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, Price Atkinson, Steve Carney and Mike love All. Welcome into another
edition of Yards and Stripes, your home for Service Academy Football. As the
Commander in Chief Trophy winners the Air Force Falcons, they are on deck,
not the flight deck, but on deck with the lockeed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
coming up this Thursday, and we'll get you ready for the Armed Forces Bowl
on this episode of Yards and Stripes, including an interview with our guest and
Air Force All American offensive lineman Isaac Cochrane. The first All American of any
kinds is nineteen ninety two from Colorado Springs in the Academy. So we'll have
that interview as we caught up with Isaac Cochrane in Fort Worth as the Falcons
are preparing to take from Baylor in the lockeed Martin Armed Forces Bowl later this
week. We have a lot to do as we're going to talk about coaching
changes that hires made at the Naval Academy coordinator out at Army, what does
Andre Carter the third's NFL draft future look like that is now in question and
potential peril along with Isaac cochrane in any other a CAT Service Academy athlete that
is looking to go the pro route here next year. But we're gonna get
into all of it as I'm joined by my guys Mike love All and Steve
Carney tonight before we do have liftoff real quick, I think it's in order
to wish and say congratulations to our guy, mister love All on his official
retirement from the US Army last Thursday in Tampa. Mike. Steve was lucky
enough to be able to head over there and be there in person. I
was grateful for the photos and the video that Steve was sending over to me,
so at least I felt like I had, you know, was there
a little bit in spirit, But man, just congratulations. Were super proud
of you. I know that was a heck of a day, but a
heck of an accomplishment. You've given your career, your life so far to
this point to the US Army. Mike, Thanks price, I appreciate it.
First day of retirement today he moved the yard, so I feel like
an official retiree, Steve, thanks for joining my family and I over there.
It was great to have a teammate there. Yeah, it was awesome
to to meet Ellie and Alex and Evie, your your two children. That
was. That was great, and all all your co workers, uh,
past and present that that made it over to UH, to McDill Air Force
Base for the retirement ceremony. It was. It was a lot of fun,
it really was. I enjoyed it immensely. I was honored that you
asked me uh to come. I was. I was grateful for the opportunity
to be back on a military installation. It's been a long time since I've
been on a on a military installation. I thought I was going to be
in trouble there for a little bit, but uh, but thankfully that did
not happen. So but yeah, it was great. It was a great
time. Some great food. Uh. Good timing by Mike Price. You
missed out mission barbecue. Uh was was catering the uh the Christmas uh the
holiday party that was going on for the base and just happened to coincide with
with Mike's retirement and the jumpers that took place. There was great, a
great time had by all. That's awesome. Man. We were just so
proud of Mike and you know, his service, you know, to America
and serving in the US Army that is not lost on any of us here
a yarch and stripes, much less Steven myself. But Mike, I mean,
do you feel like a new man? I mean, I dare I
say it? Is it like a very early Christmas present to to have this
retirement feeling, you know, just you know, a few days before the
holidays or is it this is gonna take a little while to sink in.
Yeah, I think it's gonna take a little while sink and a lot of
you know, a lot of a lot of transitions. I'm comfortable to transition.
But you know what, we'll see what looks like. I think kind
of the weird part is, you know, everything slowed down over the holidays,
so I think it will really take until you get middle of January when
everything speeds up to kind of figure out that you're not running at the same
rate that you were in mid December. But less I talk about a guy
that's stepping away, and then talk about a bunch of kids that are about
to step into it as they get ready for the ballgame. But I don't
know what we'll see, we'll see, I don't know, you know,
it just kind of finding my way into this next next journey, looking for
looking free coaching staffs that have availabilities, you know, with any I think
I do know of a few. We're going to talk about it here in
a little bit, but before we do that, tell our friends and all
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Ticket Smarter. Let's get into it here is The Falcons are on tap later
this week the Lockeed Martin arm Forces Bowl. They are the Loan Service Academy
rep in the postseason and nine and three Air Force taken on six and six
Bayler in Fort Worth at Amon G. Carter Stadium, home of the TCU
Horned Frogs. A seven thirty pm Eastern Standard time kickoff on Thursday, December
the second on ESPN. It is the Loan Bowl game of the day.
So if you're football starved until that point, I know, with bowl games
underway, you've got you know, games being played in exotic places at one
o'clock eleven am. So I'm sure on the twenty second is we're rounding the
turn, getting ready for Christmas. People are going to be thirsting for college
football and you're gonna get it that night on Thursday. This Thursday, Air
Force and Baylor seven thirty Eastern Standard time on ESPN. I think it's interesting
guys at Baylor. I mean, we've talked a little bit about it the
last few weeks since the matchup was announced, but you know, Baylor was
a six and a half point favorite, I believe when it started. Now
that line is they're down down to a four point favorite. The over under
started at forty nine and a half. That's now down to forty four even,
and you know, I just think it's interesting. I mean, Air
Force has one, what four street games over Power five opponents, none of
which were ranked, of course, but still their wins over Power five teams.
Baylor lost their last three games of the regular season, air Force has
won four in a row. Could not be going in more opposite directions because
we all know Bowl games are about who wants to be there the most and
who is, you know, the most fired up. But I still think
it's kind of odd that Baylor's the favorite, you know, having lost three
straight while Air Forces won four in a row. As we get ready for
kickoffs, team, Yeah, I think that the big thing about Baylor's losses
you have to look at who they were playing and who they lost too.
They lost at home to a very good Kansas State team that is the Big
Twelve champion. They lost by a point at home to TCU, and then
lost on the road to Texas, a team that is looking to take a
next step up. They move out of the Big Twelve and moved to the
SEC come next year. So I think that's part of the reason why the
Bears are are listed as the favorite, because they've had the much stronger schedule.
Let's face it, the air Force, being in the Mountain West,
didn't have the best schedule this year, and unfortunately, when the Chips were
down, the Falcons could not come up in a couple of those games that
they really needed in order to be, you know, a contender for the
Mountain West title, you know, losing against Wyoming and then losing again to
Utah State, those two those two games alone probably kept the Falcons from being
in the Mountain West championship game. We'll see what would have. We can
always go okay, would have, could have, should have there. But
I think that you know, you look at Baylor, uh, you know,
as as good as Kansas State and as good as TCU have been this
year, they're not gonna they haven't seen a running game like Air Force is
gonna bring. And that I think is going to be the big uh wake
up for the Baylor Bears. Is going to be uh watching Brad Roberts and
company go after their defense. I think that that's gonna be big for air
Force. Agree, Mike, And you know the you know Steve just talked
about, you know, I think running the football is going to be the
story of this game. Um, you know air force. I mean,
we obviously know what air forcesmo is. But Baylor likes to run the football
too, and has done so with a with a freshman running back Richard Reese
nine hundred and sixty two total yards by far the best on their team,
and has found the end zone fourteen times to lead that strong running game.
You know, sawmore Blake Shapings. You know, he's taking control of that
starting quarterback a spot. It's it's taken a few games, hasn't been great
lately in the last four games, only three touchdowns while he's thrown five intersection
interceptions. Not a big threat with his legs. So this is going to
be a game. I think that they're going to lean heavily on that running
game led by freshman Richard Reese. Might yeah, Price, you know what.
