Need to get your football fix on all things Army, Navy and Air Force.
This is Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. Now Here are your hosts,
Pryce Atkinson, Steve Carney and Mike Loveall. Welcome into our final edition
of Yards and Stripes for the season. As we say congratulations to the Air
Force Falcons ending the season victorious in their bowl game. We'll get into the
Lockey Martin Armed Forces Bowl in a few minutes. As I'm Pryce Sackinson,
joined by my man Steve Carney. As always Stephen Mary belated, and as
we get ready to turn the page to twenty twenty four. Happy New Year,
my friend. I hope you guys had a great holiday. Yes,
we certainly did here in Tampa, thankfully not too chilly on Christmas Day,
nice and a nice bomby one here in Florida. I hope you and your
family had a great Christmas as well, and wish you and of course the
listeners of You and Stripes a very happy new year. And I hope twenty
twenty four brings tons of success and hopefully some more great football for us in
the Service academies, that's for sure. But we got one more game to
talk about here as we wrap up the twenty twenty three season with the Lockheed
Martin Armed Forces Ball. It's amazing to think this game seems like it was
forever ago, because of course we took last week off for the Christmas holiday.
But what a what a performance by Air Force finally getting off the schneid
and doing it against I would say, maybe the best non Power five school
out there. I know there was a lot of changes for James Madison,
but they were very, very good. Yeah they were. And you know,
like you said, you know, they Air Force ends the schneide,
you know, a four game losing streak as they came down the stretch with
and you know, but they got off it. They got off that schneid,
that losing Streek with their fifth straight Bowl win, defeating the number twenty
four James Madison Dukes thirty one to twenty one in the Lockey Martin Arm Forces
Bowl, their first win ironically over a ranked team for Troy Calhoun's unit since
knocking off Number nineteen Boise State twenty seven to twenty in twenty and sixteen.
Steep, I don't know if you can believe, I mean eight years since
their last win over a ranked team, as James Madison was number twenty four
in the A People. But congratulations again to Air Force. Is that senior
class they leave undefeated in the postseason again winning their fifth straight Bowl game,
only the second team to knock off JMU this season and first to do it
in regulation as the Dukes are playing in their first ever bowl game and now
Falcons remained perfect against the fun Belt all time five and zero and two to
zero bowl games. But boy, it was a sea of purple. I
knew several folks that were down there. My wife went to James Madison,
knew a bunch of people that went to Fort Worth and or inside Amon G.
Carter Stadium for this one because, like I said, you know,
that first Bowl game ever for the Dukes. A lot of JAMU fans wanted
to be there for history. But it was not a historic finish for James
Madison as they came up short by ten two. Air Force. Now let's
get into it, Steve, because I mean Emmanuel Michelle. He led the
way the running back for Air Force again with another outstanding day, but this
time a career high an Air Force Bowl record two hundred and three yards rushing
thirty five carries, including two touchdowns As the Falcons, they ran for three
fifty one against JMU, which had the nation's top FBS rushing defense, only
giving up sixty one and a half yards per game, but they were missing
several players. Do the transfer portal, the most they had given up all
year on the ground was one hundred and forty six. Air Force on three
plays in the first quarter, surpassed what JMU was giving up per game at
sixty one and a half. And you know, after trading scores midway through
that first quar order, Michelle scored midway through the second quarter. They gave
Air Force the lead for good at fourteen seventeen or fourteen to seven following an
interception by Jonathan Young at midfield that really kind of changed, you know,
it allowed Air Force to seize that momentum as Jonathan Young intercepted JAMU quarterback Jordan
McLeod who was under heavy duress, and that that led to a touchdown and
the lead for good for Air Force team. Yeah, and you look at
and I remember Jordan McLeod from his time. McLeod is a USF guy,
so so I've seen McLeod quite a bit, and he was, as you
mentioned, under tons of pressure from air forces defense. But you got to
give a ton of credit to the rushing game for the Falcons, not only
with Emmanuel Michelle. You mentioned thirty five carries two hundred and three yards and
those two touchdowns, including a fifty four yard score, but they ran the
ball twenty eight other times, so and they really spread the ball around as
Michelle got a lion's share of those carries. But you know Zach Larrier,
who was back after missing four games due to injury, he had nine carries
for twenty six yards, including a score. John Lee Eldridge, the third
who we've talked about, had eight carries and almost a ten yards per carry
average in the game. Aiden Calvert had a couple of carries, including a
ten yard run. You know, you saw Dylan Carlson and Owen Burke and
Dane Kinneman all getting opportunities to possess the football in this game. And I
really think that the way that they were able to spread the wealth around really
caused havoc for the Duke's defense because they weren't sure just who was going to
get the football when you've got four guys in the backfield, or three guys
in the backfield, including the quarterback, and any one of them could have
the football. It really does spread an eleven man defense very thin. And
that's what happened with Jmu. I mean, they had plenty of opportunities.
