When Army head coach Jeff Monken was asked about the impact on the team’s offensive strategy due to the absence of starting fullback Connor Slomka, he 6th year mentor also gave us a look into how the Black Knights’ recruit.

“I don’t think his absence changed what we were going to do,” shared Monken. “I am very confident in those other guys .... we bring guys in and we recruit to the system and we develop guys to play into the system. So if a guy goes down or we lose a starter, we are probably not going to change much of what we do because be believe in what we do.”

Which is why running back Miles Stewart fit that prototype Army slotback, especially if you listen to his head coach Jewell Smith at Lusher High School in New Orleans (LA).

“Man, he’s very tough and competitive. He has great vision and to go along with the vision, his foot work is impeccable. His feet are alway getting him out of trouble as far as defenders. He can also get his pads down low when it comes to contact and still be moving pretty fast.”

“When it comes to speed .... is the unique thing about him is that he combines speed with stamina. This kid was the State Champion on the 4x400 here in Louisiana and also last year he was the State Champion in the 4x800. So you have a running back who is fast in the 800 and who runs a 4.4 forty, you don’t see that much. Not only can he run fast, but do so all day {laughing}.”

“It probably lines up pretty good with Army, because the only area of improvement is his pass blocking and he’s gotten a lot better from last year to this year. Where he now gets up in there and take on those linebackers on the blitz. We required him to do that in our passing game sometimes in our protection schemes.”

“He’s address that problem as far as just getting up in there ... he squats over 400 pounds. He’s the strongest guy on our team and the fastest guy on our team and so I just knew it was just a matter of time to get stronger and step up in there.”

“He’s a leader. He’s a leader in our school, he’s a leader on the football field. Everyone knew since and saw it when he was in middle school that he stood out and we all knew that he had a bright future when he got to high school. He’s a great student, very smart kid and he has a great family. His mom was also in the Armed Forces as well, and he has a twin sister who is also fast and doing very well in track.”

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