'We came out with enthusiasm': Initial Army football practice goes off well

WEST POINT – The best birthday gift Ay’Jaun Marshall received on Wednesday was a return to Army football practice with all of his friends and a full cast of teammates.
“I thought we came out with a lot of enthusiasm,’’ he said, “but it’s only up from here. We’ve got to continue to get better, continue to work on fundamentals and continue to be great.’’
There’s only one month to get ready for the Sept. 2 opener at Louisiana-Monroe so the team will be put through their paces six days per week. Head coach Jeff Monken said this is the best time of every season because it’s football 24/7, chock full of on-field workouts and plenty of team and position group meetings ahead of the start of classes at the U.S. Military Academy. Marshall said that’s plenty of time to get ready but Monken wishes he had an extra week or two to get the team ready.
“This has been one of, if not the best first day of camp I think we’ve had since I’ve been here,’’ said senior co-captain Jimmy Ciarlo. “It just goes to show the hard work this summer has paid off.’’
Army's Jimmy Ciarlo during Wednesday's practice on Aug. 2, 2023.
First day starts early
A large class of freshmen – also known as plebes – got the first opportunity to impress the coaches by starting practice under perfect weather conditions early Wednesday.
“They're running around like chickens with their heads cut off, some not really certain what to do,’’ said Monken, noting the graduates of the USMA Prep School have a bit of an advantage over the high school direct admits because they’ve been introduced to how things are done with the cadets.
The veterans mixed in later with a better grip of Army’s existing defense and newfangled offense, installed in January with the arrival of new offensive coordinator Drew Thatcher.
The defensive players dressed in white, the offense in black and the protected quarterbacks in red jerseys. As per NCAA restrictions, players didn’t wear pads and used padded protective coverings atop their helmets. Position units worked on drills, shifted between the two practice fields outside the Foley Center and engaged in 7-on-7 drills, eliciting expressions of joy and frustration depending on who “won’’ the play. Kickers worked inside of Foley.
“Everyone came out and they had great energy,’’ Ciarlo said. “They were flying around to the ball (with) several interceptions and several balls on the ground so it was a good day for the defense.’’
“I liked the focus,’’ said senior co-captain Connor Finucane. “I like the attention to fundamentals and the details and the expectations that coach Thatcher and coach (Matt) Drinkall expected on offense.’’
Decisions take time for Army football
Don’t expect any major personnel decisions to be made for at least a couple of weeks.
“It’s hard to make an assessment off of day one,’’ said Monken, starting his tenth season as head coach. “Everybody’s enthusiastic. It’s fun to be back out there. Everybody gets excited about the first day … I was certainly excited to be out there, and our players were too, but passing judgment on anybody (is too early) at this point. I will find out more as camp goes along.’’
Army Football head coach, Jeff Monken talks to players after Wednesday's practice on August 2, 2023.
Determinations for first-team reps in practice were mostly earned from spring practice which culminated with the Black-and-Gold scrimmage.
College football:Army caps spring with Black-Gold game. Young standouts emerge.
“You just look to build off the spring,’’ Marshall said. “(With) the strides we made during the spring we don't want to take steps back. We don’t want to focus on things that we installed, that we worked on in the spring; we want to be able to sharpen those tools up, build new ones and be able to have new weapons in our arsenal to use this season.’’
Monken said all positions are up for grabs over the next couple of weeks before travel teams are selected for the Sept. 2 opener at Louisiana Monroe.
Many of the position groups return a fair amount of starts and playing experience but it mostly goes only two-deep – the glaring exception, though, is the quarterback spot where there are no career starts and only six total relief appearances. Junior Bryson Daily is the suspected heir apparent. Senior Alex Meredith and sophomore Dewayne Coleman (who had a strong finish to spring) will surely contend. “They’ll battle it out and we’ll kind of see as we go through the next couple of weeks who emerges,’’ Monken said. The coach also said sophomore Zach Mundell is a promising candidate but is nursing a “nagging injury.’’
The most notable absence was slotback Tyrell Robinson, who suffered a serious injury in the Wake Forest game last season and was held out from spring ball. No mention of his status was made.
Monken has said he is encouraged by his recruiting class and he hopes “a guy or two will impress us and maybe one of those guys or two can find their way into the depth chart … I think there’s good-enough athletes in that group that they could find their way to being a travel-squad guy.’’