Aiden Fisher at a huge game for the Dukes on defense, seventeen tackles,
including twelve solo tackles, which is just an incredibly ridiculous number. But you
know, he ended up having to make all of those plays because the rushing
offense of the Falcons was able to get past the initial defensive line and get
into the linebacking corps. And when you get into that linebacking corps, you're
gonna find yourself being able to move the football down the field with consistent and
significant effect. And they were able to turn a lot of those opportunities into
scores when they were able to get into the linebackers. Yeah, you know,
they came out and you know, took control there in the second quarter
with interception, but James Madison was the one that scored first in the third
before you know, Air Force answered right back with a nine plays seventy five
yard drive that Larrier capped with his one score of the game. You know,
Larrier's first start Steve since the Air Force game, so it you know,
been several games. You know, Michelle had been banged up, Dan
Keneman started wide receiver who had been banged up. But I think it's big
of a story to me in the game as big as Air Force's rushing offense
was against what his what was statistically, without a doubt, you know,
the best rushing defense in the country statistics wise, but as big of a
deal and big as Air Force was running the football behind Larrer Michelle and then
John Lee Eldridge. I thought the play of senior linebacker from Naperville, Illinois,
Bo Richter, you know, the linebacker defensive end hybrid. I mean,
he was a menace in the game. Three sacks all after halftime,
four and have tackles for a loss, and you know on television, you
know they just kept I mean you saw number eight all around the football,
whether it was making a tackle, making a play, helping close the pocket
that he may not have got because he came close to several sacks in the
first half and didn't get him. He was all over the place and in
the JMU offensive backfield. It seemed like the entire game. I thought this
big of a story. Uh in the game was Bo Richter as much as
anything. Michelle was fantastic, but boy, on that other side of the
football where Air Force has just been so good all season long. As he
was one of the game captains along with Trey Taylor. You know, the
outstanding in Thorpe Award winning safety was that you know that linebacking defensive line,
because boy, they just controlled the line of scrimmage against JMU from the start
until the very end. Steven, Oh, absolutely, and you look at
uh they have four sacks, nine tackles for loss as a as a defense.
Uh, You've got you've got to give credit to the to the defense.
And you're absolutely right, Bo Richter. When you were when you were
watching in that game and it was like, Okay, how many guys do
they have that wear number eight? Oh it's only one. Yeah, that's
one guy out there. It was incredible to watch. I mean, uh,
you know, we talked and now it seems like it was forever ago,
but it was, you know about about two months ago when when Air
Force played Army and uh and how the the Air Force defense, Uh,
seemed to be swarmed over by by the Black Knights at that point, and
we were saying, Okay, how many how many guys wear the number three?
Oh, that's only Leo Loewen. You've got to be kidney. But
I look at Richter in that same at that same light, it seemed like
they they did uh, they did a really good job in film study on
the Dukes and knowing what they were going to run, they knew that their
offense was going to be rather vanilla, you know, going with with so
many UH players in the portal, and the fact of the matter is that
they had, you know, an interim coach, so you knew that things
were going to be different this time around. And I think they were really
well prepared. And you've got to give Troy Calhoun and the coaching staff a
lot of credit for being prepared for what James Madison was going to throw at
them. Yeah, speaking of Troy Calhoun, you know, just another clearly
another great season for the Falcons, seventeen season at the Helm of the Falcons.
