Army West Point Athletics
Monken Press Conference Quotes: Eastern Michigan
September 22, 2015 | Football
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army West Point football head coach Jeff Monken met with members of the local media on Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference inside Nowak Auditorium. The Black Knights are preparing to take on Eastern Michigan Saturday evening in Ypsilanti, Mich.
(Ref.: opening statement)
"Good afternoon everybody. It is kind of the same theme over the last couple of weeks unfortunately, not being able to celebrate victory. Just a tough game on Saturday, I thought it was a great football game with a lot of action back and forth with opportunities for both team. Unfortunately we didn't capitalize on the opportunities we had. Give credit to Wake Forest and the job they did to finish the game.
I saw some really good things out of our guys. I thought our guys really played hard and really executed, particularly on defense and to see the improvement they have made over the past few weeks has been great. I sure wish it could have led us to victory, but I am encouraged. Offensively, not being able to sustain long drives, hold on to the ball and get into the end zone and score points, that was a little discouraging.
Wake Forest did a nice job defending us, just like they did last year. We hit a couple plays to the fullback and some plays on the perimeter. They did a much better job on Saturday and those are the things we have to get better at in order to run the ball effectively. We have to continue to improve there. It is not for a lack of effort, they are playing really hard and I couldn't be more proud of their effort. We are looking forward to having a chance to play again this week. Whenever you feel the way that we do with the frustration and disappointment, all you want to do is go out and play again so you can get rid of that feeling. This weekend is an opportunity.
I am very impressed with Eastern Michigan's team. Their coaching staff has done a tremendous job. We have watched film on them from a year ago, two years ago when they played here against Army and we have watched them from their first three games this year. It is remarkable to see how much better they are getting as a program and how athletic they look as a football team. As we do every week, we are trying to devise a game plan that we think will be best to defend them and also a game plan as to how we will best execute offensively against their defense. Our coaches are doing that now and we will be back to work on the practice field this afternoon."
(Ref.: do you worry about the team being discouraged)
"You can worry about a team getting discouraged. The good thing is I don't think our team is packing it in. I think they are handling how you want them to. They are disappointed in the performance, but they are not quitting. They are going to fight and I know they will come back and give a great effort this week. They want more than anything to experience a victory. I think our guys are willing to put the effort toward that and I think they have done that the last three weeks. Our guys have really played hard. I can't find plays where I say 'If you have played a lot harder, you would have been able to get there to make that tackle or make that block' that is not at all the case. Our guys are playing hard and certainly they have reason to be discouraged and be down in the dumps, but they haven't done that. They have done a great job taking responsibility for the things that are happening and they are going to find a way to do a better job and perform better."
(Ref.: play of Eastern Michigan's Darius Jackson)
"You certainly have to be conscious of a guy who has been that productive. He is a really talented player. They get him in a lot of different positions, throwing the ball to him out of the backfield, and he has had some great runs. We are going to have to stop that guy for sure. He is not the only talented skill position player they have. We will have to defend the entire field and that is the difficulty in facing a team with a really talented player. You have to defend all the other guys and can't say it is all hands on deck to defend one guy. They can hurt you if you don't do a good job I know defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and the defensive staff will devise a plan that will give our guys the best chance to stop them."
(Ref: on any optimism following close games)
"I'm very hopeful about our team because of the effort that we're putting in. To be behind as we've been and be able to come back and tie the game up, like we did on Saturday, I think says a lot about our football team. Our guys are really battling. I think these guys feel a sense of responsibility that they need to do their job the best they can to give our team a chance to win. It's recognizable when you watch the film that there are things we're doing better, but there are also things we need to do better."
(Ref: on what can be done to jumpstart the offense)
"I don't know that a jumpstart is what we need. What we need is for our guys to make more plays, to finish blocks and to finish runs. We've missed a lot of tackles in each of the first three games. We're not breaking as many tackles as we're missing. There aren't a bunch of other plays that we have hidden away, we threw everything we had at (Wake Forest). We've been very successful running this offense and I'm confident that as we continue to get better fundamentally, we'll do a better job."
(Ref: Joe Walker's involvement in the game)
"A lot of it is dictated upon what Wake Forest wanted us to do in terms of the triple option plays. We called a lot of triple plays and they were making us hand the ball off some. We weren't getting enough in there, I wish we would have. They did a good job of limiting our big plays. Hopefully that is something that is something we can start to do. Any of the guys at slot back, it is less important who it is, but the supporting cast surrounding them."
