 101 yards on 12 carries and threw a 38-yard touchdown pass.
That game was already well in hand when Presley took the field. By halftime Edwards, who won the first of his two Walter Payton Awards that season, had rushed for 152 yards and thrown for 176 and two touchdowns.
Saturday, Presley will return to Finley to lead the third-ranked Mountaineers against the Mocs. Edwards now is in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers, which means Presley has the task of taking over for one of the most accomplished players in NCAA Football Championship Subdivision history.
"For sure there are big shoes to fill, but any quarterback coming in here's going to have big shoes to fill," said Presley, a junior who beat out redshirt freshman Jamal Jackson for the starting job. "The main thing I continue to tell myself and the coaching staff continues to tell me is be DeAndre Presley - take care of the football and take it one play at a time."
Presley, listed at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds, which is slightly smaller than Edwards - isn't a wide-eyed rookie who will be overwhelmed by the moment.
With Edwards banged up and the SoCon title already clinched, Presley started against Western Carolina in 2008. He rushed for 156 yards and three touchdowns and completed 16 of 25 passes for 158 yards and a score, earning the SoCon player-of-the-week honor.
Last season, with Edwards still recovering from a foot laceration he sustained in a bizarre lawnmower accident, Presley started the opener at East Carolina.
That start, against much stiffer competition, didn't go as well. Presley was held to 16 yards on 12 carries and was 7-for-15 passing for 89 yards. With the Mountaineers down 29-7, Travaris Cadet replaced him and led a rally that made the final score 29-24.
"Those games helped me see the ups and the downs and really helped me level everything out," Presley said. "I've been in a winning game and a losing game, and in both of those games I thought too much instead of just playing football and trusting what my coaches asked me to do."
The Mountaineers, winners of five straight SoCon titles, had five offensive players on the preseason all-conference first team and two on the second team, so Presley will have plenty of weapons at his disposal.
"I think what's going to help him is the fact that he's got so many experienced guys around him that have played a ton of football," UTC coach Russ Huesman said. "That's going to make his life easier and take a little pressure off of him."