Twelve of those winning season, thirteen bowls they've qualified for, and you
know, eight bowl wins, including five in a row in the last two
in the Armed Forces Bowl. So you know, the consistency under Troy Calhoun
continues, you know. And another thing that continued was, you know,
playing in the Dallas fort Ward Metroplex, a chance for Trey Taylor, the
Thorpe Award winner to play you know, at home again by and large in
his final college game this time. And then John Lee Eldridge to get back
on the field where he proposed to his girlfriend right after the Baylor game last
year in the freezing cold, if you remember that one. So you know,
some things stay the same. But regardless, it is a big congratulations
to Air Force thirty one to twenty one over number twenty four James Madison in
the lockeed Martin Armed Forces Bowls once again. Air Force finishes the season at
nine and four overall steven game balls. Let's give out our lockeed Martin Armed
Forces Bowl game balls? Which way you want to go with yours? Yeah?
For me, I mean, it's pretty obvious that there are two guys
that deserve game balls in this game, So I'm going to go on the
offensive side to Emmanuel Michelle. We've talked about him about how much his performance
meant for the Falcons offense two hundred and three yards and Air Force Bowl record
two touchdowns, thirty five carries and really when the Falcons needed to move the
sticks, they counted one to do so. So I'm gonna go with Emmanuel
Michelle for my game ball, all right, my game ball. Of course,
I'm gonna go other side of the football. In Bo Richter, you
know, the outstanding linebacker out of Naperville, Illinois, leading the way.
He had six tackles, which was second best on the squad, but finishing
with three sacks, an Air Force Bowl Game record, all of those coming
in the second half, forced to fumble five of the four of the tackles
that he had for four of the five were solo tackles, as he finishes
the season with ten sacks on the year, three forced fumbles, and forty
five total stops. But he led the way for the defense for the Falcons,
and you can't take away what some of the other guys behind him did
because it was a total team effort. But you know Air Force playing clean
football, as they didn't commit a single penalty in the game, holding James
Madison to less than three hundred yards, and you know, four of eleven
on third down is all jam you could muster in the game. So right
at just under thirty five percent on third down conversions for Jamu so Bo Richter
number eight leading the way for me getting my game ball Steven. We got
more to do here on this episode, a lot more to do. We
got to talk about the transfer portal, We got to talk about coordinators is
obviously Navy is going to now be looking for a new offensive coordinator. National
Signing Day has come and gone, which is a little bit different when it
comes to the academies. We're going to give out our players of the Year
for Army, Navy, and Air Force and who we thought was the most
outstanding in service academy football, our Travis Mannion Foundation on a roll segment.
A whole lot more here to do when we come back, as we are
part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network that you can listen to
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Speaker, wherever it is you get your podcasts, Spotify doesn't matter.
Check us out Yards and Stripes on the College Gridiron Coast to Coast Podcast Network.
As we have been there all season, and we got a lot more
content for you as we barrel down the stretch a bowl season. But when
we come back, we're going to talk National Signing Day, We're going to
talk transfer portal. We got more to do here on this episode of Yards
and Stripes, your home for service Academy Football. Yards and Stripes is sponsored
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latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football.
All right, continuing on here on Yards and Stripes, you're home for
Service Academy Football, as we are in our last episode of the season.
A whole lot more to get to, including our Travis Medium Foundation Honor Roll
segment and our Players of the Year for Army, Navy, and Air Force
respectively, and our and out from Service Academy Football. We'll do that here
in just a little bit. But now we've got kind of the perfect storm
which every coach loves. All hitting at the same time the transfer portal and
National Signing Day and Steven, you know, we've talked about the transfer portal
a little bit in that last episode in our you know, Armed Forces will
preview Air Force. Kind of the big names hitting the portal, John Lee
Eldridge, you know, with what I think two years of eligibility the running
back, and then Caden Blum linebacker or excuse me, defensive lineman from Air
Force, and then for Navy Elias Larry. That was the one really only
name defensive back who appeared in twenty six games over the last three seasons.
But really, up until you know now, we hadn't heard anything on the
or the on the Army side of things. But since we last taught,
there have been a couple of new names and one big one in fact,
that has hit the portal, and that's Isaiah Austen and he did hit the
portal last year very very, oh so briefly. This time it looks like
he is in the portal to stay the big six to four wide receiver for
the Black Knights, as according to Twitter his Twitter account, he's announced offers
from the following school James Madison, Yukon, Bobby Moe, Old Dominion,
UMass, Southern miss Iowa State, Houston in Kansas. Also joining Alston in
the transfer portal backup quarterback Champ Harris, the true freshman who started in place
of Bryce and daily against LSU, and UMass linebacker Tanno Latouli, who was
the backup to Army Navy game MVP Caleb Fortner. And the fourth and final
one that at least we've heard is backup quarterback Larry Robinson, the second so
Army getting into the transfer portal action. Nobody is immune to this dagum thing,
as it seems. Portal madness continues every single day where you turn it.
