GoBlackKnights.com continues our coverage of Rising Stars with a look at Rising Stars on Defense. These are players who we believe will rise to the challenge and make the big plays that result in wins. Picking stars on defense is always a bit more difficult that picking stars on offense for a couple of reasons: 1) Offensive statistics receive more media attention than defensive statistics, and 2) Defense is like the proverbial chain that is only as good as its weakest link. Opponent OC’s spend a lot of time figuring out how to avoid the best defensive players while attacking any perceived weaknesses. The best cornerback is probably the one that opponent offenses challenge the least.
With that in mind, we believe that our choices will come as no surprise to our readers and those avid Army football fans.
LINEBACKERS: AUKERMAN & BRINSON
Last year, the defenders who received the most attention from media and fans was the group of 4 starting linebackers that became known as the JAAK Attack. Co-captains Jeremy Timpf and Andrew King were lost to graduation, but rising senior Alex Aukerman and rising junior Kenneth Brinson return, and we expect both of them to kick it up a notch and continue the legend, which is saying a lot, considering their performances in 2016.
Aukerman finished third behind Timpf and King in Total Tackles with 58 and ranked first in Tackles for Loss with 15 and also led the team in Sacks with 7.5 and tied for the lead in QB Hurries with 2. Knowledgeable fans will recall that Aukerman was recruited as a 6-2, 205 pound safety out of Indiana with a modest Rivals Rating of 5.3. Bateman converted him to an Outside Linebacker and over the next 3 years he added 40 solid pounds while maintaining his speed and became Mr Versatility on the defense last year, assuming multiple roles as the situation dictated. We can’t expect him to rise to the top in Total Tackles playing at OLB, but we expect to see him wrecking havoc in opponent backfields again and making the open field tackles that are his trademark.
Brinson came to West Point as a Rivals 3-star after turning down an offer from Stanford, and fans had high expectations for him to be an immediate success, despite the fact that he came in as a direct admit and had to acclimate to military life while making the transition to FBS level football. Fortunately, he didn’t have to struggle much with plebe academics as he finished at the top of his class. Brinson got off to a good start, appearing in every game as a plebe, and moving up to start the second half of the season. He recorded 19 tackles, including 3.5 TFLs and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown. Last season, Brinson finished 7th in Total Tackles with 45, was 4th in TFLs with 7.5 and 3d in Sacks with 4.0 and added 2 QB Hurries and a Forced Fumble. Brinson has added about 13 pounds to his plebe weight and is currently listed at 233, a healthy size for a linebacker.
The two new inside linebackers are likely to lead the team in total tackles as Timpf and King did the last two seasons, but Aukerman and Brinson will be counted on to increase pressure on the quarterback and protect the perimeter, and we see them as key to the defense’s success.
CORNERBACK: ELIJAH RILEY
Army West Point lost two premiere cornerbacks in two years, starting with Josh Jenkins suffering a concussion that kept him out of the lineup as a junior and most likely contributed to the academic problems that led to his departure from West Point before the start of his senior season. Then, following the Rice game last year, Brandon Jackson died in a late night auto accident. Steven Johnson was expected to start the season in place of Jenkins, but Johnson suffered an ACL injury in pre-season that sidelined him, and Marcus Hyatt assumed his place in the starting lineup. Then when the team lost Jackson, Elijah Riley stepped into the breach and demonstrated the natural talent that made him our choice as one of the rising stars for 2017.
Riley was one of those underrated New York players (think Jackson and King as two others) recruited as a Rivals 5.3 rated cornerback out of Port Jefferson. He entered as a direct admit, missing the benefit of a year of seasoning at USMAPS. He got an early start on special teams and then was thrust into the unenviable role of filling Jackson’s shoes at CB. Despite a lack of D1 level experience, he made a significant contribution to the Black Knights rank of 6th in Passing Yards Allowed and 19th in Team Passing Efficiency Defense. He finished the season ranked 6th in Total Tackles with 47 and led the team in interceptions with 3 and contributed an additional 3 pass breakups. While his interceptions were not the outright steals we were used to seeing from Jenkins and Jackson, he showed a good nose for the football, and we expect to see him produce good results again this season. If a team has only one good CB, the opponents will go to the other side, but we expect Marcus Hyatt to carry his fair share of the load as well.
OTHER POSSIBILITIES FOR STARDOM
With 7 of the 11 starters returning from a defense that finished the season ranked #4 in the country, there are others we could have picked for potential stardom this coming season. Rhyan England provides senior leadership and inspiration to a young group of defensive backs, but he’s already a bit of an overachiever who succeeds more due to his understanding of the game and nose for the football than from natural athletic skills. We will be interested in seeing how he ends up sharing safety responsibilities with James Gibson this season. Xavier Moss was the better pass defender of the two safeties in 2015 and 2016, and we suspect that Gibson will prove to be better than England in that department in 2017.
John Voit has been a solid contributor at Defensive End for the past two years, and his teammates recognized his leadership by electing him one of the Co-Captains this season. As a Defensive End, he is less likely to rist to the top of the heap in Total Tackles, but we expect him to contribute more than his fair share of TFLs and Sacks and probably finish in the top 5 in both of those categories.
Andrew McLean was our choice for having a breakout the past two seasons, and he came through last year with 10 starts at Nose Guard. HIs primary function in the Bateman scheme is to plug any gaps in the middle of the line and keep opponent linemen occupied enabling the LBs to post most of the tackles. We expect him to play a role similar to that played by Mike Gann on the 2009 and 2010 teams. Gann finished 8th in Total Tackles in 2009 and 11th in 2010, but was 5th in TFLs in 2009 and 3d in 2010.
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