I got a preview of this game out on Last Word on College Football.
If anybody likes to read, check that out on Last Word on College
Football. I looked at really three things, but when I looked at this
game, I kind of felt like good z Any from the Princess Bride.
Great Baylor is six and six. Oh but wait, they're playing in Big
twelve a really good conference. Oh but wait, they've lost their last three
games. Oh but wait, Just like Steve said, it was against TCU
canonsa state in Texas, all show you really good teams. You know,
you kind of go back and forth. Does this glass have the poison in
it? Well, you know, if he gave it to me and then
he would expect me to drink it, but he would know I would expect
that, So he probably kept it frohimself, hoping I'll drink the non poison
first and switch it right for those Princess Bride fans out there, which we
should all be. So I kept going back. Yeah, inconceivable, right,
So I kept going back and forth on this game. But I think
so you hit a great point. Air Forces defense has been pretty solid all
year. I really think they're gonna focus, They're gonna make shape and beat
them from the quarterback position. They're I think they're gonna sell out to stop
Reeese and the Baylor running game. As you mentioned that the Baylor quarterback shape
and has not performed well in the last three games, with more interceptions and
touchdowns. And let's not forget going back to the offense. Air Force's offense
Let's not forget that Baylor head coach Dave rand to fire his defensive coordinator yes
after the end of the season, so they'll have a new defensive staff,
and they'll be without Devin Neil, a safety who is opting out of the
game. He had some injuries late in the season. Not sure if you
were have played any way for health, but he's opted out. So the
good news is Baylor gets fifteen practices to get ready for the Air Force triple
option. The bad news is they don't have a defensive poll neator and they
don't have their starting safety, and of course everybody knows safety is the guy
that's supposed to know. He's the guy that cleans up on the option.
So I really think, and we'll get to we'll get to our predictions later,
but I think I think and really the key here with a lot of
bowl and just like it is with a lot of ball games, it's the
motivation. What is Baylor playing for. Baylor's not playing really for anything,
right, They're they're putting film together for next year, probably gonna play a
couple of guys. They're looking at Air Forces playing for everything. You know,
these guys are you know, it's a bowl game for them, They're
they're going to be excited to tell academy teams are in the bowl games.
Army has had success in last year is beating Missouri, beating Houston, San
Diego State, Air Force one. Both the Air Forces won two bowl games
against Power five opponents, and they're the last four bowl games. So everything,
like you said, everything is trending towards Air Force, and we'll get
into our predictions later, but I like, I like Air Force at the
very least to cover, if not outright in this game. I'll get into
more detail on the dinner prediction section. Steve, what do you got,
Yeah, I definitely want to get inside the numbers on this mic and looking
at the defenses for each side. You can just tell when you look at
total defense for both the Air Force and Baylor which way things could be slanted
on the field. Because the Air Force falcons defense allowing just two hundred and
fifty six yards of offense per game, and under one hundred of that is
on the ground. So I know that Baylor's gonna want to try and run,
but Air Forces run defense has been shown to be one of the best
in the country. This year. Meanwhile, Baylor has allowed over three hundred
seventy yards of offense per games. So I really do think that that that's
going to be a very telling statement, especially if you could start seeing the
falcons. If they get one of those, say twelve thirteen fifteen play drives
in the first quarter, I mean that Bayer's defense might be all pooped out
by the by the third quarter. Well, if you're if you're the Baylor
offensive coordinator, what really scares you is the limited number of drives you're going
to get in this game. So where you're normally used to nine, ten
eleven drives in the game, if you go a guess a t care Force
where they ground the clock down, you're thinking, you know, I could
get somewhere between like seven or eight drives tops. So in that case,
what the offensive coordinator has to think through is do I want to waste the
first two or three drives trying to establish the run or do I want to
come out throwing and try to maximize the potential on every single drive I have.
That's that's obviously high risk, high reward because if you don't, if
you go three and out on to one or two of those first three drives,
you've played right into Air Force's hands. So that's that's the that's the
game scheme, the game planning. The Baylor offensive coordinator and the offensive staff
is going through right now trying to figure out how they want to attack not
only the air Force defense, but the but the situational football UH schematics as
well. Going into the game. Yeah, I think this is going to
be one of the quickest Bowl games of the entire Bowls season. I think
i'd say conservatively top three, provided it doesn't go to overtime. I think
this is a game that's gonna fly by. Um. You know. But
going back to something that you mentioned, Stephen in looking at the numbers,
you know again we're talking this is going to running the football is going to
be the story of this game. Baylor's four no. When they run for
over two hundred and thirty yards and they're five to one this season when they
run for over one seventy that loan loss was that last second loss to TCU.
The Falcons eight no. When they allow a fewer than one hundred and
fifteen yards rushing. You look at third down and I know that you know,
you can look at this statistic you know in almost any game you play,
but the sample size we've got of an entire season, to me tells
a big story. And the air Force defense, they have allowed their opponents
to convert just thirty percent on third down this season, while Baylor's opponents are
they're converting on forty five percent of their third down opportunities. That's a big
difference right there. I think third down might ultimately, you know, could
it be the key to this game getting off the field because we know the
Air Force is going to have a ton of of you know, third and
shorts just by running the triple option. I think the interesting thing here is
Dave Randa sliding back Mike into that defensive coordinator role that you know, he
was one of the easily, I think probably three best defensive coordinators along with
Brent Venables. You know, when he was at LSU and they went fifteen
to no won that national championship, and then obviously he's hired over it at
Baylor. UM, maybe I have that number wrong, but you know,
they fired Ron Roberts a defensive coordinator at the end of the regular season.
Now Randa taking over his DC, I think he's gonna have some fun and
relish being back in that DC spot, you know, because that's a guy
that just David Randa knowing you know, people that have worked with him.
He loves being in the trenches. I mean, he loves that knows to
the grind. But I think that third down story could be massive in this
football game. Guys. Yeah, that could very well be one of The
defensive coordinator got fired at forty five percent success right opponent success right on third
down. That's that's just gut punching. You can't you can't allow teams to
make nearly fifty percent of their third downs. You're not gonna win a lot
of games that way. All right. The Falcons are in Fort Worth.
They've been there for a couple days, uh, practicing at Kennondale High School
there in Fort Worth. Eight Falcons going home to play in their home state
of Texas. Tickets are still on sale at go air Force Falcons dot com.