Look. But a big headlining addition that will be out there for somebody
if he stays in the portal is Isaiah Alson. Steve. Yeah. And
the fact is that Austin has said that he wishes to leave West Point,
which means he's gonna have to pay some money back. It's gonna cost him
some cash to get out of this, because you know, he's at the
point where if he stays any longer, he's going to have military commitments now.
So if he has with two years left, he's able to move if
he goes to Iowa State. Uh My, my buddy Rocco Beck, who
is the son of former Tampa Bay buccaneer in New York Jets tight end Anthony
Beck, uh is the quarterback there, and he's gonna find himself with with
some with a definite arm there. In fact, you look at the teams
that he has mentioned, and what do they all have in common. They
all like throwing the football out wide, which is not something that you do
a lot at West Point. Yeah, so, uh, it is interesting
to see him leave. I thought that it this year obviously was a little
bit of a disappointment for him production wise. Of course, he got banged
up and that that is never gonna help. But uh, the fact of
the matter is that he now feels like he's gotta be a he wants to
be able to try and uh take his game to the next level and if
he wants to play in the NFL and not have to worry about a military
commitment in order to do so, this is gonna be his best his best
opportunity now for for guys like Champ Harris. Harris only was there one year,
so he's gonna move. I I would expect to see him. I
I don't see him being a D one type like I could see him moving
down, uh to f CS or even Division two and and try and start
at that point. But that's uh, that's gonna be his decision. And
for somebody like Tanna Latully, you know, the linebacking corps has always been
the bread and butter for the Black Knights, So I have a feeling he's
going to find himself in a really good situation. Yeah. Alston the leading
receiver again, you know, played in just four games this year due to
injury, but still led the team in receiving yards if you can believe that
in only four games with two hundred and sixty six yards on just nine catches,
but listed as a junior on the Army roster. You know, Alston
said on social media that he has two years of eligibility remaining. So we'll
see what the six foot four one and ninety five pound our carter at New
Jersey Native ends up doing. It'll be interesting to see what happens is this
is the second time he has entered the portal now, but as he said,
quote, decided to resign my commission from the United States Military Academy and
separate himself from the academy end quote. So uh, I'm gonna have to
pay a little money back to the United States Military Academy. Make that move,
all right. The other thing that went down, Stephen, was National
Signing Day. Since we last talked, and you know, as the early
signing period now is in December, I don't think anybody would argue it really
falls at an awful time as you hear college assistant coaches in college saying routinely
that you know, they're not even on the field coaching their teams in bowl
prep as they're out, you know, conducting in home visits, and they
might be elsewhere on campus hosting transfer portal recruits that are looking to make quick
decisions. But nonetheless, the National Signing Day has come and gone. At
least the early period is the second one will be held in the traditional spot
in February. But as we know, and we've talked about it linked here
many episodes, you know, academies they cannot announce a National Signing Day class
because they recruits just simply do not sign national letters of intent when they go
to an academy. They still have the lengthy appointment process and the you know,
the academies simply just do not put out a list of kids that are
joining the program until basically I Day or report Day, you know, in
June, So we won't get an official recruiting class until basically early to Midsummer,
not long before these teams start August camp. But what we do know
is the reporting that you know, the outstanding beat writers that cover you know,
each of the academies, Brett Brighaman for Air Force and Bill Wagner for
Navy, and South Enderdonado for Army. These guys track this stuff, and
Brett Brigaman did a lot of great reporting on this. As he said,
with his reporting and calculations, forty six players made it known that they were
going to be quote unquote signing with the Air Force Academy, including eleven three
star players and one that really has turned some heads. It might be the
jewel of Air Forces class, a kid by the name of Jonah Dawson who
runs a one hundred yard dash in ten point eighty six out of rain sure
Cookemongo, California, had offers from seven Division I programs but chose Air Force
over Army, so quite a quite a big deal and it was. It
was funny in a story that really good reporting and Brent had in the Colorado
Springs Gazette where Jonah Dawson, having some long locks, said that they were
going to him as his dad and brother are going to are going to go
with the buzz cut in the summer with him before he gets to Colorado Springs,
so he doesn't have that traumatic experience and going through it for the first
time there at at Ida or report day in Colorado Springs. So if you're
gonna if you're gonna taally this stuff, what twenty four to seven Sports has
in two poor seven Sports is obviously the probably the pre eminent recruiting site.