(Ref: Young players' impact)
"We are pleased with a lot of the young guys and the jobs they are doing. Good news is, next year they'll be sophomores and will be more experienced. There will be more young guys coming behind them. If we are doing a good job getting the right people, we will continue to have young guys that can come into the program to contribute. We'd like to get our program to a point where there are far fewer young players making contributions and far more veteran players that are making contributions. We've got some experienced guys that are doing a really good job. We have three seniors on the offensive line with experience, all three of our specialists and on defense…all of those guys are doing a good job and I'm glad that we have them on our team. It would be great to have some guys around them that weren't so young surrounding them. I know that they'll be better and more developed players the longer they are here."
(Ref: Movement of players on offensive lines)
"With Brett Toth and Drew Hennessy being out, we really felt the best thing for us was to move the senior, Ryan Alexander who has moved around offensive line, to that side and to put Rick Kurz and Victor Nieves at the left tackle since that is where they are most comfortable. We had Alexander on the left side, we needed the best five that gave us the best chance. These guys were in our prep school program a few years ago, but they haven't had much collegiate experience. I thought they did some great things. There were some plays that those guys made that often go unseen, but they did a good job blocking, but there were also times when they struggled and that's going to happen when you're a young player. Rick had a good football game for a first time as a starter. Victor is improving. I am amazed at how much he has transformed his body and the change he has made since starting here. When he first came to our prep school program he was almost 360 lbs. and now he is 305 lbs. and I think he will continue to get better as he plays."
(Ref. Eastern Michigan's defense)
"I think they've done a nice job. You analyze statistics, and sometimes it's really tough to tell the whole story. They were really impressive against Wyoming, and I've got a lot of respect for Coach Bohl, who I've faced when he and I were both at different colleges. He does a great job. (Eastern Michigan) won a big game on the road (at Wyoming), and, as I said at the beginning of the press conference, I think this is a really improved football team and a team that's getting better. You can watch this team play on offense, defense and special teams, they're clearly playing with a lot more confidence than they had the year before and in past seasons. I'm not so caught up in the statistics and how much Ball State rushed for. Certainly, they're doing things from an offense standpoint against them that's entirely different than we will. What we've got to do is figure out how they're going to line up and what they may do to slow our offense down, stop our offense and defend us. I hope we can do a good job moving the ball like Ball State did, but we'll get a chance to find out on Saturday."
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(Ref.: opening statement)
"Good afternoon everybody. It is kind of the same theme over the last couple of weeks unfortunately, not being able to celebrate victory. Just a tough game on Saturday, I thought it was a great football game with a lot of action back and forth with opportunities for both team. Unfortunately we didn't capitalize on the opportunities we had. Give credit to Wake Forest and the job they did to finish the game.
I saw some really good things out of our guys. I thought our guys really played hard and really executed, particularly on defense and to see the improvement they have made over the past few weeks has been great. I sure wish it could have led us to victory, but I am encouraged. Offensively, not being able to sustain long drives, hold on to the ball and get into the end zone and score points, that was a little discouraging.
Wake Forest did a nice job defending us, just like they did last year. We hit a couple plays to the fullback and some plays on the perimeter. They did a much better job on Saturday and those are the things we have to get better at in order to run the ball effectively. We have to continue to improve there. It is not for a lack of effort, they are playing really hard and I couldn't be more proud of their effort. We are looking forward to having a chance to play again this week. Whenever you feel the way that we do with the frustration and disappointment, all you want to do is go out and play again so you can get rid of that feeling. This weekend is an opportunity.
I am very impressed with Eastern Michigan's team. Their coaching staff has done a tremendous job. We have watched film on them from a year ago, two years ago when they played here against Army and we have watched them from their first three games this year. It is remarkable to see how much better they are getting as a program and how athletic they look as a football team. As we do every week, we are trying to devise a game plan that we think will be best to defend them and also a game plan as to how we will best execute offensively against their defense. Our coaches are doing that now and we will be back to work on the practice field this afternoon."
(Ref.: do you worry about the team being discouraged)
"You can worry about a team getting discouraged. The good thing is I don't think our team is packing it in. I think they are handling how you want them to. They are disappointed in the performance, but they are not quitting. They are going to fight and I know they will come back and give a great effort this week. They want more than anything to experience a victory. I think our guys are willing to put the effort toward that and I think they have done that the last three weeks. Our guys have really played hard. I can't find plays where I say 'If you have played a lot harder, you would have been able to get there to make that tackle or make that block' that is not at all the case. Our guys are playing hard and certainly they have reason to be discouraged and be down in the dumps, but they haven't done that. They have done a great job taking responsibility for the things that are happening and they are going to find a way to do a better job and perform better."