We're gonna give you our predictions here in just a few minutes, as
well as here from Isaac Concheran, the offensive lineman senior from conquered North Carolina,
first All American for the Falcon since nineteen ninety two as he checked in
on the Walter Camp second Team just a week ago, First Team All mountain
Less. But real quickly at Taylor of the tape. You know, we
told you about the direction these teams that are going in. This will be
the fourth all time meeting between Baylor and Air Force. In Baylor his won
all three going back several years, but both these teams have had success in
bowl games. Air Force has won three straight bowl games lately. Baylor has
won four of its last five in the postseason, going back to the end
of the Art Briles era in twenty fifteen. So obviously motivation. You know,
Baylor's been pretty good about that, getting the getting their team and their
players, you know, fired up and ready to go. Here's the guy
that's pretty fired up in Isaac Cochrane. Caught up with him just yesterday as
he's on the ground in Fort Worth. Talked to me about the NFL half
coming up, preparing for Baylor. A barbecue is Texas barbecue better than what
he has in his home state in North Carolina. We covered a lot of
ground, but here's Air Force senior All American offensive lineman Isaac Cochrane, and
we'll be back with our Armed Forces Bowl predictions right after our interview. All
right, welcome back in Yards and Stripes, your home for Service Academy Football
now honored to be joined by Air Force six five senior offensive lineman Isaac cochrane,
recently named a Walter Camp All American, just the fifth Falcon ever to
earn that award, in the first since nineteen ninety two. As Air Force
in Fort Worth preparing for the Lockeed Martin Armed Force's Bowl against Baylor on Thursday
December of the twenty second. Isaac, Welcome in, man. How's it
going. What a fantastic season you guys have put together with the Baylor Bears
on deck there in the Armed Forces Bowl. Yeah, thank you. It's
been Yeah, preparation has been going really good. Just came down here and
we're practicing together. Everyone's moving good, everyone's playing focused and you know,
ready to bow themselves to the game now before we talk about you know,
the game and a little bit about what you guys expect and playing Baylor on
the twenty second. You know this senior campaign for you. You came to
Air Forces a I guess a quote unquote walk on. You're nominated for the
burs Worth burls Worth Trophy, given to the most outstanding football player who began
their career as a walk on and shown outstanding performance on the fields. That
you've come such a long way. Just kind of take us through how you
got to the academy, kind of betting on yourself. It is a quote
unquote walk on to now an All American as a senior. Yeah, I
mean it's it's all been a huge honor and really crazy. Yeah, just
how I ended up at the academy. You know, I had known about
the academies for a long time. I knew they were an option, and
you know, I started looking into the football program, thought, you know,
maybe I could get them to offer me or maybe I could get on
the team. And so, you know, I talk to the coaches.
They told me to um fill out an application, got in talk to the
coaches again. I was like, hey, I'm in. Can I just
pretty much have a spot? Yeah, They're like yeah, sure. And
just getting to the academy, seeing the quality of all the players around me,
having some great upperclassmen to look up to and really helped me get to
this point. Great coaching and all, and a lot of effort. Yeah,
absolutely. Of course, God's blessings really helped me get here. And
it's been quite a I mean really a quite a ride for you and for
all the seniors. You know, obviously with you know, going through the
COVID season and you know, just the ups and downs that you know,
you guys at the academy, everybody around the country, you know experience,
but especially as a student athlete, you know, in a cadet at the
Air Force Academy, this is quite a journey. M yeah, husband,
what about your service selection? What did you what have you service selected for
you know, post graduation? So you know, right now it still depends
on that bill that was signed. But right now I'm planning on delaying my
commission to UH to attempt an NFL career. What are the scouts, because
I was going to ask you about that. What is you know in terms
of the National Football League? What are you hearing from the scouts? You
know, as far as you know, a possible draft pick maybe what round?
You know, what are they saying you know about your you know,
your professional you know, prospects to play in the NFL. UH I've heard
like possible late round draft pick or priority free agent so what so what it
with the bill that's you know, pending in Congress it likely could be signed,
the Defense Authorization, you know, I mean, I guess what are
your thoughts on that? Because you know, when you come to the academy,
you you you basically have an understanding that you know it would be an
option provided you know, not that that was why you went to the Air
Force Academy. I think it's probably every athlete's dream to play pro, you
know, especially in college football, to play in the NFL. But you
know, you come there and you know the rule change basically almost at the
eleventh hour. I know Andre Carter have read some stories about him at Army,
you know, having to deal with this and you know, what is
he going to do? What are your thoughts on this? You know,
this this rule that can law that could be passed. Well, you know,
I find it kind of frustrating, you know, I feel I feel
like whenever a player goes to the NFL, like look at Ben Garland or
Jordan Jackson coming out of Air Force and even the other academies, like you
have Villanueva coming out of Army and playing go line for so many years,
that is huge publicity and public support for the academies and the military as a
whole. Yeah, And I feel like beyond the personal aspect of like pursuing
that dream and pursuing a career, I feel like also in regard it's the
public support of the military and the academies, it's it's a big deal.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, And you've got other guys on your team.
I know that you know, have got, you know, certainly a shot
to play in the National Football League and Pro Football themselves won't go through all
their names, but I mean ones that people recognize, Ben Sandford, you
know, Brett Roberts, yourself, and several others. So I gotta imagine
this's a collective frustration by not just you but everybody about potentially what could or
what might or might not happen. Yeah, there there is. But you
know, right now, we can only focus on the things we control,
yes, right, and so that's just beating Baylor. Yeah, and beyond
that, we'll have to work with the people at the academy and just all
the different organizations that run everything to really see what we can get done.
Yeah. As we're talking with Isaac Cochrane six five senior, all American from
the Air Force Academy and native of conquered North Carolina. You can follow him
on Twitter at Isaac Cochrane nineteen ninety nine. And you know, can gratulations
are in order, Isaac, because bringing that Commander in Chief Trophy home two
Colorado Springs, I meant, what better way could you want to go out
as a senior than bring I mean, that is the goal I know for
you guys is winning that trophy. Obviously, you know, to cap it
with a win against Baylor and Armed Forces Bowl. But how much does that
mean going out as a senior and knowing that that trophy is in the Springs?
Oh, it means everything. You know, Army and Navy, you
could it's one of those rivalries that if you win two games a year and
their Army and Navy, then you walked away with a good season. Yeah.
So to be able to bring bring that trophy home in my last year,
first time in six years, it really meant everything. Absolutely. You
know, obviously you guys had won the trophy, so really I don't want
to say the Army Navy game was meaningless, you know for either of those
schools, But in terms of the Commander in Chief trophy winning that it was
meaning listed. I mean, did you watch did you even watch the Army
Navy game? I mean I mean in past years there was you know,
the trophy on the line depending on what happened with Army. But did this
year? Did did you even you know, tune in to see what happened?
Yeah? I mean I watched a bit, just went out and got
some dinner with some friends, hanging out. It's the only college football game
on that week? Yeah. Yeah. Um, what's it like blocking for
a guy like Brad Roberts because I know you guys have a lot of pride
on the offensive line. What semi finalist for the Joe More Award for the
best offensive line in college football? You know, doing the jobs that you
guys do and sing it all come together. I mean it wasn't just this
year. He's had a great career, so have you in in that offensive
line? But you know, blocking for a guy like Brad, blocking for
a guy like Hasey Daniels, A couple of guys that are you know,
electric when they get the football in their hands. Yeah, it's I mean
it's really awesome. They make it easy, you know. I I don't
have to go like of course, and of course I tried to, but
I don't have to go in above and beyond to get them through the hole.
Yeah. In fact, I could make a mistake and they'll still break
a run for forty yards. Yeah. Just knowing that I have runners of
that caliber and knowing that, um, you know, they'll be able to
whenever I do something or make a good hole or something like that, that
they'll be able to really use it and explode through there and get us a
lot of yards. It's a lot of fun and it's really easy to block
for them. Yeah, no doubt about that. All Right, does you
guys get ready for Baylor again Thursday December the twenty second, seven thirty Eastern
Standard time kickoff against six and six Baylor in the Armed Forces Bowl. You
know, what is it in terms of you guys, what are y'all working
on this week? I know fundamentals are always going to be important, but
when you watch Baylor on tape, I mean, what's going to be the
most critical thing offensively for you guys to be able to move the football,
be able to run the football like you want to against Dave Randa's defense.
