The Black Knights opened spring practice Thursday.
One of the more pressing questions heading into the spring is who will be Army’s next quarterback with NCAA QB single-season touchdown record breaker Bryson Daily graduating.
Freshman Ethan Washington is in the quarterback mix. Washington isn’t the only freshman that Army coaches will be closely watching this spring.
Coach Jeff Monken mentioned a few more freshmen to watch on the Black Knight Nation podcast.
Tex Brannan: Brannan is one of the many young tight ends that can work into game action with the graduation of David Crossan.
Monken: “I think he’s a really athletic guy. He’s got to grow, develop and get stronger. He practiced some with the veteran group a year ago. We’ll see how he comes along.”
Briggs Bartosh: Bartosh is making the move from slotback to fullback this spring.
Monken: “He’s really fast and explosive guy. He played in our prep school program, didn’t really play in any games a year ago but I’m excited to see him. I’m fired up to see him and see how he does.”
Cole Searight, CJ Martin: Army is graduating its top three nickelbacks including starter Chance Keith. Seabright and Martin are getting a look this spring.
Monken: “We got a hole to fill at the nickel position. That’s probably one position where we were loaded up with seniors. We essentially are going to have someone with little or no experience playing there. Some of those freshman are battling for that spot.”
Monken said freshmen defensive backs Robert Houston, Caleb Williams, Larry Pickett and Ish Taylor, “will all get into the mix and probably be at least backups and playing on special teams for us.”
Only a handful of freshmen received game reps, which were limited. Monken said there’s a lot to find out during the spring, especially with the freshman class.
“That’s what spring is really valuable for seeing those guys and how they have developed from August when they showed up there to March and April,” Monken said. “We’ll just see. I really like that class just with their attitude and effort. Again, I don’t ever claim that we have a bunch of talented guys running around here.
“We got guys that are tough and physical that are going to care about the team and play hard. When we have guys like that, that are well led from within and have good senior and veteran leadership, we’ve had good teams.”
Speaking of veteran players, Monken said that 2024 leading tackler Andon Thomas and starting nose tackle Kody Harris-Miller will not participate in spring practice following either surgery and/or recovering from injury.
