GoBlackKnights.com wraps up our look at how Army stacks up against Air Force and Navy on a unit by unit basis with a look at the special teams. Most members of special teams go unidentified, at least on the depth chart; so we can only comment on the specialists who are included on the depth chart as kickers, holders and returner specialists.
BLACK KNIGHT SPECIALISTS
Army lost its two kicking specialists, 3 year starter, Alex Tardieu who was on the Ray Guy watch list last season as a punter, and 4 year starting place kicker Daniel Grochowski as well as long snapper, Connor Farley, who held that job for two years.
Probable Starters (based on current depth chart)
Punter: JD Mote, So. 6-5, 211 lbs, will have big shoes to fill as he replaces Tardieu in that position on the depth chart. Mote has not appeared in a game for the Black Knights, but he spent a year at Georgia Military College before arriving at USMA where he was honored as the second-best JUCO punter in the nation following the 2014 season.
Place Kicker: Mitchell Howard, Sr. 6-1, 192 lbs, has appeared in 2 games in his 3 years on the team with 1 kickoff that went for a touchback. He converted a 45 yard field goal in the spring game, and he had a 64 yard FG in practice in high school. One question on Army fans minds is whether he will provide more consistency to the kicking game.
Holder: Ahmad Bradshaw, Jr. 5-11, 211 lbs, while also competing for the starting role at QB, Bradshaw, enters his second year in the less glamorous role as holder on FGs and PATs. His backup will be JD Mote, who will assume Tardieu’s role from last season.
Long Snapper: Clay Barton, Jr. 5-10, 185 lbs, has no previous varsity experience.
Kick Return: Marcus Hyatt, So. 5-10 170, returns for his second year as the designated kick return specialist. Hyatt returned 29 kicks for 575 yards, an average of 19.8 with his longest, a 38 yard return in the Duke game. The kick return unit as a whole is more responsible for the success than is any one individual and we can’t predict how well they will do.
Punt Return: Edgar Poe, Sr. 6-4, 222 lbs, known more for his contributions at WR, Poe has been the primary punt return specialist the past two years. He has returned 23 punts for 126 yards, with his longest return coming against Navy last season for 50 yards. Poe holds the position probably more for his sure hands than for his returns. The other Poe, Christian, returned punts at USMAPS in 2014 and could end up as the backup to his brother.
Challengers (per roster):
Nick Black, who was listed as the #2 return specialist for both punts and kickoffs is no longer on the team.
Kicker/Punter: Nick Shrage, So. 6-0 167 lbs, has no varsity experience. He was the kicker and punter for his high school team in Va before attending Fork Union Military Academy where he was 11-for-11 on field goals and 21-for-21 on extra points. He averaged 50.4 yards per punt with a 4.57-second hang time.
Long Snapper: Scott Flanick, So. 6-2, 215 lbs, has no varsity experience, but was a long snapper in high school and at USMAPS. Flanick is closer to the normal size desired in a LS.
AIR FORCE SPECIALISTS
Air Force used 4 different punters last season, one of whom graduated. Their place kicker, Streble was also used a a punter last season and could be used in a dual role this season. They lost a very good punt return specialist in Garrett Brown, who averaged 9.3 yards with a long of 75 and 1 TD, but they have their 3 top kickoff returner specialists back this season. AFA does not list snappers, holders of return specialists on their depth chart.
Probable Starters
Punter: Steve Brosy, Sr. 6-2, 279 lbs, punted 33 times for 1222 yards (37.0 ave) with a long of 54 yards and 10 punts downed inside the 20.
Place Kicker: Luke Streble, Jr. 5-10, 170 lbs, converted 10 of 11 FG attempts and all 37 PAT attempts last season. His longest FG was 45 yards, and AFA used senior Drew Oehrle more on long attempts. Streble also punted 13 times for an average of 40 yards with 2 punts grounded inside the 20.
Kick Return: Tyler Williams, Jr. 5-10 185 lbs, returned 15 kicks for 333 yards (22.2 ave) with a long of 36 yards.
or Timothy McVey, Jr. 5-9, 190 lbs, returned 5 kicks for 139 yards (27.8 ave) with a long of 40 yards.
Punt Return: Unknown. AFA has to replace Garrett Brown.
NAVY SPECIALISTS
Navy fans may be paying more attention to their special teams players since Joe Cardona made news when he was drafted by the NE Patriots as a long snapper in 2015. Navy lost its place kicker but returns their punter from last season along with their top kick return specialist and #2 punt return specialist.
Probable Starters (per post-spring depth chart)
Punter: Alex Barta, Sr. 6-3 213 lbs, punted 40 times for 1663 yards (41.6 ave) with a long of 72 yards, 6 punts over 50 yards and 10 punts downed inside the 20.
Place Kicker: D.J. Grant-Johnson, Sr. 6-3, 216 lbs, has not appeared in a varsity contest. Kicked at NAPS.
Long Snapper: Josh Antol, Sr. 5-10, 185 lbs, replaced Joe Cardona last season and appeared in 13 games.
Holder: Will Worth, Sr. 6-1 205 lbs, returns as the holder, having appeared in all 13 games at that spot last season. Worth is also the backup to Smith at QB this year.
Kick Return: Dishan Romine, Sr. 5-11 178 lbs, returned 24 kicks for 655 yards (27.3 ave) with a long of 90 yards with no TDs.
Punt Return: Calvin Cass, Sr. 5-10 206 lbs, shared punt return duties with DeBrandon Sanders last year and returned 5 punts for 23 yards (4.6 ave).
Advantage - Air Force
With both kickers returning, along with 2 good kickoff return specialists, AFA appears to have the advantage advantage on special teams. Navy had to replace their place kicker, but otherwise has experience among all their returning specialists. Army West Point lost both of its kickers as well as the long snapper, but has all the rest of their listed specialists returning.
Note that we have no way of rating this year’s potential in other aspects of special teams such as punt and kickoff coverage, which are equally important but considerably less visible.
Best Opportunity for an Incoming Plebe: Special teams are where young players often get their start; so we should expect to see some plebes on the kickoff and punt teams, rather than on the depth chart at all three academies.
Clearly, there are opportunities for place kickers at both Army and Navy. Caleb Watkins was recruited as a place kicker by Army this year. Watkins converted 7 of 11 field goals and 40 of 45 PATs as a senior in high school with a long of 41 yards. He actually had a better year as a junior with 11 of 14 FG attempts (long of 49) and 42 of 44 PATs. We think he will have to improve on those stats to challenge for the job.
Zach Potter entered West Point this summer from USMAPS after being recruited as a kicker/punter from Indiana. We don’t have any stats from USMAPS, but he had a Rivals Rating of 5.3 in 2014 and turned down an offer from Eastern Michigan to be a Black Knight. As a high school senior, Potter punted 34 times for 1316 yards (38.7 ave) with 13 punts downed inside the 20. He also converted 29 of 32 PAT attempts and 8 of 13 field goal attempts with a long of 47 yards.
Navy has one K/P coming in direct from Oregon, Owen White, but the only record we have of him are from his junior year in high school when he converted 2 of 4 FG attempts, and averaged 54 yards on kickoffs.
Army head coach Jeff Monken devotes a lot of time and effort to special teams; so we’ll be watching to see what develops in the fall.
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