Well, it's it's gonna be the same thing it is every week. It
depends on the old line and the backs that are blocking, and are we
going to be able to move them? Because if we can control the line
of scrimmage, you know, our offense can really survive off of four yards
to play yep. So if we can control the line of scrimmage for the
entire game, then we'll come out on top. And to get that tenth
win, you know, I know that's you know, not going to be
the driving motivational factor, but also you know, the motivation of playing a
Power five opponent, you know in Baylor, you guys have played them before
in bowl game Washington State, I think one of the most recent ones that
comes to mind. And but the chance to go up against one of these
teams from like the Big twelve, the Big ten, you know, the
SEC You know how how I know that there's got to be something driving you
guys, you know, in the motivation to go out and you know,
put that best foot forward and show, hey, look we can play some
darn good football. The mount Less at the Academy as well. Yeah,
of course there is. I mean, you look at the guys on the
team. You know, none of us were recruited to that level. None
of us were really desired by Baylor, or by Louisville, or by Washington
State or by Colorado. Yep. But we always go out and we play
as hard as we can, and every time we try to prove that we
can compete with them. Yeah, there's there's really no great difference in the
Power five, in the group of five, yep. You know. So
it's it's a good challenge. It's a great challenge. But we know that
we can play with them and compete with them and still come out dominant.
All right, Isaac, before we let you go. I mean, you're
there in Fort Worth getting ready for the for the bowl game. You know
there's some durn good barbecue in that neck of the woods. But you're from
conquered North Carolina, just just north of Charlotte. You know, does does
the Texas brisket? Does Texas barbecue have anything on what they what they've got
back home and in North Carolina, I gotta go with my Carolina pulled pork.
What have you got? Go ahead? Texas has great brisket, but
nothing comes close to Carolina pulled pork. I hear you now, have you
got to have any of that brisket yet in Texas? If not, do
you have some at least on the menu? At some point is a pregame
meal, whether it be the day of the game or you know, lead
up to the game. I'm sure we do. I'll just show up and
eat whatever they give me. You're just happy to be fed, right,
Isaac? Exactly? Yeah, Well, look, congratulations on a fantastic season
nine and three. Is you guys get ready for Baylor? All American first,
All American as a falcon of any kind since Dave Shrek in nineteen ninety
two. Quite the honor, Isaac, And we're honored to have a few
minutes with you here on Yards and Stripes. Good lucking go get him against
Baylor. We'll be pulling hard for you, buddy. Thank you? All
right? That was Isaac Cocher, appreciate the senior All American again from conquer
North Carolina. He's excited, clearly, he and his teammates wanting to get
that tenth win to finish the season ten and three with a win over Baylor
in the Armed Forces Bowl this Thursday. Guy's prediction time, who wants to
fire first? Michael, You're the man of the hour. Yeah, So
I think air Force shuts down Reese. I think they dedicate seven men's to
shutting down the running game. I think they put it in Blake Shapin's hands.
I don't think Blake shape is able to get it done. I think
air Force controls this game. Not only this air Force cover they win the
game twenty seven twenty. So I guess I'm hitting the over there. I
think I was on the under before. Now I think I'm on the over.
So I got air Force twenty seven Baylor twenty. That's where I'm going
with Steve. What did you got? Yeah, I think you're gonna see
a lot of the same things that I agree that. You know, seven
eight men in the box, you're gonna you're gonna force Baylor to try and
win the game through the air. And if you do that, I think
that air Force has a really good shot. And especially if you're only gonna
have seven or eight drives in the entire game to try and uh score points,
I think that Baylor's in trouble. I also like the over rid on
it as well. I have twenty eight twenty four, I have air Force
beating Baylor. All right, We're all air Force, and I'm gonna make
it a clean sweep. I also think the Falcons win the game as well.
I think they win it by ten. I think it's twenty three to
thirteen. I think we're gonna see some field goals. I think we're gonna
see some stops. I think teams are gonna have to kick it, you
know, and get some points, you know, with their special teams.
But I like Air Force with a solid ten point win. I think trying
to get ready for the triple option. Just I know you got fifteen practices
to do it. I know Dave Randa is one of the best in the
business. I just don't know. I just you know, in that short
period of time after you're seeing the kind of offenses that you do week in
a week out in the Big twelve. I just don't know if Baylor is
going to be ready for this, especially led by motivated Brad Roberts and so
many, so many key seniors on this Air Force team. They're gonna be
trying to go out a winner. They're in fort work, guys, all
right, we got a whole lot more to do here. We've got coaching
changes. We've got an NFL potential situation involving our academy athletes, especially Isaac
Cochran, who you heard from. Who he what he just talked about just
in a few minutes ago in that interview from Fort Worth Andre Carter, who
has looked at as a potential first round draft pick. We're going to talk
about that. We got our Travismannon foundation on a roll and if you news
the notes to pass along as we get out of here and get ready for
the Christmas holidays along with you all our listeners, So we'll come back.
We got a lot more to do here on this episode of Yards and Stripes.
Don't go anywhere. It's everything you need to know about service Academy football.
Yards and Stripes continues here once again our Price, Steve and Mike,
welcome back in Now we got you all set for the Lockeed Martin Armed Forces
Bowl. We're gonna pivot a little bit talk about some coaching changes, coaching
hires, and potential NFL future of Andre Carter the second and possibly a few
other standout Academy football players. But before we do that, I want to
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gentlemen, as we get ready to talk about these coaching changes, I
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Gridiron Coast to Coast. It's that simple wherever you get your podcasts. Guys,
it didn't take long at the Naval Academy in Annapolis to name a head
coach last week. Ken Niamakalolo is out hours after the Army Navy game.
Well, we find out today as we're recording Monday, that Brian Newberry,
the defensive coordinator, is going to take over as the fortieth head coach in
program history. Seceding is form boss Ken Niamatalolo, Navy Athletic director check Gladchuck
making that announcement as they have removed the interim tag from Brian Newberry as he
was named the interim head coach. It took less what about ten days,
if even that, for it to become official, as in twenty twenty two,
Navy finished six in the country against the run, which is, you
know, a lot of ways even more impressive we consider it was the only
defense ranked in the top twenty five that faced three of the top ten rushing
offenses in the country. Navy also finished eighth nationally and the few us first
downs allowed, twentieth in sacks and twenty second fumbles recovered, and twentieth in
total defense. Newberry spent the last four seasons at Navy as the defensive coordinator,
coming to Annapolis from Kennesaw State, where he worked under head coach Brian
Bohannon, a former Navy assistant, and Newberry was a twenty twenty semifinalists for
the Broils Award, presented annually to the best assistant college football. A native
of Oklahoma City, played at Westmore High School, then went on to Baylor
and helped the Bears in a nineteen ninety four appearance in the Alamo Ball while
capturing a share of the old Southwest Conference. So Brian Newberry taking over,
it's kind of what we thought what we were hearing that was likely Newbery's to
lose unless something funky happened. But Glad Chuck has just continually praised his organization
as work ethic, and now he's going to be the headman in charge at
the Naval Academy. What do you guys think? Yeah, for me,
I think you are absolutely right when we talked last week that Newberry was the
smart money choice and that it was going to be his job to lose.
