Jeff Monken Press Conference: Spring Practice

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army West Point head football coach Jeff Monken met with members of the local media on Wednesday afternoon to recap spring practice at a press conference inside Nowak Auditorium.

(Ref.: opening statement)
"I thought we made some really good strides over the spring. We had some position changes at some key positions and we've been trying to find ways to get some of our best players on the field and I'm excited about some of the changes we've made. We stayed fairly healthy, but there were a few injuries along the way, but I think most of our guys will be ready to go by the fall. Overall, it was a productive spring. From the outside, it can be difficult to see the progress, but with so many freshmen having played, I think we're getting a lot better. I'm excited about the fall and I'm looking forward to the summer to prepare for it."

(Ref.: were there any players who surprised you the most coming out of spring practice)
"We moved Andrew Davidson to B back and moved Cole Macek to the same position. I think both of those guys did a nice job and it was a pleasant surprise to see them find their niche in that position. They certainly have some things to learn in terms of protections and the blocking on the perimeter that we ask those guys to do. That will be something they'll have to continue to work on. They are both really aggressive players who started on special teams and now they're going to have a little bit of a larger role."

(Ref.: on having more patience with a lot of sophomores playing more)
"I felt like Jeremy Timpf and Andrew King had pretty good sophomore years. Jeremy led our team in tackles that year. I don't think our guys have to grow up and be juniors and seniors to be productive. We have guys who are surrounding those younger players on defense, like King and Timf, Jordan Smith, Eddy Ruzga, Xavier Moss and Rhyan England. They will be surrounded by some veteran guys, and the same thing on offense. We have guys like Edgar Poe, Justin Gilbert and Joe Walker who have had some experience in the last couple years.

"A lot of our freshmen aren't like typical freshmen. If they had redshirted, it would be different. But a lot of those guys have game experience and I think that's going to make a difference with the maturity of our team."

(Ref.: on special teams players)
"I thought Mitchell Howard did a really nice job kicking the football and I have a lot of confidence in him. He had a really good spring. The rest of special teams is a real work in progress. We're very inconsistent at a lot of our other position in that unit."

(Ref.: tougher to recruit or coach up the players while at the Academy)
"It's tough to get the players you want anywhere. I think that's the challenge no matter where you're at. It's a tremendous challenge for an Academy coach because you're not just recruiting a guy for a football program. You're recruiting a guy for a much bigger team and a commitment that goes far beyond a commitment to a university and a football team. There is unique challenges in that for sure that makes it tough. It's probably the toughest recruiting job. To coach the ones we have, it's a challenge.

"You can look at the rosters and just compare heights and weights and look at some of the school's we play. They'll have guys that are NFL prospects that sometimes may mean there is a physical mismatch in terms of ability. That creates a challenge. I don't know that one in itself is more difficult than the others. I knew the challenges before I came here. I think it's one of the exciting about coming to work at a place like Army. You know there is going to be a challenge. You just have to do your job that much better and better prepare your team and really dig deep to find the things you need to do to have success. We get to coach some great people here. That is the thing that we recognize and probably, from the outside looking-in, don't realize what a difference it makes to have good people in your organization. Sometimes, that's the difference in our opportunity to win.

"Somebody else might have a better player lined up against ours. Might be more athletic or faster or bigger, sometimes we have better people that have a chip on their shoulder and work harder because they didn't have the opportunities that others had. They have something to prove or a sense of pride of what they play for and what their playing for and who they represent. It goes way beyond just their institution and football team. There are some factors here that do give us an advantage. I think there is challenges in all of it but certainly challenges that can be overcome and I'm positive we can have success her just like at any other place."

(Ref.: players changing positions)
"Sometimes you just see a position and you just don't have a guy there that you're really excited about. You think 'we just got to find somebody that we think is the right guy because we don't have the right guy.' It doesn't mean that they're bad players. Just not getting the production out of that position that you need and you say 'let's find another guy on our team that can do it.' Other times, you watch a guy and say he is not a safety, let's see if he can play outside linebacker. Or, he's not a defensive lineman but I think he could play offensive tackle, let's move him over. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't."

(Ref.: how do you unwind from the season?)
"I've got an unbelievable wife and three great kids who I love dearly. Thank God I've got my wife. She's a great lady, and I owe it to them. I don't give them as much time as they deserve, but I think it's healthy for everybody to be able to step away from their job, especially when their job is a passion which mine is. I could work 24 hours, seven days a week and never feel like I'm doing enough. There's always ways to get better and things we can do to improve our program. The challenge is stepping away from that and giving time to the people who help you recharge your batteries. For me, my family does that for me."

(Ref.: progressions made by Chris Carter and Ahmad Bradshaw at QB)
"I think both of them improved. I think they both got better as the spring went along, and I thought the competition was really strong at that position. There was some really good, healthy competition at a lot of positions for us, especially at quarterback. They both want to be the starting quarterback. They both have started games here and have done things to show us that they are capable of running our offense. I think the best thing we've got going is that competition and that we don't have a clear-cut starter yet. They both have some attributes that set them apart from each other."

Army West Point Athletics

Jeff Monken Press Conference: Spring Practice

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Players Mentioned

Ahmad Bradshaw

Chris Carter

Rhyan England

Justin Gilbert

Mitchell Howard

Andrew King

Cole Macek

Xavier Moss

Edgar Poe

Eddy Ruzga

Jordan Smith

Jeremy Timpf

Joe Walker

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