There's some others, but because kids cannot sign, you're basically going on known
commitments and if you're scoring those at home. Here's the way. Two four
seven has all three of the academies lined up. They have Navy at one
twenty eight, They have Air Force at one seven, followed by Army at
one sixty three. Steve, Yeah, and I think that doesn't make that
doesn't make Hillabeans when it comes to you know, recruiting, we all we
all know that that that number, it doesn't mean much and and really it
depends on what you get from these guys on the field. And and as
you mentioned, you know, they can't really announce anybody until I day.
So I think that once that happens, I think that twenty four to seven
Sports needs to update things. And I think that letting your boy there go
and not have his locks cut in Colorado's springs. All I keep thinking about
is the first scene in the movie Full Metal Jacket, which is of course
the haircut scene where everybody's getting their haircut and hearing goodbye sweet heart, hello
v e Nam which is it is a traumatic experience for for people. I
saw it myself at Great Lakes going through enlisted boot camp. Uh. You
know, you get some of these people that come in with long you know,
these kids coming in with long hair, and all of a sudden it's
getting shorn off and you've got a bald head after that. It can it
can mess with some people. And so I you know, I give I
give credit to the family to make sure that he's going to be all right
going to Colorado. He's gonna be fine. But it's it is it.
I like the show of solidarity, that's for sure. Yeah, all right,
And the other thing that since we last talked Stephen on the you know,
coaching side of things, maybe announcing that offense corner coordinator Grant Chestnut will
not be retained Brian Newberry, the head coach. The decision was simply based
on the offensive lack of productivity. Possible to really argue against that in any
way, shape or form, as they only averaged two hundred yards rushing eighteen
points a game with that boom or bust offense, which it seemed like,
you know, it lacked certainly lacked an identity from week to week. It
seemed like they were changing things up. I mean, obviously inconsistencies at quarterback,
just a litany of things that just some things were not right. There
were reports that there were some personality clashes on the offensive side of the football
in terms of the coaching staff, and so Navy looking for an offensive coordinator,
which at this point we still don't have any kind of news or anything
surfacing yet in terms of that, but I think just as big as probably
trying to place a replace offensive coordinator, in my opinion, that guy is
already on staff, and Ivan Jasper for Navy is the replace that they're going
to have to still make with Ashley Ingram, who left offensive line coach assistant
head coach, had been on the staff in a variety of roles for what
twelve plus years. He was the one that was single handily responsible for developing
that really strong pipeline of players coming in from Tennessee, no doubt about it.
Probably anybody will close to the program will tell you was the best recruiter
on staff. He has gone to Carson Newman, which is just outside of
Knoxville, Tennessee. So no coincidence there is he was able to get a
lot of good players from the volunteer state as he's now left for Carson Newman.
So NYVY now with two openings. But will they might they move Ivan
Jasper back up? Something tells me no. With Chuck Glad Chuck still the
athletic director there who forced Kenny Neamatalolo, the former head coach, to get
rid of Ivan right after the Air Force game two years ago. So what
might happen there and certainly Ashley Ingham's replacement, those are the two things that
are going to be watched in terms of coaches on the Navy side of things.
Steve Yeah, absolutely and I had said on the social media platform that
is formally known as Twitter when the when the decision was made to relieve Grand
Chestnut of his duties as offensive coordinator after just one season, I had mentioned
that he had been brought in from Kenesaw State to try and put a wrinkle
into Navy's offense and all he did was succeed in making them look old and
wrinkly. And that's that's unfortunate for him, because you know, you you
have a really big responsibility when you're coming to a service academy to try and
yeah, you're not going to overhaul a side of the football, but you
are going to look to try and put your stamp on it. And unfortunately
for him, the offense did look stale, It looked old, and it
looked ineffective for you know, large chunks of the season. And the fact
of the matter is is that he ended up having to go through four different
quarterbacks and trying to find someone who was effective at at running an offense.
