Countdown to Kickoff: 82 days - Asst. Coach Trey Elder

It's now 82 days until kickoff of Catamount football at Western Carolina's E.J. Whitmire Stadium. The Catamounts open the season on Thursday, August 30, 2012 against Mars Hill College.

To help pass those long summer days until football season starts, and hopefully get the Catamount faithful more excited about the upcoming season, we'll continue the 100 day football countdown.

Today we'll highlight a Catamount Assistant Coach

Trey Elder 

Hometown: Duncan, S.C.
High School: Byrnes HS
Position: Assistant Coach / WRs
Alma Mater: Appalachian State

Trey Elder joined the Catamount football coaching staff under head coach Mark Speir in January of 2011 from Appalachian State. Elder will coach the WCU wide receivers, a position he held at ASU for two seasons prior to the move.

Elder, a four-year letter winner at quarterback from 2004-07, returned to his alma mater in 2010 as the wide receivers coach. In his first season on staff, he coached a trio of receivers - Matt Cline, CoCo Hillary and Brian Quick - that rank among ASU's all-time top 10 in receptions and receiving yards. Quick was a two-time All-American, earning his second honor under Elder after leading the Mountaineer receivers with 71 receptions for 1,096 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2011.

Elder's coaching experience also includes one season at his high school alma mater, Byrnes High in Duncan, S.C., where he served as the wide receivers coach in 2009. He helped lead the Rebels to a 13-2 record and an appearance in the South Carolina 4A Division I state championship game. Under Elder's tutelage, Byrnes' receivers caught 284 passes for 4,655 yards and 60 touchdowns in '09.

Elder, who was South Carolina's Mr. Football as a senior at Byrnes HS in 2003, began his coaching career as a student assistant at ASU in 2008.

A 2008 graduate of Appalachian State, Elder spent much of his career backing up the two greatest signal-callers in Mountaineer history -- Richie Williams and Armanti Edwards. However, he excelled when given the opportunity, posting a 7-1 career record as a starter. He helped lead the Mountaineers to their third-straight national championship by going 4-0 as a starter in 2007 and played an integral part in the Apps' first national title in 2005, when he replaced an injured Williams early in the national semifinals versus Furman and led Appalachian to a 29-23 come-from-behind victory.

Courtesy WCU Sports Information