Quarterback Bryson Daily is tops on depth chart midway through Army football preseason
WEST POINT – Head coach Jeff Monken says he’s pretty much determined who’s on the three-deep chart for his Army football roster. Now it’s a matter of finalizing those roles over the final two weeks of preseason.
It appears junior Bryson Daily has secured the starting quarterback’s job – perhaps the least surprising news of preseason camp given he’s the only signal caller with any varsity time and he’s embraced the new shotgun offense.
“Bryson, right now, is at the top,’’ Monken said. “It’s good to kind of feel good about who the starter’s going to be.’’
During Saturday’s second scrimmage Daily discarded the red jersey pinnie – meant to call off any unnecessary contact by defenders – as he got some live goal-line snaps. Monken is pleased with what he’s seen but says Daily has more work ahead.
“There’s still plenty he needs to do to improve and get better and not force plays,’’ Monken said. Daily’s strong suit has been his running. He’s “a good, physical, tough runner,’’ Monken noted.
The Black Knights engaged in another intrasquad scrimmage on a near-perfect day at Michie Stadium, featuring partly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70s, about 10 degrees cooler than the previous Saturday scrimmage. The entire squad shared the west sideline (the press box side), with the offense in black, defense in white and a mix of both on the first preseason action by the special teams units. The controlled scrimmage lasted three hours.
Monken said the offense is catching up to the defense, but he’s still concerned with “far too many” negative-yardage plays and breakdowns in blocking by the line and others. He thought the first-teamers did well but was unhappy about the number of pitch plays – an essential carryover from the triple option offense – that were off target.
As for the defense, Monken has been pleased with the improved tackling, something that has been emphasized during August camp. “At this point right now, we’re tackling better than we have in previous preseason camps,’’ Monken said. “We’ve got to be terminating tacklers and if we do that every time then we’re going to play good defense.’’
Monken said a number of players have emerged over the past week, noting sophomore defensive back Casey Larkin; freshman linebacker Tano Letuli; and freshman defensive back Jaxon Hammond. He’s been pleased with the pass catching of Taylor Saulsberry, Isaiah Alston, Casey Reynolds, Noah Short, Ay’Jaun Marshall and Liam Fortner.
The three-deep is “established to this point” but Monken said “there’s still plenty of time for those ones and twos and threes to kind of move.’’
“It’s the responsibility of the threes and twos to move their way up and the ones to continue to play better and not get beat out,’’ Monken said. The bulked-up offensive line has seven or eight candidates to fill five unspecified spots. There’s a lot of movement on the defensive line but Monken said it doesn’t matter because that unit often rotates and splits time.
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“Not every position is set in stone yet,’’ Monken said, “and certainly the depths are (not) set in stone but we’re getting a better idea – that’s just the nature of going through two weeks of practice (and) we start to figure it out.’’
Monken said the team started to get into a game-week mode this past week and will continue to do emphasize the routine, beginning with the usual Sunday workouts starting this weekend.
Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Bryson Daily is likely starting quarterback for Army football team
