GoBlackKnights.com continues our Looking Forward Series with the players who line up on either side of the interior offensive line. In the good old days, these players were just identified as Ends, but these days they are usually identified as Wide Receivers or Tight Ends. On many teams, offensive backs who line up as receivers are identified as WRs as well, but we will confine our analysis to those who are identified as WRs on the roster, and at Army West Point those are players who line up on the line of scrimmage.
Wide Receiver Departures
Army West Point will lose two members of their wide receiver corps to graduation this year. As at least one of our past WRs noted, it is somewhat of an oxymoron to identify these players as wide receivers, since they spend considerably more time blocking than they do running pass patterns.
Senior Casey Reynolds appeared in all 14 games with 296 snaps this past season and only 1 start, but he led all receivers with 20 receptions for 457 yards and 3 receiving touchdowns. Reynolds earned a rating of 91.9 from Pro Football Focus, tied for top among all Army offensive players. Oddly enough, although he was clearly the top receiver on the team, Reynolds had only 1 start in his 14 games this past year.
Senior Cam Schurr finished the 2024 season as the third leading receiver on the team with 7 catches for 83 yards. He played all 14 games with 201 snaps and no starts.
Tight-End Departures
Senior David Crossan appeared in all 14 games with 13 starts and 558 snaps. He made the only reception of his career in his final game against Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl with a 52 yard reception that came up just 2 yards short of a touchdown.
Senior Will Montessie appeared in 11 games with 83 offensive snaps and no starts. He had one career reception of 20 yards in the Tulsa game this year.
Returning Wide Receivers
The current roster lists 1 junior, 4 sophomores, and 5 freshmen as Wide Receivers.
Junior Liam Fortner is the top WR returning in 2025. He appeared in all 14 games with 13 starts and 400 offensive snaps in 2024 but had only 1 reception for 28 yards. He has 614 career snaps and a career total of 3 receptions for 88 yards. His primary contribution has been his lead blocking downfield.
Sophomore Kavon Pointer appeared in 11 games (mostly on special teams) with no starts and 27 snaps on offense. He made his first and only career reception for 9 yards in the Rice game.
Sophomore Tobi Olawole is the only other experienced returning WR from the 2024 team. He appeared in just one game with 15 snaps this past season, but he played in 9 games with 1 start in 2023. He has 7 career receptions for 101 yards and has 3 rushing attempts for 2 yards. Olawale is arguably the best actual receiver among the returning WRs and TEs.
Returning Tight Ends
Army recruited a bumper crop of tight ends in 2024, but, as we’ve seen in the past, some of them are likely to end up at other positions.
• Sophomore Parker Paloskey is the most experienced of the returning TEs with 12 games and 217 snaps in 2024. He had one reception for 4 yards against Navy.
• Sophomore Teddy Williams appeared in 10 games with 75 snaps in 2024.
• Sophomore Tex Brannan played in 1 game with 9 snaps.
• Sophomore Bryan Dyer played in 3 games with 9 snaps.
Outlook for the Spring
Among the returning TEs and WRs, the only player with an apparent lock on his position will be Liam Fortner. There are enough players returning at WR and TE to form a nucleus in 2025, but there will be plenty of opportunities for younger players to earn a spot in the depth chart. We are particularly interested in seeing what happens with all those tall freshmen TEs in spring camp. At this point in time we don’t know who the starting QB will be and that might influence whether Worley will tweak the offense to include more passing and a greater emphasis on receiving skills.
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