By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com
It seemed last year that Appalachian State went on a shopping spree when it came to recruiting quarterbacks.
The Mountaineers brought in five new quarterbacks last year with the idea of making some of them into wide receivers, kick returners or possibly sending some to the defensive side of the ball.
One of those players, Travaris Cadet, worked his way to second on the depth chart at quarterback behind starter Armanti Edwards. Less than one season later, Cadet will be moved from quarterback and returned to receiver.
Cadet spent most of his practice time at receiver, even after he was promoted to second-string quarterback. He also returned punts for the Mountaineers last year as the coaching staff tried to find ways to get the elusive Cadet the ball more.
He'll stay at receiver while DeAndre Pressley, who was also moved to receiver after being bumped from second to third string at QB last year, was moved to the top of the depth chart at quarterback. Jamal Jackson, a red-shirt freshman, will compete with Pressley for the starting position.
"We're going to move DeAndre back to quarterback," Mountaineers coach Jerry Moore said. "We were looking at the board to what our needs are and (Cadet) did an excellent job for us in role as receiver and as a punt return guy. DeAndre wanted to go back to quarterback and it fit us because it allowed us to leave Cadet as motion back at running back and as a receiver guy."
Jackson, who is also from Atlanta, was rated a two-star prospect by http://rivals.com coming out of high school. He completed 66 percent of his passes and threw for 1,652 yards and 20 touchdowns for North Atlanta High School.
Three other quarterbacks recruited that year, Jamill Lott of Kannapolis Brown, Demetrius McCray of Covington, Ga., and Andrew Peacock of Northern Durham, are likely to be moved to either receiver or defensive back.
Moore said spring practice, which begins Feb. 24, is where determinations of where players will play could be made.