I'm kind of surprised that. As much as I was surprised that the firing
of Kenya Mattalolo came when it did, I was not surprised that it did
not take long for the interim tag to be taken off of Coach Newberry.
You're absolutely right when you're looking at what he accomplished with the Midshipman this year,
and especially his success in stopping the run, I think that that makes
him probably the best candidate. You know, then there are plenty of other
candidates that we've seen that were out there. I know that there was a
lot of talk about guys at Kennesaw State that may be wanting to come to
the Naval Academy, and maybe some of the assistants may still come because he
still has to finish filling out his staff. I know that the head coach
at the Citadel was another guy that was being considered, but I really do
think that coach Newberry was the right choice to make. And now the question
is how does he finish filling out his staff? And that's something that we'll
be able to keep track of as the months. As the months passed,
as you know, the end, as the end of the school year comes
and you start looking towards spring football, that's when you're gonna start seeing,
Okay, this is what the Navy staff is going to look like, and
this is what the offense is going to look like. I think we all
know what we're gonna get from Navy's defense. The question is what are we
going to see offensively? Mike any surprise to Newberry and where do you think
they go? The big question is what are they gonna do as with an
offensive coordinator? I mean surprise, No, I understand how palace politics works.
Here. Here's my thing. If you've got a top ranked defense and
you fire the offensive minded head coach, wouldn't you want to go out and
you already have a top defensive coach on staff. Wouldn't you want to go
out and get a top offensive guy to come in and manage your team that
whose central identity is around the offensive system then they run. I mean,
was Newberry gonna leave if he didn't get the head coaching job. I don't,
I don't, I don't know. I don't think. So it just
seems to me like, if you have that position available, I mean,
is Brian Bohannon going to come in and work for the guy that he used
to be the boss for he gonna Is he gonna leave as head coaching position
at an up and coming FCS school that in a few years will make the
transition to FBS to be an offensive coordinator at Navy? I don't know.
It just seems like, unless all this stuff is already in place, it
doesn't seem to be a real good strategic move for Gladchuck at Navy, particularly
for a guy in Gladchuck who fires Jasper fires near Montealolo minutes after the Army
Navy laws, and when he does his interviews he makes it sound like he
really understands flex bone option offense. So I to me, it just and
Newberry is a great coach, very good defensive coach. No issue with the
hire, and I understand you know how the palace politics work, so no
surprise. I just from a strategic perspective, I just I don't know that
it makes I just don't know that makes a ton of sense for Gladchuck to
do what he's doing. I think the one name if Navy could have gotten
him and you were to go outside the quote unquote family and especially to go
offense, I don't know he would have done it. But Mike Thieeson,
the long time offensive coordinator at the Air Force Academy, he might have been
a guy I think that you look at he's never been a head coach,
has worked under Troy Calhoun for a long long time. That might have been
the direction if you're going to go that route, because as we talked about,
you know, outside of Brian Bohan and there was nobody that really jumped
off from the Navy side of the family. And then you look around the
academies, you know, as you know, looking today, you know,
as we're going to get to it here in a second, as you know,
Army had a very brief opening and offensive coordinator that's now been filled.
Some of the names I saw mentioned there, you know, I could see
and I don't want to say stomach, it's not the right word for it,
but like a you know, was that Brett Thompson, former Citadel head
coach that was fired this year? You know, somebody like that. But
at the end of the day, you know it was Newberries to lose.
But I completely agree with you and understand where you're coming from. Um,
you know, on the Glad Shuck move to just to elevate Newberry, because
it seems like that was kind of the plan that was in place. And
when you hear Gladshuck talk, I mean he's gushed about Newberry. Really since
the Nia Matalolo firing, it kind of would have made you look around to
see if it wasn't him, who is it going to be and why was
it not Brian Newberry? But that took literally a matter of days. I
think you're comment this is probably not for tonight's show, but I think your
comments are pretty interesting. Is more and more of the FC top tier FCS
schools and kind of lower G five schools go away from the triple option and
or the flex bone, and you've had Monkin and Niam Matalolo in their positions
for so long. Paul Johnson out of the game for so long. Yeah,
I think were I think we've noticed here there's just a dearth of triple
option slash flex bone coaches. You know that the bench there has gotten really
short. Yeah, I mean, I mean when you think about it,
you really there's only one guy on the bench that's kind of an up and
coming triple option flex bone guy, and that's that's Bohanna at Kanessas State.
Yeah. You used to have Georgia Southern. I think they went away from
it. A couple of the FCS schools I've kind of went away from it.
So that's for another show. But it's pretty interesting to highlights as we
look at who's going to be the offensive coordinator from Navy under Newberry. All
right, speaking of Army, Brent Davis, we find out over the weekend
that Brent Davis, longtime offensive coordinator at Army then with Jeff Munk in the
last nine seasons there, he is out along with fullbacks coach Jason Nichols.
Jason Nichols was on the job for one season. He will not be back
for a year or two with the Black Night. So with Davis and Nichols
out reports surfacing tonight, I think our friend south Er Denano with Black Knight
Nation had at first, I correct me if I'm wrong, Mike. But
tonight we find out that tight ends coach current Army tight end coach Mike Matt
Drinkle in Nebraska Carney offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Drew Thatcher. They will serve
his co offensive coordinators. Thatcher will call the plays in his design system for
the Black Nights this coming season under Brent Davis, Nate Army never finished lower
than twelfth in rushing offense, finished first only once going back to twenty seventeen,
but they were second in rushing offense in sixteen, eighteen, twenty one,
and again this season in twenty two, but struggled against the academies Black
Knight's managing just one hundred and fifty three total yards and the double overtime went
over Navy in just seventy eight yards on the ground and the loss to air
force. So you know, needing to shake something up and they're obviously doing
that. Going with drewth Thatcher from Nebraska Carney, Mike, Yeah, I'll
du Cretz a sou he's the one breaking the news. It's gonna be really
interesting to see how much of Thatcher's system he brings with him and how much,
if any, he melts it With the Jeff munkin Paul Johnson flexbone offense,
Thatcher runs kind of a what kind of commonly known as a power spread,
So he's working out of the shotgun a lot with running back to the
left, working really out of a ten or eleven set for those not superfu
for those that don't nerd out on football like me, that means one running
back, one tight end. At Nebraska Kearney, they really ran a lot
of three wide I don't know that you'll see that at Army. I think
I think you'll probably see more a lot of a twelve personnel, one running
back, two tight ends, maybe one or two receivers. He does do
some stuff out of a shotgun max, so you have two running backs on
either side of the quarterback. But it is a running based system a lot
of their path They do do a little bit more passing in that system than
than the flex bone, but you see a lot of kind of West Coast
short intermediary passes they're all conference running back a couple of years ago. Dayton's
I'll get his name in a second, but he his name, he was,
I can't remember his name, Dayton Seeley was his name. His highlight
reel is just cluttered with middle screens. Right, So middle screens. You'll
see some seam routes from the slot backs, similar to what you see kind
of in the in the monk and offense now, and then a lot of
out ruts to the flat. You don't see a lot of deep passing attack.