(Ref.: play of Eastern Michigan's Darius Jackson)
"You certainly have to be conscious of a guy who has been that productive. He is a really talented player. They get him in a lot of different positions, throwing the ball to him out of the backfield, and he has had some great runs. We are going to have to stop that guy for sure. He is not the only talented skill position player they have. We will have to defend the entire field and that is the difficulty in facing a team with a really talented player. You have to defend all the other guys and can't say it is all hands on deck to defend one guy. They can hurt you if you don't do a good job I know defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and the defensive staff will devise a plan that will give our guys the best chance to stop them."
(Ref: on any optimism following close games)
"I'm very hopeful about our team because of the effort that we're putting in. To be behind as we've been and be able to come back and tie the game up, like we did on Saturday, I think says a lot about our football team. Our guys are really battling. I think these guys feel a sense of responsibility that they need to do their job the best they can to give our team a chance to win. It's recognizable when you watch the film that there are things we're doing better, but there are also things we need to do better."
(Ref: on what can be done to jumpstart the offense)
"I don't know that a jumpstart is what we need. What we need is for our guys to make more plays, to finish blocks and to finish runs. We've missed a lot of tackles in each of the first three games. We're not breaking as many tackles as we're missing. There aren't a bunch of other plays that we have hidden away, we threw everything we had at (Wake Forest). We've been very successful running this offense and I'm confident that as we continue to get better fundamentally, we'll do a better job."
(Ref: Joe Walker's involvement in the game)
"A lot of it is dictated upon what Wake Forest wanted us to do in terms of the triple option plays. We called a lot of triple plays and they were making us hand the ball off some. We weren't getting enough in there, I wish we would have. They did a good job of limiting our big plays. Hopefully that is something that is something we can start to do. Any of the guys at slot back, it is less important who it is, but the supporting cast surrounding them."
(Ref: Young players' impact)
"We are pleased with a lot of the young guys and the jobs they are doing. Good news is, next year they'll be sophomores and will be more experienced. There will be more young guys coming behind them. If we are doing a good job getting the right people, we will continue to have young guys that can come into the program to contribute. We'd like to get our program to a point where there are far fewer young players making contributions and far more veteran players that are making contributions. We've got some experienced guys that are doing a really good job. We have three seniors on the offensive line with experience, all three of our specialists and on defense…all of those guys are doing a good job and I'm glad that we have them on our team. It would be great to have some guys around them that weren't so young surrounding them. I know that they'll be better and more developed players the longer they are here."
(Ref: Movement of players on offensive lines)
"With Brett Toth and Drew Hennessy being out, we really felt the best thing for us was to move the senior, Ryan Alexander who has moved around offensive line, to that side and to put Rick Kurz and Victor Nieves at the left tackle since that is where they are most comfortable. We had Alexander on the left side, we needed the best five that gave us the best chance. These guys were in our prep school program a few years ago, but they haven't had much collegiate experience. I thought they did some great things. There were some plays that those guys made that often go unseen, but they did a good job blocking, but there were also times when they struggled and that's going to happen when you're a young player. Rick had a good football game for a first time as a starter. Victor is improving. I am amazed at how much he has transformed his body and the change he has made since starting here. When he first came to our prep school program he was almost 360 lbs. and now he is 305 lbs. and I think he will continue to get better as he plays."
(Ref. Eastern Michigan's defense)
"I think they've done a nice job. You analyze statistics, and sometimes it's really tough to tell the whole story. They were really impressive against Wyoming, and I've got a lot of respect for Coach Bohl, who I've faced when he and I were both at different colleges. He does a great job. (Eastern Michigan) won a big game on the road (at Wyoming), and, as I said at the beginning of the press conference, I think this is a really improved football team and a team that's getting better. You can watch this team play on offense, defense and special teams, they're clearly playing with a lot more confidence than they had the year before and in past seasons. I'm not so caught up in the statistics and how much Ball State rushed for. Certainly, they're doing things from an offense standpoint against them that's entirely different than we will. What we've got to do is figure out how they're going to line up and what they may do to slow our offense down, stop our offense and defend us. I hope we can do a good job moving the ball like Ball State did, but we'll get a chance to find out on Saturday."
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