When Aidan Casuccio extended his verbal commitment to the Army Black Knights’ coaching staff, he became the 2nd tight end in the past 3 days to say yes to the program.
GBK caught up with Casuccio, along with the Hun School (Princeton, New Jersey) head coach Todd Smith, where the tight end is a student-athlete.
“Versatile athlete,” declared Smith, when asked what type of player the Black Knights will be getting. “He’s an excellent run blocker and really improved his pass-catching skill set this year with us. The best football is in front of him. He’s got great growth potential still. That paired with his elite work ethic, I feel he’s got a very bright future.”
The 6-foot-4, 240-pounder Casuccio chimed in on his pledge to the Black Knights.
“I committed yesterday at 11:30am,” he stated relative to his conversation with receiver coach Aaron Smith.
“The conversation started off with me just asking some final questions on how the application process went. I was sitting at my kitchen counter with my mom she kind of set me up saying, ‘I think there’s something Aidan wants to say’ then I told him … I want to do this, let’s do this, then Coach Smith said this is the best decision for my future, it’s going to be tough but in the long run your life is set forever. He then passed the phone to Coach (Matt) Drinkell and he said the same thing.”
According to Casuccio, he hadn’t talk directly to HC Jeff Monken, but was in contact with him.
“Not much conversation yesterday … he was in and out of meetings all day, I got a text from him saying ‘happy to have you part of the brotherhood’, Casuccio explained, who is also thrilled about being part of Army’s triple-option offense and the academy as a whole.
“I’m super excited for the offense, like you said, it’s aggressive. But I’m also excited because it’s different, not many people run the triple-option offense. I understand that I’m probably going to be blocking more than running routes, but even then I love hitting people hard off the line. Academically, it’s a bit nerve-racking, it’s going to be intense and it’s going to be difficult. But at the same time, that’s why I committed there. I knew it was going to be difficult. In the short run, it’s going to be tough but in the long run, it’s going to pay off so much.”
Deciding Factors
“Always as a little kid I wanted to be in the military with my grandpa having been in the Army,” the tight-end shared. “When I was applying to schools not knowing football would be an option I was considering ROTC. Also knowing that my life would be set after service is comforting on top of all the incredible experiences I would have.”
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