So so it'll be interest and see how much they take the system that
Thatcher runs now. And I know Sal's article said that that that Thatcher will
call the plays out of his system, but it's interest and see how much
he'll change this system as he gets to West Point and adapts to the athletes
he has there rather than the athletes he had at Nebraska. Kearney, Yeah,
that's exactly what I was thinking, was that, you know, you
can say that he's going to call the plays out of his system, but
how much of his system can he use when the athletes are different. I
mean, yes, it's D two where where U n K is as opposed
to being in Division one FBS. That's quite the jump for a coach going
from a OC and quarterbacks coach because UH in Division two to being a co
offensive coordinator at an FBS school. And so I am going to be curious
to see just how much of the of his system can be used when you
are going to go max protect, to use an NFL term, going with
the two tight ends and a running back or a single tight end and two
running backs as a max protect, that could be could be a very interesting
UH set up to say the least, especially seeing Army in shotgun. I
don't know how much shotgun you're going to see out of this. Well if
if you notice that the Army Navy game, they started the game and ran
almost all the first half and potentially most of the game with Kay Ballard out
of the shotgun with Tyre Tyler right next to him. The other issue is
that this is a growing issue. But the other thing to point out is
this is a growing trend in football. This is kind of kind of the
you know, hate to go to the Tennessee thing, but this is not
Tennessee related kind of was to the Josh Hypel philosophy of offense, where you
spread out. You could see Army throw three wide receivers out there and and
spread the field out from sidelines to sideline. What that does, obviously,
is it reduces the numbers in the box for the running game. A lot
of people don't realize that Hypel's offense, even at Tennessee and at UCF ran
the ball as much as they throw the ball, it's a it's it's closer
to the flex bone than it is to leech and mummies air raid from a
philosophical perspective, so you could see Army spread it out. Just because they
have three wide receivers doesn't mean they're gonna throw it to them. They're just
getting the numbers out of the box from a from a philosophy aspect. I'm
curious for both of your guys thoughts on this. And I know that you
know that Check Glatchock had said this upon the firing of Kennia Mantalolo, that
you know, this was going to be all about the triple option, and
it was going to be and they were looking for coaches. But as Mike
mentioned, you know, there is kind of a u there's a dry there's
a dry spell. I mean, we've hit. We've hit the riverbed here,
the dry riverbed for triple option coaches. I wonder how much longer the
Service academies are going to be able to go with the triple option without having
to recycle coaches. I mean having you know, going going from having Numattaloo
be the head coach at Navy to being the offensive coordinator air Force to being
the offensive Coordinatored Army, I mean the coach at Army. I mean it
would be it would be very interesting to see how much the addition of Drew
Thatcher at Army may hasten A. I don't want to call it a move
away from the triple option, but an evolution of the offense again to try
and mold uh, you know, these plays for these athletes at these academies.
I'm excited to see it because of exactly what you're talking about, you
know a little bit of a. I don't think you have completely abandon you
know, triple option. You know you can run Look, you can run
the same offense and look different doing it out of one hundred different ways.
Whether you're running triple option, how the shotgun, you're running it out of
a flex bone, running out of the wishbone, I mean, the multitude
of ways to do it. I think that's likely what we're going to see,
you know, as Mike articulated with Thatcher's offense he had at Nebraska,
Carney, you know, in mixing it up, show it, you know,
not just being what you know the other academies in a lot of ways
look like. But I think at the end of the day, I don't
think you can get away like Paul Johnson always, you know, used to
joke about it and call you know what, all these other teams, almost
everybody around the country unless you're you know, basically Leech and Mummy or the
academies. But what he called the NCAA offense. Everybody wants balanced, they
want to throw it and they want to pass it. And Johnson always called
it the NSA offense. I don't think the academies can run the NSA offense
because I don't think they have the athletes to do it. I remember watching
Todd Berry try and do it for several years. Can't do it with the
academies. You've got to be different, and I think the triple option is
what gives him that advantage by being different, like and Steve to your point,
Let's not forget that Paul Johnson's flexbone was an adaptation of the original triple
option. So you start with the you start with the smokestack eye option made
famous by Bud Wilkinson in Oklahoma in the fifties. Then you move to the
wishbone offense. The reason why the flexbone works so well for Paul Johnson is
because in the wishbone and the Smokestack Ee option, you have to have big,
beefy offensive lineman because you want to power, you want to move the
line of scrimmage forward. So the quarterback makes the decision, he's already one
yard, you know, one yard more one yard forward to the line of
scrimmage when he hits the end. With the flexbone, you don't have to
have those huge linemen. And that's really when you talk about getting athletes to
the academy, you're really the cruck. The crux of that is the offensive
lineman. You can't have normally, you can't have six five, three hundred
and thirty pound offensive lineman like you have. That's what unless your air force
and right because because you got to go to the army or the navy,
of the Air Force say, I don't know if you guys have been on
sub lately, but six five, three hundred and thirty pound dudes don't do
very well on games, right. So that's why Paul Johnson's flexment was perfect
for the academies because you use the speed and the skill of smaller offensive linemans
to get the same effect as you did under the traditional uh smokestack, eye
and wishbone options where they had the much larger offensive linemen. So to your
point, this might be the next evolution. And when we talk for Army
Navy Week, we talked about the evolutionary divergence of the flexbone offense between Monk
and and Nea Montalolo. Now that they've been nine years separated. This might
be Monkin's way of the next evolutionary step of the flexbone or the triple option
offense as they move into the next era of service academy football, the era
where transfer portal is a consideration nil pulling kids away. Maybe this is Monk
and looking forward and saying, hey, how do we need to posture ourselves
going forward to make sure we don't fall behind in this new era of college
football. It's gonna be interesting to see for sure. Yeah, and it's
not uncommon as interesting as it looks on a depth chart to see a six
three, two hundred and seventy five pound left or right tackle. You saw
those often at the academies, especially because you know, you know, you're
undersize. Usually in general, you're not six four two ninety or six five
two ninety coming in as like a left guard. I mean, these guys
are usually a little bit undersized, and so the speed as well, like
you mentioned, to be able to get up block and go quickly. You
know, that's I mean, that's the name of the game. I can't
wait to see it and see how it runs and see how it looks,
especially once he gets to Army and see. Honestly, what's what we hear
and we find out coming out of spring practice, might is that new offense
is instituted. All right, let's let's pivot a little bit more. We're
going to stay with the Academy as an Army specifically as Andre Carter the Second's
future in terms of his potential NFL draft spot is that in peril now,
as we find out from the Military Times, their first they were the first
ones to report it on December at the eighth because in the section in section
five hundred and fifty three of the National Defense Authorization Act, which has been
passed by both bodies, the House and the Senate, it now sits at
President Biden's desk, to which he has not as of this recording, has
not signed it. But in section five fifty three of the National Defense Authorization
Bill, which annually appropriates the defense budget for the military, which includes academies,
here the language states quote an agreement by a cadet or midshipman to play
professional sport constitutes a breach of service obligation end quote. And that bill again
