It’s that time of year again, when GoBlackKnights.com reviews the status of each unit of the team and offers our perspective on what the 2025 season will bring. This is how we see the status of each unit prior to the start of spring training, where we know that many young players are likely to emerge.
We start with a unit that received a great deal of recognition in the 2024 season including being the recipients of the Joe Moore Award “awarded annually to the best college football offensive line unit. The award is presented by the Joe Moore Foundation for Teamwork and they state that "The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit will annually recognize the toughest, most physical offensive line in the country, making it the only major college football award to honor a unit or group.
O-Line Departures
The 2024 offensive line included 2 All Americans and 3 All Conference linemen who will be lost to graduation along with a highly experienced 5th year lineman.
Fifth Year Senior Tackle Connor Finucane set Army records for the number of career games (57), career starts (52), and career snaps (3,063); numbers which are unlikely to ever be matched at Army West Point. His 5.6 rating by Rivals was the highest ever for an Army recruit when he entered direct from Catholic HS in Baton Rouge, La. Elected a team captain in 2023.
Finucane’s Career Accolades: 2024 First team All-ECAC Offense and Second Team All AAC: 2023 Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent First Team; 2023 College Football Network All-Independent Honorable Mention; 2023 Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent First Team; 2022 Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent Second Team; and 2021 Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent Second Team.
Senior Tackle Lucas Scott entered West Point direct from Binghamton, NY in 2021 with a rating of 5.2 from Rivals. He did not appear in any games in 2021 or 2022. He started 11 of the 12 games he played in 2023 and started all 24 games in 2024, with a career total of 1,479 snaps. His PFF rating of 90.3 was the third highest rating for a tackle in 2024.
Scott’s Career Accolades: 2024 FWAA All America Second Team; AAC All Conference Second Team.
Senior Guard Bill Katsigiannis entered West Point direct from Katy, TX in 2021 with a Rivals rating of 5.2. He did not make the field in either of his first two seasons at Army, making his debut in 2023 when he appeared in 3 games as a backup. He moved into the starting lineup in 2024 and started all 14 games finishing his Army career with a total of 828 snaps. His PFF rating of 85.6 was the 7th highest rating for a guard in 2024.
Katsigiannis’s Career Accolades: 2024 Sports Illustrated First Team All American; ESPN Second Team All American, AAC First Team All Conference.
Senior Tackle Jordyn Law entered West Point from Nashville, TN in 2020 after playing the 2019 season at USMAPS. He had a 5.4 rating from Rivals. Law got off to an early start at Army West Point appearing in 7 games with 2 starts in his plebe season of 2020. He started all 12 games in 2021 and played in 8 games with 7 starts in 2022. He appeared in 5 games with 1 start in 2023 and appeared in 9 games as a backup in 2024. He finished his career at West Point with 1,391 snaps.
Law’s Career Accolades: 2023 Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent second-teamer; First-team Phil Steele Preseason All-Independent selection in 2022; Second-team Phil Steele Postseason All-Independent selection in 2021.
Senior Tackle David Hoyt rounds out the group of seniors scheduled to depart at the end of the season. Hoyt was a Rivals three-star (5.5) recruit from Tampa, FL when he entered USMAPS in 2020. He did not make the field in his plebe season of 2021 and made his debut on special teams in 2022. He made 4 starts in 2023 and finished out his career with a total of 220 snaps.
Returning Offensive Linemen
The current roster lists 25 returning linemen, including 4 Juniors, 10 Sophomores, and 11 Freshmen. Included in this group are two starters from the 2024 team along with a few additional players returning with experience in backup roles. While plebes have received playing time in the past, the most likely candidates will come from the returning players in spring training.
Rising Junior Center Brady Small leads the group of returning linemen as a two year starter at his position. Small came to West Point from St Augustine Prep in Mt Ephraim, NJ with a modest rating of 5.2 from Rivals. He played the 2022 season at USMAPS and broke into the starting lineup at Army West Point as a plebe in 2023 when Katsigiannis was sidelined by a pre-season injury. He started all 12 games with 702 snaps in 2023 and all 14 games with 835 snaps this past season. His PFF rating of 85.8 was the second highest for a Center in 2024.
Small’s Career Accolades: 2024 All ECAC First Team Offense; ACC All Conference First Team.
Rising Junior Guard Paolo Gennarelli is the other returning starter from 2024 offensive line that won the coveted Joe Moore Award. Genarelli was recruited from St Charles, IL with a 5.3 rating from Rivals and played the 2022 season at USMAPS. He saw no playing time on offense in 2023 but started all 14 games with 766 snaps this past season. His 81.1 rating by PFF was the 14th highest rating for a guard in 2024.
Gennarelli’s Career Accolades: 2024 Associated Press All-America third-team; AAC All Conference Second Team; Sporting News Midseason All-America Team; Outland Trophy National Player of the Week honor for games during the weekend of Oct. 19 vs. East Carolina
Rising Senior Guard Will Jeffcoat sat out the 2023 season with an injury, but he, nonetheless, has enough experience to suggest that he will be ready to compete for a spot in the starting lineup this spring. Jeffcoat entered West Point direct from Pelion SC in 2021 and did not see action as a plebe. He appeared in 12 games with 2 starts and 150 snaps on offense as a sophomore. He appeared in 10 games with 119 snaps this past season and earned a highly respectable rating of 74.5 from PFF.
Guard Braden Bartosh is another rising senior who will be looking to get more playing time in 2025. Bartosh played the 2020 season at USMAPS before entering West Point in 2022. He saw no action as a plebe and played just 4 snaps in reserve in his sophomore season. He appeared in 10 games as a backup this past season with 69 snaps and a rating of 70.5 from PFF.
Rising Senior Tackle Ned Brady has appeared in 3 games with a career total of 32 snaps in his three seasons at Army West Point. His PFF rating for the 2024 season was a respectable 77.4.
Rising Junior Tackle Henry Appleton will likely join his classmates, Small and Gennarelli as one of 3 juniors competing for a starting spot on the offensive line this coming season. He appeared in 9 games with 63 snaps on offense this past year and earned one of the top OL ratings from PFF with an 89.4.
Outlook for the Spring
With five linemen having started all 14 games and earning the Joe Moore Award, there was less opportunity for younger players to compete for significant playing time this season. Breaking into the lineup on the offensive line is usually a big challenge for younger players under best conditions, but we would expect to see some of those current plebes and yearlings compete for playing time this spring.
With two All Conference linemen, one of them an All American, returning to form the nucleus of the unit, along with 3-4 linemen with a fair amount of game experience poised to move into starting roles, we look for this to be a reloading rather than a rebuilding year on the offensive line.
Cheston Blackshear will be replacing Matt Drinkall as one of the two offensive line coaches this coming season. Drinkall and Mike Viti received accolades for their role in developing the offensive line to earn the Joe Moore Award, and we are confident that Viti and Blackshear will do an excellent job of coaching the O-Line in 2025.
Like Drinkall before him, Blackshear is moving from coaching tight ends to coaching the offensive line with Viti. Blackshear was an offensive lineman in the XFL and has coached offensive linemen as well as tight ends in college football.
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