This past decade saw a resurgence of Army West Point football with the Black Knights earning a bowl bid in 5 of the 10 seasons. Defense played a major role in earning each of those bids, and we at GoBlackKnights.com would like to recognize some of the key defenders responsible for the resurgence by naming them to our All-Decade Defensive Team.

The differences in defensive schemes between former head coach Rich Ellerson’s Double Eagle Flex defense and the 3-4 defense employed by current head coach Jeff Monken, via his defensive coordinator Jay Bateman add to the difficulty of choosing the top performer at each position, since responsibilities changed along with some of the position names used.

Four of our selections come from the 2010 defensive team, that started off the decade by winning 6 regular season games to earn a bid to the Armed Forces Bowl, where they beat SMU 16-14 to finish with a 7-6 record.

Six of our selections come from the bowl bound teams under Monken and Bateman and only one of our top choices did not play in a bowl game. No doubt some of our readers will have other players they would recommend, and we welcome your input.

Defensive Line

• DE Josh McNary played the Quick End position in Ellerson’s Double Eagle Flex defense. McNary registered an all time season record 12.5 Sacks in 2010, bringing his career total to another all-time Army record with 28.

• NT Mike Gann, a man who anchored the 2010 paving the way for McNary to rush the QB. Gann registered 30 tackles, including 9 TFLs and 2 Sacks.

• DE John Voit was a member of Jeff Monken’s first recruiting class and played in 49 games during his 4 years wearing the Black and Gold of Army West Point. He registered 120 career tackles, 20.5 TFLs, 10.5 Sacks, 1 INT, 1 FF and a blocked kick.

Linebackers

The naming and responsibilities of the linebackers was one of the major changes from the Rich Ellerson era to the Jeff Monken era lead by former defensive coordinator, Jay Bateman, making comparisons difficult at best. However 3 of our 4 top choices were members of a memorable group of LBs that earned the sobriquet of The JAAK Attack.

• OLB (SAM) Alex Aukerman is one of the members of the JAAK Attack selected to our team. Aukerman was recruited as a safety, entered direct, and appeared in all 13 games as a plebe on special teams. He bulked up to play outside linebacker as a yearling and then added additional bulk to play at defensive end in the Bateman defensive scheme. He led the team with 7.5 Sacks in 2016 and 7.0 Sacks in 2017 finishing his career ranked second behind McNary in all-time Career Sacks with 14.5. He had 165 career tackles including 33 TFLs, 3 forced fumbles and 1 INT.

• MLB Stephen Anderson was recruited by Bobby Ross in 2006 and spent a year at USMAPS before starting his plebe season in 2007. He was elected team captain of the 2009 and 2010 teams and was the spark plug that led the 2010 team to Army’s first bowl game since 1996. Anderson led the team in tackles that season with 108, including 12 TFLs and 1.0 Sacks. He was credited with 5 pass breakups, 4 forced fumbles, and 2 INTs. For his career he had 288 tackles, including 34 TFLs and 5.5 Sacks, 6 forced fumbles and 2 INTs.

• MLB Andrew King is the second member of the JAAK attack to make our All-Decade team. We’re taking some liberties to name to MLBs to our team, but with the changes in defensive schemes, we feel the action is warranted. King came to West Point as an unheralded running back out of Queens, NY in 2012 and played a year at USMAPS before moving up to play in Ellerson’s last year as head coach. He started his Army career as a member of special teams, appearing in 3 games with 3 tackles. He moved up to the starting lineup at MLB as a yearling and started 11 games that season and was elected team captain in 2016. In his 4 years wearing the Black and Gold, he registered 255 total tackles with 35.5 TFLs and 14.5 Sacks, which ties him with Aukerman for second on the all-time list at Army. He also had 2 forced fumbles and 4 fumble recoveries. He earned the inaugural Defender of the Nation Award from the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

• OLB (Rush) Kenneth Brinson rounds out our selections at linebacker as the third member of the JAAK Attack. Brinson came in direct from Georgia with a 3 star rating by Rivals, and he jumped out to an early start, playing in every game and starting 6 games as a plebe, and every game from there on to his graduation, a total of 51 games played with 45 starts in his four years at West Point. Over his career he recorded 131 Total Tackles with 22.0 TFLs, and 14.0 Sacks. He had 2 INTs one for a touchdown, and was credited with 9 passes defended. He also had 4 forced fumbles and 3 fumble recoveries. He was named to the COSIDA Academic All American Team in 2017 and 2018 and was a finalist for the Campbell Award in 2018.

Defensive Backs

Picking our top defensive backs was a bit of a challenge since a few of the best didn’t make it through 4 years at West Point.

• CB Elijah Riley s the only member of this year’s defense to make our All-Decade first team. Riley is a versatile defensive back who could end up playing safety at the next level. He got off to an early start in 2016, appearing in all 13 games with 47 tackles, 3 interceptions and 6 passes defended. He played in only 5 games his yearling year due to injuries but came back to start all 26 games in his junior and senior years. He registered 201 career tackles, including 17.5 TFLa and 6.5 Sacks. He had 7 career interceptions, 3 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and a blocked kick.

• CB Josh Jenkins was one of those defensive backs who didn’t make it through 4 years at West Point, and he is the other member of our team that didn’t make it to a bowl game. Jenkins got an early start to his career, appearing in all 12 game as a plebe, with 34 tackles, including 1 TFL, 2 interceptions, and a 19 yard fumble recovery. He had 64 tackles, including 4 TFLs as a yearling and intercepted 4 passes, to go along with 8 pass breakups. He blocked two kicks that year, including a punt that he returned 37 yards for a touchdown. An off season injury took him off the playing field between his 2d and 3d years, and he eventually left West Point.

• Safety Donovan Travis, the mainstay of the passing defense in the 2010 season with 60 tackles and 5 interceptions. finishing his career with 11 iNTs, which ranks him second on the all time career interceptions list behind the legendary Glenn Davis.

• Safety Geoffery Bacon s one of two selections for our team that didn’t make it to a bowl game. He started his career as MLB as a plebe in 2011 and his best statistical years were at that position, but we, along with many other fans thought that his best performance was as a safety in his final two years. Unfortunately, he was injured and only appeared in 13 games in his junior and senior years; so his statistics don’t accurately reflect his total contributions. He was the best of the Army defenders to play for Ellerson during that 4 year period from 2011 to 2014. He registered 284 career tackles in just 37 games including 13 games with double digit tackles. He had 7 TFLs and a forced fumble, and he intercepted two passes both of which he returned for touchdowns.

• Jeremy Timpf (MLB) - two time team captain and leading tackler in 2014 and 2016

• Cole Christiansen (MLB) - two time team captain and leading tackler in 2019

• James Nachtigal (MLB) - leading tackler in 2017 and 2018. 22 Career TFLs and 20 Career Sacks

• James Gibson (Safety) - 109 career tackles, 5.0 TFLs and 2.5 Sacks

• Rhyan England (Safety) - 179 career tackles, 8.0 TFLs, 2 INTs, 13 passes defended, 1 forced fumble and 3 fumble recoveries.

• Raymond Wright (DL) - 51 career tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 2.0 Sacks and 1 fumble recovery

• Brandon Jackson (CB) appeared in 12 games as a plebe with 60 total tackles, including 5.5 TFLs and 2.0 Sacks. Intercepted 3 passes and returned one for a 62 yard TD. Killed in a one car traffic accident in 2016, ending what promised to be a great career at West Point.

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