is sitting on President Biden's desk, where he is now basically being forced to
decide between signing that annual defense budget or deciding on the military vaccine mandate,
because there is a mandate that was added a rider that was added to this
bill removing the vaccine mandate in the US military. Mike's probably somewhat familiar with
this, but it's something that's now thrown the bill. I'm not going to
speak for the White House of the President, but it's now kind of thrown
the bill's future in jeopardy is we don't know which way Biden is going to
go with it. But one thing I can tell you is that Mike Gallagher,
Republican Congressman from Wisconsin's eighth district, who was the one that offered the
amendment to the original bill. He said in a statement to ESPN quote,
I'll be working with my colleagues to identify a legislative fix that addresses this issue
by grandfathering in existing athletes into the current system. End quote. He goes
on to say, the US Military service academies exist to produce war fighters,
not professional athletes. End quote. So as we sit here right now,
the future of Andre Carter the second you heard Isaac Cochrane all American offensive lineman
from air Forts. He weighed in on it earlier. This is a thing,
even going back to when I worked at the academies from two thousand to
oh four, I had a couple of baseball players. One that was draft
in the thirteenth round by Matt Foster, scared off, probably would have gone
maybe top ten rounds. But because especially at the time, drafting profession or
drafting service academy athletes into professional sports, we've gone back and forth with this,
you know, And honestly, a lot of ways is depending on the
administration. It's depending on who's in charge of dald what has been allowed,
because a lot of times you have to apply. If there's not language like
we are now reading that is in the National Defense Authorization Bill, it might
be up to like the second half the Secretary of the Navy or the Secretary
of the Army, a waiver would be filed and would basically go sit on
their desk to the side. And I know during wartime service academy athletes,
you know, they weren't. This was a big contention point during that time
during the Iraq War in Afghanistan, in the War on Terror, that a
lot of the service Academy athletes weren't allowed to do it. But now we
have specific language basically stating it's quote a breach of service obligation. Mike,
what's your thoughts on this? Yeah, I just don't get it. I
don't get it. One, the mission academist is to train the corps and
brigades to be leaders of characters, to provide for the common defense and be
prepared to service officers in the services. So that that's one you can do
that. You don't have to do that immediately pun graduation. Two, here's
where I don't get We make exceptions for other gifted people. We send you
know, the military Army sends two or three, four or five cadets a
year to Oxford for two years to get their Rhodes Scholarship on Navy every now
and then sends one or two. You know, they're not quite as academically
proficient as West Point. Yeah, okay, so, but but seriously back
to the legislation. And then three, here's where I really don't get about
it. This is so simple. The solution here is so simple. Put
the kid gets drafted in the in the NFL, or get signed to a
UFA contract within five days after the draft. Put them in reserve status,
right and then whenever it once they have six months where they are not under
contract, then their active duty commitment commences, they can be in reserve status.
It's in the NFL, they can do two weeks. They can do
two weeks twice a year. Easy. This is so simple. It blows
my mind that we have conversations about this in legislation that get snuck in at
the last minute. It's it's simple. It's it's it's it's common sense making
them a reserve status. When they're playing days are over, then they can
serve their five year commitment. This is what we do. Look, if
you graduate the academy and you serve your five years active duty, you're going
into the reserves until eight years. Anyway, it's a reserve commission that becomes
active once you go into the military. I don't understand this. This is
simple, this is easy. It's simple. I don't understand how we continue
to get this wrong. It's one or two guys every three or four years
per academy. Why can we not get this right? This is simple.
Yeah, I don't get this at all, because, as Mike pointed out,
we're talking about a very very very few. I mean, you're you're
talking about how how big is a is a normal graduating class of a service
academy? And Mike, you know this because you've graduated from the Service Academy.
I was ranked nine hundred and seventeen out of nine sixty six soft.
So yeah, so there's between nine hundred and a thousand. No, but
but there's there's between nine hundred and a thousand graduates per year, per academy,
and we're talking about one or two every four years or so, so
we're talking about something that is, you know, one tenth of one percent
of the entire graduating class combined of all the service academies. You should be
able to case there it's exceptional, and it should be determined by a case
by in a case by case basis. You could put that in the in
the in the law, you can say that there will be that there are
exceptions, that there are exceptional cases, and they will be determined in a
case by case basis. And I think if you ask Congressman Gallagher, well,
if he asked him this, he wouldn't agree. But when he says,
you know, the US military academies exist to produce war fighters, not
professional athletes. While most players at Navy, Army, Air Force, you
know, probably all have that pipe dream in the back of their head to
want to go play in the NFL. I'm just here to tell the Congressman
that they're not going to any of the three of the academies because that's where
their NFL dream is going to be best. You know, they're going to
be best achieving that dream through the academies and that's no slight on the academies.
If if you're Andre Carter, the second six seven All World athlete,
you know, it's one of these things where he's overlooked by the big boys,
you know, unless unless there was some situation where he just had his
absolute marry heart set on serving his country, which I don't think that he
did. He was understanding of the policy when they got there. But now
for that, you know, his parents said for that runt rug to be
pulled from out from under at the last minute. Worst case situation, absolutely
worst case in my book. If this is going to stand and this bill
is signed by the president, you got to look at it on a case
by case basis and go back and you know, apply for a waiver or
something. But it's got to be grandfathered in. There's no way you can
penalize Andre Carter, the second Isaac Cochrane and others without the scene being grandfathered
in. Because they came to academy with the rule stating it was one way,
and then for it to be changed that's not the academy or military way
as it is either to spring something. It's all about planning and preparation in
the modern era of the service academies. I am comfortable betting an entire paycheck
that not a single football player thought to themselves that going to the Air Force
Academy, Army or Navy was the best route for them to get to the
NFL. Not a single football player in the last forty years has thought that
going to a service academy was I had a dream of playing, ann felt
when I went to West Point. I didn't even play for the football team.
Right. So a lot of kids have a dream of playing in the
NFL, but they go to the service academy for something else. It's it's
to be part of the brigade midshipment, to be part of the core cadets
and to get that invaluable life experience. And for a small few of them,
magic happens. They develop, they grow, something happens, and they
get that shot. We send guys to We send guys in Gallis to medical
schools straight out. We send people to Rhodes scholars straight out. There are
other people who do other exceptional things when they get out. I do not
know how we mess this. This is super simple. Put them on reserve
status when they're done. If they can't be on a contract within six months
they're playing, they officially consider playing career over by the Army, and then
they come in serve their commitment whatever it is, five four or five years.
It's that simple. You can be an Army officer at thirty two.
You can be an Army officer at forty two years old. I know,
right, But you can't be you can't be an NFL football player coming out
of Army, Navy, or Air Force unless you do it as soon as
you come out of the academy. Well that's not true, a villain a
way of it. But there will that's that's an exception to the exception.