And finally ty Lavatai stepped up and was able to make something happen for a
number of in his opportunities, especially at the back half of the Army Navy
game after Xavier ar line looked it looked woeful under our line. And so
I really think that, you know, what they do for an offensive coordinator,
I think is secondary to the loss of Ashley Ingram. You're absolutely right
about how good of a recruiter he was. You know, Keenan Reynolds said
himself that coach Ingram was the reason he went to Annapolis. And when you're
getting guys of that ILK saying, you know, proclaiming how important he's been,
losing him I think is big for Brian Newberry. And that's gonna be
maybe the toughest uh replacement. You know, you really can't replace Ashley Ingram,
but you're gonna have to find somebody to fill that role. And that's
gonna be a really tough uh role to fill. And whether they're able to
find somebody from outside of the program to to do so, or if they
decide to stay internal, that's gonna that's gonna be a huge someone. Someone's
gonna have some huge shoes to fill. Mm hmmm. Yeah, So it'd
be a lot to uh, you know, to watch there. What is
Navy going to do? Is Brian Newberry going to be allowed to kind of
go his route with both the Hires. You got to think that somehow it's
gonna be likely triple option esque with both of them, But we don't know,
Uh could he might go outside the box. But watching to see the
offensive line and offensive coordinator Hires it Navy will be something to certainly pay attention
to in these coming weeks as we continue here on Yards and Stripes, Your
Home for Service Academy Football. We got our Travis Manian Foundation Honor rolls coming
up next, and then we got our Players of the Year Steve and I
will do that next year coming up on Yards and Stripes, Your Home for
Service Academy Football. In two thousand and seven, Marine First Lieutenant Travis Mannion
was killed in Iraq after saving his wooted teammates. Travis's legacy lives on through
the words he spoke before his final deployment. If not me, then who
words that today fuel the spirit of Travis Mannion Foundation and through TMF these words
can live in you too. Show the world what you're made of. Because
character is invisible until it's not. Find out how you can strengthen the character
of your community. Alongside empowered veterans families of the fallon and inspired civilians at
Travismanion dot org. We've come to our Travis Manion Foundation Honor Roll segment,
our final one of the c and this week we're going to honor remember Lance
Corporal Dennis Jay Veeder from the United States Marine Corps. Lance Corporal Veeder gave
the ultimate sacrifice on March the ninth, two thousand and seven, while conducting
combat operations in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq. He was assigned to the
Marine Wings Support Squadron four seventy two, Marine Wings Support Group forty seven out
of the fourth Marine Air Wing, based out of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. He
was a native of Jessup, Pennsylvania. Lance Corporal Veeder was the youngest of
six children and a twin. He was born and raised in the Marine Corps
and in the first sixteen years of his life traveling from Virginia to California and
then overseas to Okinawa, Japan. He enjoyed military bratt life and loved meeting
new people and doing new things and his father, Donald's retirement. After his
father Donald's retirement, the family settled in New Township, Pennsylvania, where Veeder
graduated from Abington Heights High School and later enrolled at Penn State University before joining
the Marine Reserves as a truck driver. His character strengths story shared by his
father, Donald said, quote, when Dennis was three years old, we
had one of the first homes. When entering the neighborhood and parked on the
street, Dennis and his twin brother Adam would greet the neighbors with a dance,
show standing on the roof of the family car naked. Of course,
That care free, don't worry attitude lasted all his life and still makes a
smile today. End quote. His top character strengths are listed as humor,
hope, social intelligence, Remember heroes like Lance Corporal Dennis Peeder from the United
States Marine Corps, so many others around this holiday season. So we move
forward into the twenty twenty four and as we move into twenty twenty four,
you can support the Travismannian Foundation online as we are proud to partner with them
yet again this season, and we thank them for their partnership. You can
check out more at Travismanion dot org online to figure to find out how you
can support families that have lost a loved one or also help them come together
and heal as they serve their communities. To carry on the legacy of commitment
in service in communities across the country. Travis Mallion Foundations Nine to eleven Heroes
run five k ra series units communities across the country and around the world to
honor the sacrifices of September eleventh and the war since. Join your community this
September and register to run, Walk or rock by visiting nine to eleven Heroes
run dot org. The latest with Navy, Army and Air Force on Yards
and Stripes Service Academy Football once again, thanks to the Travismanion Foundation for being
a partner a trusted value partner this season again on Yards and Stripes. We
appreciate Travismanion once again. You can check them out Travismanion dot org online as
we will continue hopefully the TMF on a roll segment next season when we return
with you. But we got there'll be a lot happening between now and then,
But we want to talk players of the year. Steve and I came
up with who we thought were our players of the year for all three service
academies, and then who we thought was our overall Player of the Year,
Steve, where do you want to get? Where do you want to start
here? You want to start? Well, let's start with Army Black Knights
because they are a top Service Academy football as the winners of the Commander in
Chief Trophy yet again knocking off Air Force, who was undefeated at the time,
and then beating Navy and another thriller. Who is your player of the
year from West Point? Yeah, from West Point, from the now defending
Commander in Chief Trophy champions. I'm going to go with linebacker Leo Loewen.
