Statewide Stats: App State’s Joey Aguilar tops in yards, completions, TDs

Joey Aguilar started the season as Appalachian State’s back-up quarterback. The 6-3, 220-pound junior transfer finished it as the most prolific passer in terms of yards, completions and touchdowns among all college players from North Carolina schools.

NC Football News is putting the finishing touches on the 2023 season by looking at the state’s statistical leaders. Today we’re reviewing the top passers.

Aguilar, from Antioch, Calif., led the Old North State with 3,757 passing yards. He completed 294 of 461 throws and tossed 33 touchdowns. The Sun Belt Conference recognized Aguilar as its Newcomer of the Year. He earned Cure Bowl MVP honors to cap things off, helping the Mountaineers beat an 11-win Miami (OH) squad by a 13-9 score.

Aguilar broke App State’s single-season record for TD passes during the regular season. He’s the new school leader in single-season passing yardage as well. Heading into the post-season, only LSU’s Jayden Daniels (Heisman winner) and Oregon’s Box Nix (third place in the Heisman voting) had more touchdown throws.

Aguilar finished fourth in passing TDs in the FBS (Michael Penix Jr. of Washington passed him during the College Football Playoff). Aguilar was seventh overall in passing yardage.

Some more notes about our top passers in North Carolina:

* Only Aguilar and North Carolina’s Drake Maye (3,608 yards) finished with more than 3,000 passing yards.

* Western Carolina’s Cole Gonzales was third on the overall yardage list with 2,803 passing yards in 11 games. Brevard’s Ethan Beamish (2,727 yards) and Campbell’s Hajj-Malik Williams (2,622 yards) round out the top five.

* The top passers by yardage in each division: Aguilar (FBS), Gonzales (FCS), Catawba’s Preston Brown (D2, 2,565 yards), Beamish (D3), St. Andrew’s Darius Holly (NAIA, 725 yards) and Louisburg’s Dylan Trevillian (JUCO, 555 yards).

* UNC’s Maye was the only player from the state to average more than 300 passing yards per game (300.7). Beamish was next on that list (272.7), followed by Aguilar (268.4) and Gonzales (254.8). Ten quarterbacks in all from the state averaged better than 200 passing yards per game.

* Gonzales threw 28 touchdown passes, second-best from the state. He averaged 2.5 TDs per game, tops among North Carolina signal callers. Maye finished with 24 touchdown throws, while Beamish had 23, North Carolina Central’s Davius Richard 21 and UNC Pembroke’s Colin Johnson 20.

* Lenoir-Rhyne’s talented QB combo of Sean White (18 TDs) and Jalen Ferguson (17 TDs) combined for 3,492 passing yards to help the Bears reach the Division II semifinals.

Duke had two 1,000-yard passers, Riley Leonard (1,102) and Grayson Loftis (1,006).

* Among regular starters/contributors, Ferguson had the highest completion percentage at 72.6. Williams (71.2) and Davidson’s Coulter Cleland (70.2) also had a completion percentage better than 70.

Johnson C. Smith’s Tyrell Jackson made the most of his two game appearances, completing 48 of 66 throws for 485 yards (72.7 percent).

* Donoven Davenport of Elizabeth City State earned roughly 1/12th of his season passing yards on one play. His 95-yard touchdown strike to Quinzel Lockhart in the fourth quarter against Virginia Union in October goes down as the longest completion of the season involving a quarterback from a North Carolina school.

NCCU’s Richard was second on that list, throwing a 91-yard touchdown pass against Delaware State in the season finale (he also had an 85-yard completion in a win over Winston-Salem State).

Shaw’s Silas Cruise also completed an 85-yard throw to Donte Lee Jr. in a game against Virginia Union in October. (Lee also recorded a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown in that same contest).

Here are passing stat leaders in various categories in spreadsheet form:

Passing Leaders: Total Yards

.

Passing Leaders: Touchdowns

.

Passing Leaders: Yards Per Game

,

Passing Leaders: Completion Percentage

.

Passing Leaders: Longest Completions