According to Army Head Coach Jeff Monken, it still hasn’t been determined who will start at quarterback on Saturday against Morgan State .... senior captain Kelvin Hopkins or sophomore, Jabari Laws, who ran the offense last week while Hopkins was nursing an injury.
“I’m not sure who it’s going to be,” stated Monken during his weekly Tuesday afternoon press conference.
But before any rumors get started, there’s not QB battle, so fans should put that debate away according to Coach Monken.
“No, Kelvin’s our quarterback if he’s healthy and he’s better than he was last week,” declared the 6th year head coach. “But it’s a great to know that we have a guy that we can put in the game if Kelvin is injured, can’t play or if we just want to change the pace. Jabari did a really good job and I was most impressed with his poise. He didn’t seem nervous and when we had a turnover there in the end the 1st half, he didn’t get rattled. Another one when we were trying to run the reverse play, he didn’t rattle and went out there and continued to perform. He’s not a freshman, he’s been.”
Prior to Saturday’s contest versus UTSA, Laws had 1 rushing attempt for 3 yards against Rice. So if you do the math, the bulk of his offensive production came last week and now his stats for the season/career are as follows:
- 140 yards rushing in 24 attempts for an average of 5.8 per carry
- One rushing touchdown
- Longest run 41 yards
- 2 completions in 2 passing attempts for 18 yards Longest pass = 12 yards
- No passing touchdowns and no interceptions
But Monken had nothing but praise for Laws’ performance last Saturday.
“Starting a rookie quarterback and the first start of his college career, he did a really nice job,” Monken said.
EMOTIONAL MOMENT
GoBlackKnights.com had an opportunity to chat with Laws after Tuesday’s practice session, and the engaging signal caller took us back to the moment in which he was official told that he would be starting against UTSA and his initial reaction.
I found out last Thursday sir,” said the product of Upper Marlboro, Maryland. “I thanked Coach [Mitch] Ware when I saw him and I halted immediately to our bathroom facilities {chuckles} and kind of got a little emotional. I was super excited for the opportunity.”
The sophomore signal caller readily admitted that the week coming into the game and due to Hopkins’ injury there was speculation that he would start and/or get significant reps last Saturda. So, what was different in his preparation last week compared to the previous weeks of the regular season?
“I don’t think there’s any difference,” explained Laws. “We try to focus here at West Point to take every rep like it’s a game rep, especially in the quarterback room because you never know what’s going to happen or what’s going to go down and Coach Ware harps on us to full speed reps as if we’re in a game.”
According to Laws, part of his preparation has come from just simply watching Hopkins over the past 1 1/2.
“I learned that you have to bounce back after any adversity and you have to keep your head up high ... you never who is watching and that’s something that he does a great job at, which is bouncing back from anything,” explained Laws in what he has been able to observe watching captain and starting QB, Kelvin Hopkins.
Another avenue of “growth” that Laws says he must add to his arsenal is dealing with the physicality of the college game. This game is physical, no matter who the opponent is, but especially against teams like Michigan. After playing the entire game against UTSA, we asked Laws if he feels that he will need to get bigger and stronger going forward in his college football career and this is what he offered up.
“It’s definitely a goal to get bigger, stronger and faster each year ... basically to improve on myself,” explained the 5-foot-9, 175 pounder. “I’m definitely going to get with Coach Hughes {chuckling} our strength coach here and get me right for next year.”
Like Hopkins, one of Laws’ contributing attributes at quarterback is his decision making and according to the 2nd year player, he also has a couple of NFL favor players whose style are worth following.
“I love to watch Lamar Jackson, he’s a true playmaker and Russell Wilson ... I loved him since college,” said Laws, listing his favorite quarterbacks to watch at the NFL level. “He’s [Wilson] a great athlete and I never see him too down. He‘s always smiling and being positive.”
It appears that the aforementioned attributes of Hopkins, Jackson and Wilson have been adopted by Laws, and add that to his athletic ability and decision making, the Black Knights have a solid QB for the future.
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