Army West Point - Fullback U?

Of the three Heisman Trophy winners who played for Army, one was a fullback, Doc Blanchard, and the other two were halfbacks. Throughout its history the Army offense has usually focused on running the ball, but not since the forward pass became popular has Army specialized as much on running the ball as it did in 2017 ... leading the nation in rushing in 2017.

At the heart of the offense is the Fullback, or B-back as it is called in Army's Head Coach Jeff Monken's version of the triple option.

Five different fullbacks carried the ball for a total of 1927 net yards, accounting for 41% of the Black Knight rushing yardage. Yes, it was quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw who broke the all-time season rushing record, and he accounted for another 37% of the yardage. But it was the team of stalwart fullbacks the Black Knights relied on to keep the chains moving most of the season, whether they were running the ball themselves or providing key blocks for Bradshaw and A-back Kell Walker.

Army West Point departed from the triple option (wishbone) offense favored by former head coaches Jim Young and Bob Sutton when they hired Todd Berry in 2000. Berry’s attempt to install his run and gun offense was unsuccessful, and Army fired him and brought in Bobby Ross who was moderately successful with the pro-style offense that he left to Stan Brock when he departed in 2007.

In the spring of 2008, Stan Brock was told to bring back the triple option offense at West Point. He wasn’t a big fan of the option and really didn’t have the right combination of players. Some fans referred to what he ran as the double option; but his version of the offense did put considerably more focus on the fullback, as Collin Mooney rushed for 1,339 yards in 231 attempts, breaking Mike Mayweather’s rushing record by a single yard. Mooney went on to play for the Tennessee Titans in the NFL, one of the few Army players to successfully make the transition from college to pro football.

Mooney’s graduation left Army West Point without a true power running back in Rich Ellerson’s first season at the helm of the Black Knights. Ellerson convinced Jared Hassin to switch his allegiance from Air Force to Army, but Hassin had to sit out his plebe year due to the NCAA transfer rule, and KIngsley Ehie managed just 473 yards in 114 carries and the team rushing total dropped to an unimpressive 2,443 yards with plebe Trent Steelman carrying most of the load at quarterback. Hassin broke the 1,000 yard mark in his first playing season in 2010 with 1,031 yards in 191 attempts, and the Black Knight rushing total increased to a more respectable 3251 yards in 13 games.

That same year, Rivals 3-star recruit Larry Dixon was piling up yardage at USMAPS in preparation for joining the Black Knights the following season. Dixon started the 2011 season as a regular backup to Hassin, but he moved into the starting lineup the last five games and the two fullbacks combined for 942 yards as the Black Knight rushing total increased once again to 4158 yards in just 12 games, with Raymond Maples contributing a 1,066 yards running the counter play off the triple option.

Maples and Steelman combined for 2,463 yards the following year and Dixon averaged 5.99 yards on his 140 carries while forcing defenders to tackle him whether he had the ball or not. The Black Knights finished the season with 4438 yards to lead the FBS in rushing in 2012 and set a new record for rushing yardage in a season to that point in time.

In 2013, Terry Baggett took Maples place running the counter for his own 1,000 yard season. Injuries limited Dixon to just 10 games, and he carried the ball just 112 times for a total of 699 yards as the Black Knight’s rushing total dropped to 3,717 yards. Dixon’s backup, Hayden Tippett proved to be a good blocker but not quite as effective running the ball, and with Trent Steelman gone, the running yardage diminished a bit.

While Ellerson provided opportunities for slotbacks Maples and Baggett to rack up yardage on counter plays and sweeps, the new Army head coach Jeff Monken reintroduced a more basic triple option version that put heavier emphasis on the fullback with limited opportunities for the slots. In Monken’s first year at the helm, Dixon joined the list of Army’s 1,000 yard rushers with a season total of 1,102 yards in 190 carries and 9 rushing touchdowns including a couple of runs that made the top 10 plays of the season. With less yardage from the slotbacks, the Black Knights rushing offense dropped to 3558 yards in 12 games under the new coach.

With the graduation of Larry Dixon, Army West Point was left without a dominant fullback once again, and offensive coordinator Brent Davis tried to employ a trio of journeymen fullbacks in his place. The result was disappointing to say the least as Aaron Kemper, Matt Giachinta, and Drue Harris combined for 1,009 yards in 205 carries and the Black Knight’s total rushing yardage dropped to a disappointing 2931 yards. The drop off in production was most noticeable in third and fourth down short yardage situations where opponents were able to hold the Army fullbacks to no gain or even lost yardage. Kemper was quick in the open field but lacked the size to be effective in those situations. The triple option simply did not work without a credible threat at fullback.

Looking for some help at the B-back position, Monken moved a couple of reserve linebackers, Andy Davidson and Cole Macek to the offense during spring practice. He also promoted Mike Viti to replace Sean Saturnio as the fullbacks coach, moving Saturnio to special teams coordinator.

Viti was a fullback himself when he played for Army, but he played wide receiver as a plebe and switched to fullback in his yearling season, playing in the pro-style offense favored by Bobby Ross. He carried the ball only 4 times in 2005 for a grand total of 1 yard, and had his best season running the ball with just 55 carries for 239 yards. He was elected team captain in his senior season, when he played for Stan Brock, but he carried the ball even less with just 32 carries for 81 yards. To give you some idea of the differences in offenses under Ross and Brock, Viti had 30 career pass receptions for 198 yards compared to his 91 carries for 321 yards. As is usually the case for fullbacks in a pro style offense, he was valued more for his blocking than for his running.

Viti served in Afghanistan and after leaving the Army he embarked on Mike’s Hike For Heroes, a cross country trek where he walked one kilometer for every service member killed in action in the global war on terror, and he probably got more press coverage for that than he did as a fullback.

He was hired as the Director of High School and Alumni Relations in 2015 and then promoted to assistant coach of fullbacks in 2016. His impact on the fullback effectiveness was immediate.

Under Viti’s tutelage, Davidson led the Black Knights in rushing in 2016 with 961 yards in 190 carries and he led the team in rushing touchdowns with 12. In addition to turning Davidson into a strong runner, Viti developed Darnell Woolfolk, who had played B-back at USMAPS in 2014 but had contributed only 7 yards on one pass reception in 2015. Woolfolk added 600 yards to the rushing offense and Macek contributed another 254 as the combined total for the fullbacks increased to 1842 yards and the team total rushing yardage increased from 2931 to 4413.

The success of Davidson’s move from reserve linebacker to fullback encouraged Calen Holt to request a similar transfer, and he joined the group of fullbacks in the spring of 2017. Holt finished 6th on the team in rushing yardage this past season, but he made more of an impression as a lead blocker for Bradshaw and Walker, who finished the season as the #1 and #3 rushers respectively. Woolfolk finished second in rushing yardage with 812 yards, while Davidson finished just two yards behind Walker with 627, and the Black Knights established a new team rushing record at 4710 yards.

With the entire cast of fullbacks returning for 2018, can this group outdo the performance of 2017? Only time will tell. Bradshaw will not be around to rush for 1000+ yards, and it’s likely that whoever replaces him at quarterback will pass the ball more often (it would be hard to pass it less); so it’s not very likely that Army will break its season rushing record this coming season.

We would expect offensive coordinator Brent Davis to make some adjustments in the offense to take advantage of the skill sets available this season; but whatever he decides to do, we expect Viti will have his fullbacks ready to fulfill their roles in the offense, whether it be running the ball, taking the hit on the fake dive, lead blocking, pass blocking or even catching a pass out of the backfield.

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