One pretty big thing that will take Appalachian State fans some getting used to this fall is seeing someone different barking the cadence for the Mountaineers.

For the last four seasons, Taylor Lamb has manned the most important position on the field, leading ASU to success in the Sun Belt Conference, which includes shares of two conference titles. But he’s gone now, and the program must adjust to a new quarterback.

Less than a week into fall camp, the leader for the job is sophomore Zac Thomas, who attempted just 10 passes last season, completing 6 of them for 33 yards. Well, Thomas is more than just the leader, it would take an earth-moving event for him to not be on the field for App’s first offensive series at Penn State in 25 days.

“It’s extremely important to find a quarterback,” ASU Coach Scott Satterfield said. “You can look at the NFL all the way to pee wee, if you don’t have a quarterback you’re going to have a hard time winning football games.

“So for us, we feel like we’re in good shape with Zac, and then there’s a couple of other guys right on his heels that are pretty good, as well.”

But it’s Thomas that Satterfield mostly spoke during the offseason, and he’s the guy now that ASU is five days into fall camp. And as he explains it, the coach is high on the 6-1, 205-pound Alabama native for good reason.

“Zac, to me, has a stronger arm, he can run better than Taylor, he’s got a lot of intangibles that are better than Taylor,” Satterfield said. “(But) the one intangible he doesn’t have is game experience. He has not really played very much.

“Taylor could control the game, he was a coach on the field. So that part of it (for Thomas) is going to be a little bit different.”

That doesn’t happen over night at any position, especially quarterback. Practice reps are great and do so much in a player’s development from timing to decision making. But there’s nothing like getting snaps in live games.

It’s a different speed than practice, it can be more disruptive, and the hitting is for real. No off-colored jerseys for QBs on Saturdays in the fall.

“To me as a quarterback, it’s how you handle adversity,” Satterfield said. “Every quarterback is going to face adversity, you’re going to have some bad plays, you maybe turn the ball over and get in a bad play. But how you come back from that, (and) I think that’s going to be the big question mark for Zac.”

Aiding Thomas’ transition will be an offensive unit that otherwise is talented, deep and confident. All Thomas really has to worry about is avoiding mistakes, at least in the beginning before the shackles are removed. Guide his troops and let them do their work.

“There’s so much talent around Zac,” Satterfield said. “You look at Jalin Moore the running back, we have some talented wide receivers, three starters back on the offensive line, a tight end that was preseason All-Sun Belt.

“So, we have some talent around him so he doesn’t have to do everything himself. He can let the game come to him and utilize his other players.”

Thomas may still get pushed some in camp, but every indication right now suggests he’s the guy and nobody else is close.