Defense had the edge over the offense as Army conducted first preseason football scrimmage
WEST POINT – The Army football team has been working out in full pads for several days but the practice sessions at adjacent Howze Field is nothing like playing in the big house.
“It’s completely different,’’ said senior fullback Tyson Riley following the Black Knights’ initial preseason scrimmage at renovated Michie Stadium. “It’s just a different mentality. Being on a practice field … you’d like to say that you practice as hard as you play but’s different when it’s a game-day setting, when you’re in Michie and how special that is. So I’d say there’s a lot more intensity out on that field.’’
Intensity, yes. Execution … not so much. Following two split sessions – veterans going first, rookies last – of live, controlled scrimmaging, lasting nearly three hours, head coach Jeff Monken echoed his preseason analysis of most seasons: The offense needs some work and the defense is ahead of its counterpart.
“Just mistakes,’’ Monken said rather matter of factly, aware camp is only 11 days old but the season opener was 21 days out. “Missed tackles. Dropped passes. Just not effective enough sustaining blocks. It's all fundamentally related. We got to get a lot better at the fundamentals If we're going to be good at this game.
Monken said the defense “really outshined the offense in terms of the performance and execution.’’ A decent number of three-downs-and-out series was praiseworthy for the white-clad defensive unit and not so much for the black-clad offense.
“It's always great to get out to Michie Stadium, on some new turf, which is awesome as well,’’ said senior co-captain and defensive lineman Austin Hill. “It feels really good to compete and let it all out … no one's getting held back. … There are a lot of things to clean up, but I was happy with the first outing.’’
The contest was played with game officials, with series’ start points mostly from 10-, 25- and 75-yards out. It was mostly sunny with temperatures hovering around 80 degrees.
“There were far too many negative-yardage plays for the offense,’’ said Monken, who rotated in four quarterbacks during the first 90 minutes: Bryson Daily, Dwayne Coleman and freshmen Larry Robinson and Champ Harris, all of whom showed some bright spots but nothing sustained.
“I felt at times I played well,’’ said Daily, the lone signal caller with any experience. “There's definitely some things to improve on, like always, but I think the offense had a good day.’’
“We definitely need the work out here in a game-like situation,’’ said Robinson. “Even though we had some hiccups here and there, overall we all kept the energy high and executed as much as we could.’’
The sophomore Coleman had a strong camp and Black-and-Gold scrimmage performance during the spring, and he’s eager to keep the momentum going.
“Today was very exciting,’’ he said. “I thought I played pretty solid. I had a few mistakes that I need to correct. … I’m not perfect. I still have a lot of room to improve.’’
Following the scrimmage, Monken revealed senior and strong starting quarterback candidate Alex Meredith suffered an undisclosed season-ending injury a couple days earlier. That has opened the door for the freshmen Robinson and Harris to contend for one of the top three spots on the depth chart, Monken said.
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No official statistics were kept but there a number of impressive offensive plays: a couple early catches by sophomore wide receiver Noah Short; Ay’Jaun Marshall scored on a 25-yard sprint to the right side; sophomore receiver Taylor Saulsberry won a one-on-battle in the right corner of the end zone on a pass from Coleman and later made a grab from Robinson for 11 yards.
Defensively, sacks and tackles-for-loss were posted by Zach Poulter, Dre Miller, Casey Larkin, Jack Latore, Max DiDomenico and Austin Hill. The defense also forced a handful of fumbled pitches.
A host of kickers were perfect on the afternoon, including field goals of 28 yards by Charlie Barnett, 46 by returning starter Quinn Maretzki and 28 by kick-off man Cole Talley. Punting will be added next time out.
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The team will hold late-afternoon practice drills four times this coming week and roll out another scrimmage on Saturday.
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army football First scrimmage not perfect, much work still to be had
