On March 10th, GoBlackKnights.com submitted our pre-spring projected two-deep on both offense and defense.
Well, the Army Black Knights have logged in 11 spring practices, with April 15th’s Annual Black & Gold Spring Game on the horizon.
So, GBK takes a look at how things on unfolding relative to personnel and the two-deep on both sides of the ball, starting with the defense. We have already looked at both the Sam & Mike linebacker positions, and we now turn our attention to the defensive end spots.
So, which players have stepped up, which players have moved positions, which incoming freshmen could conceivably makes some noise upon their arrival this summer and more.
GBK had an opportunity converse with defensive coordinator Jay Bateman, along with our own observations regarding the Black Knights’ defensive personnel, so let’s take a look with just five practices remaining for the spring session.
So, let’s now move to the defensive end positions, as we continue to see plenty of depth across each defensive position.
Defensive End (Right):
We start with senior John Voit, who has been a mainstay at the right defensive end spot since “forever”. We haven’t had an opportunity to assess Voit performance this spring, because of his limited time on the field, but he resume speaks for itself.
“We have not been very generous in giving John [Voit] many reps,” Bateman declared. “So, we have kind of held him out a lot. He’s got 2,000 career reps. We put him in for certain situations, certain things that we want him to get looks at or things that we have targeted where he needs to get better at. He’s about 260 pounds about now. I’m expecting a really tremendous season out of him.”
Coming out of the gate since he stepped foot on the campus of West Point, Voit has not missed a beat.
2014: Appeared in 11 games as a plebe and posted 13 total tackles including 2.5 TFLs. He also was credited with 1 pass defended
2015: Started all 12 games. Finished 5th in total tackles with 50 including 4.5 TFLs. Finished in a tie for second in Sacks with 2.0. Also credited with 1 blocked kick, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
2016: Started all 13 games. Finished 10th in total tackles with 26, 5th in TFLs with 6.0, and 5th in Sacks with 3.0
Head Coach Jeff Monken and Bateman’s logic is simple when it comes to Voit. He’s gone against the Army offense so much during his career, that those practice reps are good for Amadeo West and Julian Mears.
“When we are separate and working on some of the defensive packages we run against other teams, he [Voit] is taking all of those reps,” Bateman added.
So let’s look at West and Mears - Nice 1-2 Back-up Punch
“Amadeo has been taking a lot of the reps with Julian,” explained Bateman. “Amadeo has gotten bigger (250+) and he’s done really well and he’s going to play a ton.”
SUMMARY:
West is clearly ahead of Mears, who is a smaller wing play, at about 230 pounds right now, and needs to get bigger. But, he’s been doing some good things this spring and it appears that Bateman is excited about him getting through his plebe year and jumping into his sophomore year.
Defensive End (Rush):
Like Voit on the other side, former Rivals 3-star performer Kenneth Brinson is a mainstay at the Rush defensive end.
“I’m really happy with Kenny,” shared Bateman. He’s really playing with a lot of confidence now that he’s done it a bunch. Obviously he’s a really bright kid. He’s working on his craft and he’s throwing [track team], which is great. He missed last Saturday’s scrimmage because he was at the Army-Navy track meet.”
Brinson's first two seasons have produced impressive numbers.
2015: Appeared in all 12 games with 6 starts as a plebe. Credited with 19 tackles, including 3.5 TFLs and 1 Sack. He was credited with 1 pass defended and he returned a blocked punt for TD
2016: Started all 13 games. Finished 7th on the team in total tackles with 45, 4th in TFLs with 7.5 and 3d in Sacks with 4.0. He also had two interceptions and a forced fumble.
SUMMARY:
As we noted in our pre-spring depth chart, sophomore Jake Ellington appears to be a lock to inherit the back-up role behind Brinson. Ellington is going to give the defense a big body at the position. He’s a 6-foot-3, 240 pounds and he’s going to end up being a long 245-250 pound player, which typically happens from their freshman to sophomore year. He played about five snaps against Morgan State, so he’s a kid who is getting better every day ... he’s a tough kid and a competitor. The probability of him or anyone taking a whole lot of reps off of Kenny is unlikely. However, he has value to do some other things and he’s going to keep getting better. The staff is excited about his future and believe he will do some things in other spots too.
Then there is Hayden Haupt, who is coming along, but he’s clearly behind the other Brinson and Ellington. However, there are flashes where you see he can be a good player for the Black Knights.
**To chat with other Army fans about this article and more, please visit The 12th Knight message board**
2017 Army Spring Football Practices
-Tuesday, March 21
-Wednesday, March 22
-Thursday, March 23
-Saturday, March 25
-Tuesday, March 28
-Thursday, March 30
-Friday, March 31
-Saturday, April 1
-Tuesday, April 4
-Thursday, April 6
-Friday, April 7
-Monday, April 10
-Wednesday, April 12
-Friday, April 14
-Saturday, April 15
NEXT UP - NOSE GUARD