He was the leader of that Black Knights defense and someone that I think that
when his foot as his football career comes to an end and he gets into
being a leader of men outside of the one hundred yards long fifty three and
a third yards wide stretch of green Grass, I think is going to be
a tremendous commander. I really respect the work that he put in and it
showed throughout the year. You know, he was consistently one of the top
performing defensive players for that Black Knight's team, and when they were going well,
it's because that defense was going well. So I'm gonna go with Leo
Leewing, all right, I'm going to go other side of the ball with
Army. In junior quarterback Bryson Daily out of Abernathy, Texas. He led
Army with nine hundred and thirteen yards. He had seven rushing touchdowns and he
had seven throwing the football as the only got sacks seven times, ironically,
four of which were in the Syracuse game. But I thought the leadership that
he brought on the offensive side of the ball with the brand new offense that
drew Thatcher brought in from Nebraska Carney, you know, outstanding, Especially the
toughness he showed. I think it was Salanderdonado talked about. You know,
he brought a toughness to that position, which number one you got to have
if you're an academy playing in that type of system. But a toughness maybe
not seen since I'm odd Bradshaw was under center for the Black Knights. But
I thought the steadiness of Bryson Daily certainly not you know, getting a lot
of playing time after getting hurt, you know, in the UMass game,
that did not help Army, And that was probably the difference between uh making
a Bowl game with his injury, getting knocked out. So I'm gonna go
with my Army Player of the Year in Bryson Daily. Uh, which way
you want to go? Next to you? Let's go? Why don't we
go? You call it, well, why don't we? Why don't we?
Why don't we switch to Air Force? Because they were second in the
in the Comander in Chief Trophy standings having beat Navy but also lost to Army.
And I'm gonna go with quarterback Zach Larryer for the Falcons. For me,
you know, he was probably the most important player for that Falcons team
because without him this year they went out in four and and with him they
went nine to oh. So just the way that he was able to perform
this year on the ground in his limited time through the air, because like
most Service Academy teams, they don't throw the ball a whole heck of a
lot, but he was really efficient through the air when he did take to
the area. I mean, all you have to do is look at his
time in the Armed Forces Bowl here three for five with a with a touchdown.
I really think that Zach Larrier's his performance is is it can't be understated,
you know, six hundred and five yards on the ground, almost eight
hundred through the air, and I just really think that without him, the
Air Force offense sputtered, and with him it looked like a well oiled machine.
All right, I'll go other side of the ball here, I'm gonna
go Trey Taylor, the senior safety, you know, out of the greater
Dallas Fort Worth area. The Thorp Award winner only the second major award winner
from the Air Force Academy, joining the great Chad Hennings as a major Award
winner. As Taylor, as a safety won the Thorp Award, was the
third leading tackler for Air Force with seventy four stops. He had three inter
interceptions for pass breakups, you know, but he was you know, it
was a defense, you know, that wasn't just all about Trey Taylor.
