Since 2018 College Football Coach of the Year Jeff Monken took over the Army West Point football program 6-years ago, one of the many program’s identifying marks is defense. Within the defense’s‘ DNA, it has been known to have had some of the most impactful, yet underrated linebacking corps in the country.
The first true impact crew assembled was The JAAK Attack lead by Jeremy Timpf, Alex Aukerman, Andrew King & Kennth Brinson, that happened under the watchful eye of then defensive coordinator Jay Bateman where they had breakout season in 2016.
When middle linebackers King and Timpf graduated 2-years ago, a couple of newbies joined the ranks. One was James Nachtigal, who had an unbelievable 2018 season and has since graduated himself. Which brings us to his inside LB partner and 2018 team Co-Captain, Cole Christiansen, who is back for his senior season.
Christiansen was recruited out of Nansemond Sulfolk Academy in 2016 as a 6-foot-3, 215 pound linebacker with a modest rating of 5.3 from Rivals. He entered West Point direct and was one of the few direct report plebes to get playing time with 6 game appearances in 2016.
He made the leap from special teams to a starting spot in the defensive lineup in 2017 and recorded 84 total tackles to finish second in that category. His 5 TFLs ranked him fourth and he was one of 5 players with an interception that year. He was elected a team captain in his junior season and he recorded 77 tackles to rank second again in that category, while his 12 TFLs ranked him first in 2018.
GoBlackKnights.com caught up with Christiansen after practice on Wednesday to get his thoughts on the upcoming season in his second year as a team captain.
Right out the gate, we wanted to know from Cole himself, what should the Army fans expect of the 6-foot-2, 230 pounder this spring and even more so, this upcoming season.
“Hopefully the best leadership that I can give, that’s one of things that I’m focusing on and obviously playing the best football ever played,” Christiansen stated. “I want to lead this team in the right direction and be that leader that I’ve always wanted to be.”
OPTIMISTIC
Part of that leadership will have to oversee a relatively revamped ‘D’ from a personnel standpoint. To say that the defense has lost several key members would be an understatement. Gone are Nachtigal, James Gibson, Raymond Wright, Wunmi Oyetuga, Chandler Ramirez, Kenneth Brinson, and Mike Reynolds, who were all starters for the Navy game.. So, what are Cole’s expectations of this year’s defense and what must this group do in order to keep the level of play that fans have become accustomed to when you talk defense around Army football?
“It’s definitely going to be different, because there are a lot of new faces,” shared the always transparent an candidate hard-hitting linebacker. “But I think that is a very exciting thing because there are some bulls that are coming up through the ranks and some talent level that have never been here before and that really excites me.”
“But we do have a lot of experience guys here. Almost the entire secondary minus Mike (Reynolds) and we are all seniors and we communicate well with each other. That’s very comforting, but real difference is going to be up front, obviously. But I am really excited about those guys coming through and they are learning very fast. Kwabena Bonsu, Edriece Patterson and Jacob Covington got a lot of playing time last year, so these aren’t guys who are completely new.”
“The Will linebacker spot is going to be highly contested, but all the guys competing for it are very good football players and very smart guys,” added Christiansen.
“I’m excited about it and our defense could be even better this year or that’s my hope at least that’s the plan. But we have to keep working the way we are working and try to get better every single day.”
WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD
Not only are Christiansen a senior, but captain. He explained to GoBlackKnights.com what he learned from his role last year as captain and what must he do to help the younger guys embrace the winning football culture that is now exist at West Point.
“The one thing I learned was the importance of consistent practice and consistent effort at practice,” firmly declared Christiansen, as he put things into perspective. “Last year, if we didn’t practice every single day as hard as we possibly could, we weren’t going to win on Saturday ... just plain and simple. We have to be consistently violent and aggressive when we come out here.”
“It’s really hard at West Point. You have some of the worse days of your life here, I will just be completely honest. You come to practice and you are dog tired and you just hate the world and you think everyone’s out to get you,but if you want to win football games you have to turn back on to football mode and get with the action on the field. And that was the key, during the summer we had some practices where we let up and we came out and lost to Duke. After that we were committed to be more consistent. So that why we focus having consistent practices where everyone is leading one another and pick each other up when we are down.”
“As the captain, that’s what I want to do this year and try to bring everyone with me and regardless of outside circumstances, everyone needs to be working hard,” he added.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Player personnel change is part of college football, because player graduate annually. But for the first time under Monken, the program will not have Jay Bateman around as defensive coordinator, as he has taken his talents to Chapel Hill and now has the DC role the North Carolina Tar Heels.
So we asked Cole to talk about the difference in style from his former DC to current DC in John Loose.
“It’s definitely interesting seeing the different coaching styles,” said the Engineering Management Major, who wants to branch Infantry. “I love both to death and they are both brilliant coaches and football minds.”
“Coach Bateman ... every time we lined up, it seem that he would call a play and we would run right into the offense ... exactly where they were going and we say how did he know that was coming. I watch film all week, but he’s just a magician.”
“I think Coach Loose is just as smart,” Christiansen declared. “We played Houston ... I don’t recall how many sacks we had or pressures, but he just brings the heat.”
“It’s so fun to play, especially for Coach Loose. I love Coach Bateman, but I think now the difference that with Coach Loose, everyone out here feels comfortable and not that we didn’t with Coach Bateman, but everyone is playing fast and not nervous when they are stepping which means that everyone is playing fast an aggressive.”
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Stay tuned for additional observations, as GBK continues its coverage of spring practice.
