Paolo Gennarelli deferred praise on receiving national recognition from his first college start.
Gennarelli was one of three Black Knights’ offensive lineman cited by Pro Football Focus College for their play in the season-opening win.
The sophomore guard and Army center Brady Small was named to the PFF College Group of Five team of the week. Gennarelli’s 83.8 grade was seventh-highest overall in the nation among guards. Small’s grade of 82.6 placed second among centers in the country. Senior Lucas Scott, who played both right tackle and right guard, ranked 13th in the nation.
Pretty incredible for Gennarelli’s first extended game reps.
“Honestly, I owe it all to guys around me, the guys next to me,” Gennarelli said. “You play next to Brady Small and Lucas Scott, they make me look good honestly and blocking for Kanye Udoh and Bryson Daily, Jake Rendina and Hayden Reed, all of those guys are going to make us look good upfront. It’s really awesome.”
Gennarelli started his first college game at right guard, playing 31 of 33 first-half snaps. He shifted to left guard in the second half and logged 12 snaps there. Coach Jeff Monken spoke about his comfort with the right side pairing of Gennarelli and Scott in the preseason. Short, who started 11 games at right guard last season, has provided Gennarelli with a blunt breakdown of his play that the Illinois native has taken in stride.
“Lucas is just a really honest guy,” Gennarelli said. “He’ll let me hear it whatever he’s thinking. I’m good at taking that criticism. That what makes us work well together and also we are really close.
“I’m just trying to be as good of a right guard as he was last year.
Ironically, Gennarelli was behind Scott on the spring depth chart at right guard. Then, getting better with each snap was Gennarelli’s focus, not starting. When the coaching staff decided to move Scott to right tackle for the start of games, Gennarelli pushed himself more to secure a starting position.
“Lucas Scott was playing right guard and I really feel like there’s a big gap there,” Gennarelli said. “I still think that Lucas would be the best guard in our program, 100 percent. As soon as I heard he got moved to tackle which was giving me an opportunity to show my work, that got me to work harder.”
How good was Army’s offensive line against Lehigh? Left guard Bill Katsigiannis earned offensive player of the game honors from the coaching staff.
In the huddle: Army called 52 of its 63 plays from under center and 11 from the shotgun. Hayden Reed lined up six of his 23 plays as a slotback.
Snap Count (As charted off VCR, * starter) *QB Bryson Daily (11th career start, 17 rushes, 78 yards, 2 TD, 3-for-6 passing, 35 yards, 55 snaps) *LT-RT Connor Finucane (39th career start, 55 snaps) *C Brady Small (13th career start, 55 snaps) *RT-RG Lucas Scott (12th career start, 55 snaps) *SB Miles Stewart (2nd career start, 48 snaps) *LG Bill Katsigiannis (1st career start, 43 snaps) *RG Paolo Gennarelli (1st career start, 43 snaps) *SB Noah Short (11th career start, 8 carries, 83 yards, TD, 1 catch, 6 yards, 38 snaps) *TE David Crossan (2nd career start, 36 snaps) *WR Liam Fortner (2nd career start, 34 snaps) *RB Kanye Udoh (6th start, 15 carries, 75 yards, 2 TDs, 28 snaps) LT Boobie Law (24 snaps) RB Hayden Reed (5 carries, 32 yards, 23 snaps) TE Parker Poloskey (19 snaps) RB Samari Howard (2 carries, 25 yards, 1 catch, 7 yards, 17 snaps) WR Cam Schurr (2 catches, 22 yards, 16 snaps) RB Jake Rendina (5 carries, 23 yards, TD, 13 snaps) WR Casey Reynolds (1 catch, 22 yards, 13 snaps) SB David Clerk (2 carries, 18 yards, 8 snaps) QB Dewayne Coleman (2-for-2 passing, 22 yards, 1 carry, 6 yards, 8 snaps) LT Henry Appleton (8 snaps) LG Braden Bartosh (8 snaps) RT David Hoyt (8 snaps) RG Will Jeffcoat (8 snaps) TE Will Montesi (8 snaps) C Lane Parks (8 snaps) TE Brian Dyer (4 snaps) TE Teddy Williams (4 snaps) FB AJ Williams (1 snap)
