FREE: GBK's Army Black Knights' Football All-Decade - Offense
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While we saw two different defensive schemes in the past decades, the Army offense returned to the triple option in 2008, hired a true triple option coach in 2009, and continued the triple option scheme with a few tweaks in the hiring of Jeff Monken in 2014. Although there have been subtle changes in the offensive scheme, it’s not all that difficult to compare Army offensive players who started the decade with those who finished it.
The major changes introduced by Monken were the addition of a tight end for about 40% of the plays, adding size to the offensive line, and putting more emphasis on the B-back as the heart of the running game. Army has finished near the top in Rushing Yardage and near the bottom in Passing Yardage in every season this decade. The most passes attempted in any season was 154 in 2013 and the least was 65 in 2017. Rushing attempts ranged from a low of 616 in 2015 to a high of 824 in 2018. Distribution of rushing attempts did change over the years with fewer carries by the slotbacks and more carries by the B-backs after Monken arrived.
Unfortunately, we do not have PFF statistics from before 2014; so we can’t compare details like snap counts and ratings from the Ellerson era with those in the Monken era.
GBK's All-Decade Offensive Team
Quarterback
Army fielded 3 record breaking quarterbacks in the decade starting with Trent Steelman who was the only Army quarterback to start in his first game as a plebe back in 2009. Steelman benefitted from being part of the transition to triple option football under head coach Rich Ellerson. Steelman holds the all time record for career touchdowns with 59 and ranks second all time in total offense with 6,043 yards, but he didn’t make our All-Decade team.
Our choice for quarterback on the All-Decade team goes to Ahmad Bradshaw, whose lack of passing skills was more than made up for by his running ability and team leadership. He earned a lasting spot in the memories of Army fans by leading the Black Knights to the win over Navy in 2016 that snapped Navy’s 14 game winning streak. Bradshaw broke into the starting lineup in his sophomore year, competing for starts against AJ Schurr, who was clearly the better passer of the two. He ran for 468 yards and 5 TDs in 8 games in 2015, but then took moved up to become the starter in 2016, running for 826 yards and 8 TDs in 12 games. He completed 40 passes for 703 yards and 4 TDs that year with a lot of help from Edgar Poe. With Poe gone in 2017, Bradshaw focused on running the ball rolling up 1,725 yards rushing for the season earning the all-time Army single season rushing record. Despite playing only 3 seasons and sharing the starting job in one of those seasons, Bradshaw ranks 5th on the all time list for Career Rushing Yards with 3,040 and tied for 5th in Career Rushing TDs with 37.
Slotbacks
Picking the top running backs from a team that specializes in running the ball is a challenge, and it is even more challenging when we saw two slightly different systems during the decade. Ellerson’s system gave more designed carries to the slotbacks resulting in 2 thousand-yard rushers from the A-Back position. Monken relies more on the B-back and has added considerable depth at that position, which distributed the load.
• Slotback Raymond Maples is one of the two A-backs who carried for more 1,000 yards in a season and he did it twice. He began the decade as a plebe on the 2010 team rushing for 240 yards and 1 TD and caught 2 passes for 38 yards and another TD. His first 1000 yard season came in 2011, when he rushed for 1,066 yards and 4 rushing TDs with a 7.5 yard average per carry. He came back the following year to rush for 1,215 yards, finishing second behind QB Trent Steelman that year. He scored 2 rushing TDs and caught 6 passes for 108 yards. He played only 3 games in 2013, and Terry Baggett took his place as the 1000 yard rusher at slotback that season. Both Maples and Baggett were on the Doak Walker watch list at the start of the 2014 season, when Monken took the reins as head coach, but neither of them got NEAR as many carries in the Monken version of the triple option. Maples ran for just 266 yards and 4 TDs in his senior season. He had 2,878 career rushing yards with 10 rushing TDs. He had 18 receptions for 296 yards and 2 TDs.
• Slotback Kell Walker finished out this decade at slotback for Army West Point with a career total of 1,725 rushing yards in 269 attempts (6.0 ave) with 11 rushing TDs. Walker led the team in receptions in 2017 and finished second in 2018. He had 22 career receptions for 352 yards and 2 TDs. He also returned 31 kicks for 609 yards.
Fullback (B-Back)
• Fullback Darnell Woolfolk got off to a slow start as a plebe in 2015 with appearances in 6 games, no rushing attempts and just 1 reception for 18 yards. His statistics improved every year from then on with 600 rushing yards and 9 TDs in 2016, 812 rushing yards and 14 TDs in 2017, and 956 yards and 14 TDs in 2018. He was elected team captain in 2018 and was selected to the All-Independent First Team in 2017 and 2018 along with the All-ECAC Team in 2018.
Receivers
We include two Wide Receivers a Tight End in this group as they are used somewhat interchangeably in the Monken offensive system with all three positions listed on the depth chart.
• WR Edgar Poe was one of the few receivers to actually catch a lot of passes in the triple option offense. Poe played 1545 snaps between 2013 and 2016. He had 43 receptions for 982 yards and 11 TDs with and average of 22.8 yards per catch. Poe also returned 29 punts for 157 yards, including a very memorable 50 yard return against Navy in 2015.
