RELATED GBK ARTICLES:
THE OFFENSE:
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Black Knights' Quarterbacks (2/1)
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Offensive Backs (1/29)
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Wide Receivers and Tight Ends (1/27)
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Offensive Line (1/25)
THE DEFENSE:
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Black Knights' Linebackers (2/11)
• GBK’s Looking Forward 2025 Series - Army Black Knights' D-Linemen (2/1)
Rounding out the GoBlackKnights.com Looking Forward Series, we move to the third level of the defense to analyze the strength of the returning defensive backs. We addressed the nickelback position in our last article and only look at the cornerbacks and safeties in this article. While Defensive Coordinator, Nate Woody frequently distinguishes between the Boundary CB and Field CB, we will not attempt to make that distinction here.
Departing DBs
The Black Knights will be losing 3 seniors from the defensive backfield, only one of whom was a regular starter on defense.
Team Captain/Safety Max DiDominico is the one regular starter among the departing seniors DBs. He got off to an early start as a plebe appearing in 6 games with 33 snaps. He played in 11 games with 215 snaps in 2022 and had his first career start against Troy. He started 11 games in 2923 and all 14 games in 2024 finishing out his career with 1,487 snaps. He finished 5th on the team in tackles with 52 in 2023 and 3d in tackles with 62 in 2024, bringing his career total to 157 tackles, including 4.5 TFLs and 1 Sack. He also had 4 career Interceptions along with 11 Passes Defended and 1 Forced Fumble. He was named to the AAC All Conference First Team this past season.
CB Damon Washington made his primary impact on special teams during his 4 years at West Point. He played in 9 games with 104 snaps in 2024 and his only career start coming in the season opener against Lehigh. He has appeared in 24 games in 2023 and 2024 with 5 career tackles.
Safety Tommy Zitiello has appeared in 15 games on defense with 90 snaps over his 4 year career at West Point. He has been a contributor on special teams as well with 32 total appearances and 12 career tackles.
Returning DBs
The current roster list 8 returning CBs including 2 rising seniors, 3 rising juniors, and 2 rising sophomores. The roster also lists 10 returning Safeties, including 3 rising seniors (including Casey Larkin who is currently listed as a NB), 4 rising juniors, and 4 rising sophomores. In addition to having 3 returning starters from the 2024 defensive backfield, several blowout games offered Woody a chance to get several backups significant playing time this past season. Listed below are the 8 players with the most experience who we think will be most competitive for places in the depth chart this spring.
• Senior Safety Casey Larkin is the most experienced DB returning with 14 starts and 672 defensive snaps in 2024 plus 1 start and 172 snaps in the 12 games he played in 2023. Larkin finished 4th in team tackles in 2024 with 51, including 6.5 TFLs, and he tied for the lead in Interceptions with 4.
• 4th Year Junior CB Donavon Platt is another highly experienced defender returning in 2024. Platt appeared in 7 games with 4 starts and 258 snaps in 2022, but was sidelined for much of 2023 appearing in only 3 games with 55 snaps that year. He started all 14 games this past season with 521 snaps. He has a career total of 40 tackles, including 1 TFL, along with 2 Interceptions and 5 Passes Defended.
• Senior CB Jaydan Mayes is the other returning regular starter with 13 starts and 489 snaps in the 14 games he played in 2024. He also appeared in 9 games as a plebe in 2022 before sitting out the 2023 season. Mayes has a career total of 31 tackles, including 2.5 TFLs and has recorded 5 Interceptions and 8 Passes Defended along with a Forced Fumble.
• Senior CB Justin Weaver played 379 snaps as the third CB in Woody’s rotation in 2024. He has 37 career tackles, including 2.5 TFLs and has recorded 2 Interceptions and 2 Passes Defended.
• Senior Safety Collin Matteson played in 11 games with 101 defensive snaps as a backup to DiDominico this past season. Matteson has 15 career tackles along with 1 Interception.
• Senior Safety Gavin Shields appeared in 10 games with 126 defensive snaps in 2024. He has 12 career tackle, including 1 TFL along with 4 Passes Defended.
• Senior CB Jabril Williams has made his mark on special teams with 2 touchdowns on blocked kicks. He played 9 games with 85 snaps in 2024 and has a career total of 14 tackles, 2 Passes Defended and 2 Blocked Kicks.
• Junior Safety Stephen Nnadozie has appeared in 11 games with 70 defensive snaps in 2023 and 2024. He has 7 career tackles with 1 TFL.
• Junior CB Jaxon Hammond played in 3 games with 32 snaps this past season. Hammond is a bona fide speedster, holding the Army record in the 100M dash with a 10.42 and has the 8th best time in the 200M with a time of 21.56.
Outlook for the Spring
With all three of his top cornerbacks returning, Woody won’t have to spend much time working on the depth chart at that position this spring. Assuming that Larkin stays at Strong Safety, he is likely to have a lock on that position and we see him as a candidate to captain the defense this coming season as well.
The main competition will be to see who replaces DiDominico at Free Safety and the most likely candidates at this point are Matteson and Shields, with Nnadozie likely to compete for a spot on the depth chart as well.
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