Program field guide · 2026

Sun Belt · North Carolina

App State

Mountaineers

App State’s North Carolina-developed core fell from 34 to 23 players.

2026 roster · Roster geography

In 2016, 34 of 98 roster spots were filled by North Carolina players with no earlier college team detected. On the 2026 roster, 23 of 89 fit the same definition. Detected transfers went from 0 to 25.

In 2016 the median player grew up 191 mi from campus. Now it is 230 mi.

Of the 25 players who came from another college, 3 are from North Carolina. Those home-state players make up 12% of detected-transfer stock on this roster.

The record reaches back to 2008, when 63% of the roster came from North Carolina. Today it is 30%.

Then → now

2016–18 compared with 2021–25

2016–182021–2540.5%33.6%1.2%16.0%
  • Local-developed core
  • Transfer stock
Measure2016–182021–25
Local-developed core40.5%33.6%
Transfer stock1.2%16.0%

The roster, at a glance

  • 336 miAverage hometown distanceAverage hometown distance among 83 located players.
  • 29.5%In-state29.5% of the roster is from North Carolina.
  • 16.9%Backyard16.9% grew up within 100 miles of campus.
  • 28.1%Detected transfers28.1% of the roster arrived after playing at another school.

Across the FBS

Where App State ranks

Most In-State#7129.5%Most Transfers#4728.1%Closest to Home#20336 miFarthest From Home#119336 miBiggest Localism Shift#6629.5%Most Backyard Players#8216.9%Fewest Transfers#9228.1%Biggest Transfer Shift#3928.1%

Homecoming Radius over time

The median hometown-to-campus distance, by season. The dotted line is the FBS median.

050100150200250FBS median (250 mi)200820122015201920222026

Roster composition over time

Where the in-state lens draws the line: local-developed, local transfer, outsider developed, outsider transfer, and unknown. This chart begins where stable athlete IDs make transfer detection possible; the radius chart above carries the official-archive geography farther back.

Local-developedOutsider developedOutsider transfer201420162019202120242026

Where do App State's players come from?

SeasonRosterIn-stateTransfer signalRadius
20268929.5%28.1%230 mi
202511322.3%31.0%245 mi
202412039.5%20.0%178 mi
202311543.5%13.9%157 mi
202211642.2%7.8%174 mi
202111043.1%7.3%173 mi
202012145.0%5.0%163 mi
201912048.7%3.3%164 mi
201810846.7%2.8%134 mi
201711343.4%0.9%165 mi
20169834.7%0.0%191 mi
201510438.5%0.0%187 mi
201411041.3%0.0%173 mi
2013archive10354.4%0.0% proxy162 mi
2012archive10857.0%0.0% proxy152 mi
2011archive13553.7%0.0% proxy145 mi
2010archive9351.6%0.0% proxy156 mi
2009archive10458.7%0.0% proxy131 mi
2008archive9863.3%0.0% proxy142 mi

archive = official athletic-site roster. “Proxy” is the share listing a previous school where that field behaved like a transfer field; it is not the same measure as detected transfer stock.

Where the roster grew up

Every 2026 player's hometown, with campus marked and the Homecoming Radius circled.

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Homecoming Radius: 230 mi

(This slider is for exploring — leaderboards use the fixed lenses.)

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