• WR Jeff Ejkam jokingly referred to himself as a wide tackle, and he was well appreciated for his ability to block downfield. He appeared in 33 games with 11 receptions for 158 yards and 1 TD.
• Tight End Kelvin White was arguably the most versatile player in the Army offense in 2014 and 2015. He was recruited as a quarterback out of PA and was a reserve QB for Ellerson in 2012 and 2013, being used mostly when Ellerson needed to throw the ball long. He was converted to a Tight End when Monken arrived, but continued to pass the ball in Hail Mary situations. He played 403 snaps at TE in 2014 with a PFF rating of 66.5 and 538 snaps in 2015 with a rating of 74.4. He had 30 career rushing attempts for 146 yards and 2 TDs, and he completed 17 of his 39 pass attempts for 186 yards and 1 TD.
Offensive Line
• Center Bryce Holland was Rivals 3 star recruit out of Chandler Arizona and got off to an early start in his plebe year playing for Jeff Monken in 2014. He started 2 games at guard as a plebe earning a PFF rating of 86.2. He sat out the 2015 season with an injury but returned to start at center in 2016 playing 859 snaps with a PFF rating of 66.2. He was named to the Rimington Award Watch List in 2017 and 2018 and was elected a team captain his senior season. He played a total of 2,595 snaps in his 4 years earning PFF ratings of 69.0 and 76.8 in his junior and senior seasons. He was selected to the All-Independent teams in 2017 and 2018, the ESPN All-bowl team in 2017, and to the Sports Illustrated and USA Today All-Bowl teams in 2018. Guard Frank Allen
• Guard Josh Boylan started all 13 games in 2017 with 781 snaps and a PFF rating of 73.2 and was named to the first team All-Independent Team by Phil Steele He appeared in 22 career games with 1015 snaps and a PFF rating of 74.2.
• Tackle Rick Kurz was a three year starter between 2015 and 2017, Kurz played a total of 2032 snaps, earning PFF ratings of 79.6 in 2015, 71.9 in 2016 and 83.9 in 2017.
• Tackle Brett Toth appeared in 31 games in his 4 years at West Point including starts in all 26 games his junior and senior year. PFF credits him with 1,767 career snaps with offensive grades of 85.6 in 2016 and 88.5 in 2017. He was selected to the Outland Trophy list in 2017 and the AP All Bowl Team for 2017. He was invited to play in the Shrine Game and the Senior Bowl.
Honorable Mention:
• Kelvin Hopkins (QB) finished out a decade as the third record-breaking quarterback. Hopkins holds the Army single season record for Total Offense with 2,143 yards. He led the team to the most wins ever in a season 11 wins in 2018. He is the only Army QB to have broken the 1000 yard mark in both Rushing and Passing in a single season.
• Larry Dixon (B-back 2011-2014) started all 4 years at B-back for Ellerson and Monken. Rushed for 542 yards and 5 TDs in his plebe year. Rushed for 839 yards in 11 games in 2012 with 6 rushing TDs.Played only 10 games in 2013 due to injuries but rushed for 699 yards and 6 TDs. He made the transition to the Monken triple option in 2014, increasing his carries and rushing for 1,102 yards with 9 TDs. He finished his career with 3,189 rushing yards to become the 4th leading rusher in Army history. He topped the hundred yard mark in 11 of his 37 games and averaged 6.1 yards per carry. He had 26 career rushing TDs. He had 10 career receptions for 161 yards and returned 15 kickoffs for 258 yards. He was elected team captain and played in the Shrine game in 2018.
• Jordan Asberry (Slotback) earned an honorable mention as much for his receiving skills as his running ability on a team that didn’t believe in passing the ball too often. Asberry led the team in receptions in 2018, finished second in receptions in 2017 and 4th in 2016. He had 971 career rushing yards in 141 carries for a 6.9 yard average and 6 rushing TDs. He had 21 career receptions for 437 yards and 6 receiving TDs.
• Mike Houghton (OG) - played in 7 games with 2 starts as a plebe under new head coach Jeff Monken in 2014. Houghton was one of the new breed of offensive linemen preferred by Monken and Davis. Despite being out with an injury for half of his junior season, Houghton played in 37 games with 30 starts in his 4 year career, earning PFF ratings of 59.2, 68.6, 75.0 and 77.2.
• Terry Baggett (Slotback), saw limited action in his first two years, appearing in just 5 games due to injuries. He had a breakout season in 2013 when he ran for 1,118 yards and 9 rushing TDs, including a 304 yard game against Eastern Michigan the all-time record for rushing yards in a single game. He was selected to the Doak Walker Watch List in 2014 but playing under the new offense he dropped off to 54 carries for 400 yards and 2 touchdowns. Baggett was an Academic All American in 2013 as well as a member of the All-Independent First Team.
• Xavier Moss (WR) was possibly the best all around athlete to don an Army football uniform in this decade. He started his career as a wide receiver, leading the team in receptions with 35 catches for 463 yards in his plebe season of 2013. He might have had more if he’d had a quarterback with an arm strong enough to reach him. He dropped off to 6 receptions for 52 yards in 2014, and then asked to try out as a safety where he finished his last two seasons, tracking down running backs and receivers.
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