There were certainly Alec Mock, but Richter, there were many capable guys on
that defense, which is I think one of the reasons why they finished eighteenth
and scoring defense in the country. And maybe I don't know if it's the
top defensive statistic, we could argue about that, but in terms of total
defense, Air Force finished the season steve at six in the nation, behind
only Penn State one, Michigan, Ohio State Ohio, U Iowa, and
then air Force at number six, and behind air Force was Clemson Notre Dame,
Texas A and M and Georgia rounding out the top ten. Some pretty
good company, you know, in a league that is a fairly known as
a pretty high scoring league in the mountain Less. So Trey Taylor would be
my player of the Year from the Air Force Academy. And then finally,
you know, we'll talk Navy Steve, you know, and I think you
and I are probably gonna go the same direction on this one for the midshipman
in terms of our player of the Year at the Naval Academy. Yeah,
I would, you know, I wish there were more guys that you could
say deserved this this honor, you know, Alec Tesca I thought had a
you know, had an opportunity, you know, I I but really there's
one guy, and it's Colinos, the linebacker. I mean, you look
at one hundred and ten tackles, which is just a ridiculous number. He
had fifty seven solo tackles, including two sacks also, you know, not
too shabby and getting his paws up in the area at four passes defense,
he forced two fumbles, recovered one of them. You know, he was
an All American Conference Linebacker first team for a reason. He was probably the
best defensive player in the conference, you know, especially being around the conference
as much as I am in you know, with the University of South Florida
here, he was the He was the best defensive player I saw this year
by far. And so I'm gonna go with Colin Ramos as my player of
the Year for Navy. Yeah, I'll make it a yeah, for sure,
I'm with you on the junior from Wayne, New Jersey. You know
that one hundred and ten total tackles this season, two sacks, two forced
fumbles, you know, is is one hundred and ten tackles, second most
in the American but the most in a single season by Navy players since Cody
Peterson in twenty and thirteen. And maybe he's had some pretty good ones on
defense, you know, especially if that linebacker raider spot over the past ten
years, and to put up those kind of numbers that Coloramo's did just outstanding.
So yeah, we're we're definitely thinking the same on the save wave link
there in terms of your you know, kind of Player of the Year over
Service, you know, all of Service academy, I would you know,
obviously we will we pick, you know, between one of our three.
I would certainly go Trey Taylor for my player of the year in terms of
all the academies, just because a thorple winner, Thorp Award winner, Major
Type Award winner, and how good that air Force defense. That's that's the
way I would go with my player of the year overall. Yeah, and
that's a that's a great pick to make, you know, Trey Taylor was
was a fantastic player. Of my three, I'm gonna go with Colin just
because he, like I said, he was the best defensive player I saw
this year in person. And so give them plenty of credit. And I'm
not taking anything away from what Army was able to do with Leo Loewen and
what air Force was able to do on both sides of the football, but
Colin Ramos was the best player that I saw in person. He was outstanding.
All right. That'll do it for the twenty twenty three season for a
Steve Man, I enjoyed doing this with you all season long. Most importantly,
appreciate all your hard work Appreciate all the supporters, everybody investing time every
week for downloading, listening, subscribing. Appreciate Ticket Smarter, the College Gridiron,
Coast to Coast Podcast Network for being a part of just a great network
of shows that you TJ and so many spearhead and put together every week.
But just cannot thank you enough, Steve. It's been a ton of fun
all along the way from August until now well, and that means that we're
only now one hundred and ninety some odd days away from the start of the
twenty twenty four college football season for Service Academy Football, and I look forward
to being back here with you. Come you know, late August as we
get ready for the or maybe even early August, who knows, when we
get things as we get things started here for the twenty twenty four season on
Yards and Stripes, I certainly look forward to it. I wish you a
happy new year, my friend. I wish obviously the listeners anybody who's downloaded
taking time out to listen to a couple of guys who love Service Academy Football
talk about something we're passionate about. I really appreciate it absolutely. That is
what we do and that is what we are passionate about here on Yards and
Stripes, Army, Navy, and Air Force. And we will do it
again in the off season, Steven. But hope everybody has a wonderful,
happy, safe new year and just we cannot wait to do this again.
But appreciate everybody for taking the time to tune in and listen every single week
and for bearing with a few schedule changes here and there over the years.
But we will do it again, Steven. Until we talk to you next
time here on Yards and Stripes. Have a happy new year, buddy.
We'll talk to you soon. Join us again next time for Yards and Stripes
Service Academy Football. To get more on all things Service Academy Football, like
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