by With the highly-anticipated Army-Navy lacrosse game going down today, it’s time to assess the Black Knights’ spring football game that went down Friday evening in West Point.
Here are three things that stuck out in the Black & Gold game.
Bryson Daily’s Continued Progress
In the small sample size that returning starting quarterback Bryson Daily gave Army football fans last night, the veteran continued to look smooth and poised in his lone drive of the scrimmage. In the opening possession for the Black team offense, Daily went 3/4 and threw this nasty no-look touchdown pass to WR Noah Short.
Presumed backup Dewayne Coleman impressed under center on the Gold team as well. Considered more of a pure passer than Daily at the QB position, Coleman ran a lot of plays out of the shotgun and was very accurate when given the opportunity to sling it. His performance was highlighted by a 61-yard touchdown throw to Lloyd Benson III on a seam route early in the second quarter.
New Shoes to Fill at Fullback
Service academy football has always been based on a smash-mouth, power run game. For Army, the offense is losing its two starting fullbacks to graduation in Jakobi Buchanan and Tyson Riley. This begs the question as to who will emerge at the position in 2024, and last night shed light on just that.
Sophomore Jake Rendina was a bulldozer coming out of the backfield, proving to be a threat in short yardage/the red zone (three carries inside the 15-yard line) and scoring a touchdown to close out the opening half. Him and the athletic Kanye Udoh (524 rushing yards in 2023) will be a good duo to watch in 2024.
Question Marks at Kicker
Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher of the Black & Gold game was special teams, specifically the place kicking. Both sides combined to miss 75% of field goal attempts and did not manage to boot one through the uprights until late in the second half. Replacing kicker Quinn Maretzki could be trickier than some anticipated, but the Black Knights have four months to fix it.
Now a member of the AAC, Army is aiming to capitalize on last season’s 6-6 finish and make some noise as a member of a Group of Five conference. While new offensive coordinator Cody Worley takes command of the offense, the defense should remain sturdy for a Jeff Monken squad that has the tools to capture its first conference title in program history in 2024.