Yeah, there will be a few people that would say, and that would
be out there to say that, oh, no, we're you know,
we're we're at war or we're you know currently you know, are we gonna
miss one player? No one offer. Are those same people signing up to
go to this war? No they're not. But in what I was gonna
say is they're in the very very strict minority. The majority of people would
say, this is fantastic pr for the for West Point, for Annapolis,
for the Air Force Academy, this is fantastic pr for the United States Army,
the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the us in
the United States Marine Corps, the majority of people it would have that that's
it. This is such a benefit not just for you know that clearly the
student athlete or you know, obviously cadet or midshipman um the academies and the
institution that they would be serving ultimately, which in Andre Carter the seconds situation
would be the United States Army. I just don't I'm with you, Mike,
this this is a very simple thing. I don't know why we have
the flip flop and continue to change this which has changed so many times over
the last twenty years. But when we graduated high school, before I went
to West Point, I could name four graduates of the Naval Academy, Roger
Stallback, Joe Blini, David David Robinson, and Jimmy Carter. Yeah,
there we go. So, I mean, we'll see. I just hope
that it's just gonna be interesting to watch, especially as the President going to
sign or not sign the bill, and if he does sign it, what
might happen thereafter? All Right, we gotta get out of here, as
we've got our try Vismanian Foundation Honor Roll segment coming up where we honor a
following hero one that has given the ultimate sacrifice. And then we'll come back
and close up shop with a few news and notes before we get out here
for Christmas and let all our listeners enjoy the festive holiday season as we will
continue here on Yard and Stripes, your home for Service Academy Football as we
are part of the College Gridiron Coast to Coast podcast network. In two thousand
and seven, Marine First Lieutenant Travis Mannion was killed in Iraq after saving his
wooded 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 fallen, and inspired civilians at Travismanion dot Org. Now
time for a Travismannion found Nation Honor Roll segment where if you've listened to the
podcast before you know that we take the time and a step back to honor
remember a fallen hero, one that's given the ultimate sacrifice protecting our freedoms here
at home, and as we partnered with the Travismanion Foundation once again that you
can find out more information online Travismanion dot org. This holiday season, you
can give the gift of hope and countless families of the fall and continue to
navigate these uncertain tourist times of terrain, grief and loss, and your support
can lift their hearts and spirits now and throughout this holiday season with the gifts
of new beginnings, renew purpose, meaningful connection, and hope. You can
donate today online again at travisman dot org. And this week we will honor
remember United States Marine Corps First Lieutenant Michael L. Lacalzi, a native of
Garden City, New York. United States Marine Corps First Lieutenant Michael Lacalzi gave
the ultimate sacrifice on the eleven, two thousand and six when his tank rolled
off a bridge and into a canal. Serving in the Al al and Bar
province of Iraq, Assigned to the second Tank Battalions, Second Marine Division,
lecalls He had been in Iraq just six weeks when the accident occurred that also
killed three of his fellow soldiers Thecalls. He graduated from Shamanad High School in
two thousand, where he ran track, cross country and was part of the
crew team. Was also a member of the German Club and enjoyed surfing,
while later in life he even took Italian cooking lessons. As a child young
man, he always expressed to his family the goal of one day becoming a
marine. Well, he made that happen, attending the United States Naval Academy,
where he was a model student, courageous boxer, and active leader of
the thirtieth Company. He went on to graduate from the Naval Academy in two
thousand and four with a Bachelor of Science in economics and was commissioned as a
second lieutenant in the Marine Corps at graduation. He's described as exceptionally loyal and
fiercely dedicated to his family friends in the Corps. In everything he did,
Michael gave one percent. First Lieutenant Glenn Jensen, who served with his friend
Michael Lacolsi quote, Michael was my roommate in TBS and I can only tell
you that those of us that knew him are greater people because of him,
and the world it's a little darker without his smile. He has missed every
day by his extended family of brothers and sisters. Simplify quote. He survived
by his mother and father, Carol and Gregory Lacoalsei of Celebration, Florida and
West Hampton Beach, New York, along with his sister Elizabeth and brothers Gregory
and Luke. Lacalzi earned the Iraqi Campaign Medal, Global War and Terrorism Medal,
and the National Defense Service Medal. He was honored through the Travismanion Foundations
Character Doesn't Matter Program presented during the Academy Summer Seminar and USNA STEM programs for
rising eleventh graders during the summer. And we certainly send out our prayers and
thoughts to the Lacalzi family because as we know, during the holiday season,
it's always a time when loved ones are missing at the table around the Christmas
tree in the living room to spend that precious time together. And so we
do take this time every week with the help of the Travis Mannion Foundation,
to remember those heroes like Michael Lacolzi who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Travis
Mallion Foundations nine to eleven Heroes Run five k Ray series unites 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 eleven Heroes Run dot org. The latest with Navy, Army
and Air Force on Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football. All right, welcome
back in our final segment here on Yards and Stripes. As we're making the
turn. The Christmas Holiday is this weekend, and though my guy Steve and
Mike ready to settle in and do a little Christmas and Holiday celebration this weekend.
Before we do that, a couple of news notes just to pass along
to you really quickly. Don't think I mentioned it last week, but Tyler
Tidwell, former standout Navy linebacker from two thousand and three to two thousand and
six, lost a four year battle with ALSS obviously known as Luke Garrig's disease.
Oklahoma native passed away Saturday at his home in Oklahoma City at the age
of thirty seven the Naval Academy announced just recently, and from my understanding,
I heard that the coaching staff found out the night before the Army Navy game
that he was really in a in a tough situation and it could be a
matter of hours, And it was a few hours after the Army Navy game
concluded that Tyler Tidwell sadly lost his battle with ALS. He was diagnosed in
August at two thousand and nineteen with ALS and unfortunately all just a terrible disease.
To that so many Americans and people around the world are afflicted with so
our thoughts with Tyler Tidwell, his former Navy teammates, but certainly his family,
as we know that this is a very tough time to lose a loved
one. I lost my father last year on day after New Year's and so
this is it's always hard, no matter when it is, but especially at
the time of the holidays. So a couple of other things to pass along
real quickly to you, Phil Steel. Everybody's favorite preseason magazine that they like
to pick up a copy. It makes for some great summer beach reading or
vacation reading. If you're on the deck of a cruise ship or whatever you're
doing. He's out with his postseason All Conference All Independent Teams. Five midshipman
honored by Phil Steel in his All American Athletic Conference Teams. Senior striker John
Marshall, junior nose guard Donald Bernard, junior defensive end Jacob Bus, Sophomore
linebacker Colin Ramos. We're all honored, along with sophomore fullback Daba Folfauna.
Seven Black Nights. Checking in to Phil Steele's postseason All Independent Team late last
week, Center Connor Bishop, linebacker Andre Carter, the third safe, Marquel
Broughton, Tyrell Robinson selected as a punt returner, and then quarterback ty Here
Tyler offensive lineman I can't remember how to pronounce this last name. Might help
me, Connor Finniicaine, and then linebacker Leo Loewen named to the second team.
All right, Well that'll do it for us on this edition of Yards
and Stripes. When I wish all our listeners, everybody invest time every single
week, all our college football fans, Army, Navy, Air Force,
and beyond a Mary Christmas, a happy holiday and a happy new year.
Until we talk to you again, We will be back one more time this
season to wrap it up here on Yards and Stripes, your home for Service
Academy Football. Join us again next time for Yards and Stripes Service Academy Football.
To get more on all things Service Academy Football, like Yards and Stripes
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