Football Spring Practice Underway

March 12, 2015 | Football

March 12, 2015

WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army football team opened its 2015 spring practice on a chilly Thursday. The Black Knights utilized both Michie Stadium and Howze Field for the two-hour-plus workout in helmets and shoulder pads.

Second-year head coach Jeff Monken led a group of approximately 100 players through drills for the first of 14-NCAA mandated practices.

After its usual warm up and stretching, the team broke off into special teams, beginning with punt. Following position drills, the offense stayed on Howze Field and the defense took to Michie. There were two team sessions followed by a quick break, then more individual drills. The workout concluded with another team period.

Army will return to the practice field on Tuesday, March 24 at 5 p.m. The annual Black-Gold Spring Game will conclude spring camp on April 18 at 1 p.m.

THURSDAY'S NOTEABLES
Matthew Kauffmann, Seth Gonzalez and Ahmad Bradshaw saw most of the work at quarterback. A.J. Schurr is recovering from surgery and will be limited during spring practices.

Tucker Waugh, who is beginning his eighth season on the Army staff, is now coaching the slotbacks after spending last season with the wide receivers.

Xavier Moss, who started 11 games and played in all 12 games a year ago, has asked to be moved to the secondary. He is now listed as a safety and wearing No. 9. He made six catches for 52 yards last season and hauled in a pair of touchdowns.

Aaron Kemper is the leading returning running back with 158 yards last season following the losses of Larry Dixon, Terry Baggett, Raymond Maples, Tony Giovannelli and Trenton Turrentine. Matt Giachinta ran for 152 yards last season and Joe Walker 75.

Army lost 2,884 yards rushing among Dixon, Baggett, Maples, Giovannelli and Turrentine in 2014.

Army returns its top four tacklers from 2014 with Jeremy Timpf (117), Josh Jenkins (64), Andrew King (63) and Chris Carnegie (54). Stephen Ricciardi (48), Hayden Pierce (45) and James Kelley (43) will all graduate in May.

One of the key position battles will be along the defense line where Richard Glover, Mike Ugenyi and Joe Drummond must be replaced. The three combined for 93 tackles and 11.5 tackles for loss. Shawn Lemoto, T.J. Atimala, John Voit and Andrew McLean will look for more playing time.

Most of the specials teams players are returning, including punter Alex Tardieu, kickers Daniel Grochowski and long snapper Connor Farley. Grochowski kicked with the first unit with Tardieu holding. Kauffman held for Brewer and Bradshaw handled holding duties when Mitchell Howard kicked.

Chasen Brown has been moved from defensive line to fullback and is now wearing No. 20.

Joey Giovannelli, a defensive back last season, was running with the offense.

Because offensive sets with tight ends haven't been installed, tight ends Kelvin White and Ryan Alexander took snaps at tackle.

Offensive tackle Justin Gilbert, a starter in 2013 who missed all of last season due to injury, returned to the practice field.

THURSDAY'S QUOTEABLES
Head Coach Jeff Monken
(ref.: tempo of first practice)
"We have been through spring ball before so I expected the tempo and effort to be good today. We expected practice to be a little crisper and cleaner than it was last season and it was. The enthusiasm was there as well. Even though we were only in shorts and helmets, the enthusiasm was good."

(ref.: approach in second season)
"Our approach is the same and our expectations are the same. Our expectations are high and to see the results you want, you have to have high expectations. "

(ref. opening practice before spring break)
"When you are in season and it's a work week and this is for us, you have some more time to meet. We wanted to have a chance to get in the meeting room to help us prepare for practices. The guys deserve some time off. We have asked them to find a weight room next week and they will. They are coming off of a long stretch of offseason conditioning and deserve some time away."