In 10 Saturdays, football will be back at the Rock.

As hard as it is to believe, the season will be here before you know it. To get you primed for another exciting season of Appalachian State football, we will count down the Saturdays until kickoff with a look at 10 of the best to suit up for the Mountaineers.

Leading off the countdown is AJ Howard.

Howard came to App State as a 2-star prospect out of Harris County (GA) where he also lettered in basketball and track and field. Although not a highly regarded prospect coming out of high school, Howard made an instant impact on the field for the Mountaineers.

Howard started all 12 games as a true freshman at strong safety and ranked third on the team with 64 tackles including 13 in an overtime loss against Liberty, the most for a defensive back since the days of Corey Lynch. His 64 stops were good for eighth among all Sun Belt freshmen and the most by a true freshman at App since Lanston Tanyi recorded 70 tackles in 2008.

As a sophomore in 2015, Howard appeared in 13 games at strong safety playing behind Doug Middleton and Alex Gray. He finished tenth on the team with 35 tackles and recorded at least 2 stops in 9 of 13 games.

During his junior season, Howard officially broke out for the Mountaineers. He started all 13 games and was part of an App State defense that was sixth in the nation with 20 interceptions.

The defensive back grabbed three interceptions, all in a four-week span, which included a 71 yard pick six that was also his first career touchdown in a November 12 game against Troy.

In 2017, Howard again started all 13 games and was a key member of the special teams unit. His senior year provided several standout moments including a stop on a catch at the one-yard line just seconds before time expired to preserve a 20-13 win at Texas State. Howard also recorded a 61-yard interception return to the Georgia State five-yard-line that helped the Mountaineers take a 24-7 lead in what ended as a 31-10 victory. He would finish the year with 66 tackles, one interception, and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Howard ended his career at Appalachian State with 219 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, four interceptions, and 18 passes defended in 51 games for the Mountaineers. The DB played an important role for an Appalachian State defense that ranked first or second in the Sun Belt in both points allowed and yards allowed per game from 2015-2017. Howard was one of the instrumental pieces in the Mountaineers’ successful transition to the FBS level.

Upon completing his career at App State, Howard was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals on April 30, 2018, and after spending a couple of months with the New York Giants, was signed to the practice squad by the New England Patriots.

He was part of the Super Bowl winning squad that defeated the LA Rams 13-3. Despite not appearing in any games for the Patriots, he was signed to a futures contract by New England on February 5 of this year.