Latest news with #JeffMonken
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Army picks up a solid commitment in ATH Tayegan Briskey
Athlete is a 6-foot-0, 185 pounder out of West Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton Florida. He currently holds offers from Army, Western Kentucky, Navy, Harvard, Princeton, Wofford, Yale, Lehigh, Columbia, Dartmouth, UPenn , Stetson, Cornell, and Brown. However, it is the Black Knights of Army who have the privilege of saying that he is part of their 2026 recruiting class. 'I'm committed to Army and in touch with my coach weekly … I'm getting official offer letter in the mail soon,' declared Briskey, who elaborated on his commitment conversation. 'I called coach Darryl Dixon the corners coach on July 3rd to commit. I called Coach Dixon and just talked to him about how much my family appreciated the time him and Coach (Jeff) Monken took to answer everything we needed answered. The hospitality on the visit and specifically the honesty on their end. I told him how excited I was to be a part of a team coming off of a conference championship and hope to be a piece in their push the the playoffs next.' DECIDING FACTORS For the student-athlete (4.5 GPA) who will be a direct admit, he chimed in on what lead him to his decision. 'For me it was the set up they have athletically and academically, they're going to put you in positions to win on and off the field,' he explained. 'Not only that, but the support staff they have behind you only adds to that. Coach Monken is one of the best coaches in college football he always keeps it real with you and I trust Coach Dixon to develop me and be honest with me about the player that I am from now until the future.' 'He (Dixon) has the secondary playing experience along with the coaching experience and discipline as well as him being from Florida he knows the type of player we produce down here.' THE DEFENSIVE FIT According to Briskey, he feels that his style of play is a ideal fit for the Black Knights. 'I see my athletics talents bringing a major benefit at the cornerback position with my ability to make plays happen and get our offense the ball back,' he firmly stated. 'I've been a receiver I have the ball skills to catch interceptions and the tackling ability to force fumbles. Defense wins game and I see myself being a 'Game Changer' early.'
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Defending American champ Army football slated for No. 35 in preseason coaches polling
It's a new year, and Army football is going to have to impress the voters once again. The Black Knights finished No. 21 in both the AP and college coaches polls last season, following a historic 12-win season. But the loss of quarterback Bryson Daily, running back Kanye Udoh and several other prominent starters has the voters hesitant to restore Army to top-25 status just yet. The preseason US LBM coaches poll has Army ranked No. 35 with 33 points in the weighted rankings. The coaches list Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Georgia and Notre Dame in their top five, followed by Clemson, Oregon, Alabama, LSU and Miami. The second ten has Arizona State, Illinois, South Carolina, Michigan, Mississippi, Southern Methodist, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana and Kansas State (Army plays at KSU in a week-two matchup on Sept. 6). The final spots went to Texas A&M and Iowa State tied at No. 21, Brigham Young, Texas Tech and Boise State. FINAL 2024 POLLS: Here's where Army football finished the season ranked in the final Top 25 polls Though slated to finish anywhere from fourth through sixth place in the newly renamed American Conference by the chief magazines, Army finished one place and one point behind Memphis, and one spot and two points ahead of Tulane. Navy finished tied for No. 42 with 14 points. AMERICAN PRESEASON MEDIA DAYS: Jeff Monken: Army approach must stay the same in bid to repeat as American champions The AP poll will be released on August 11. 2025 SCHEDULE: Army football assigned its American Athletic Conference 2025 schedule Army opens the 2025 season with a home game against Tarleton State on Aug. 29. 2025 COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV SCHEDULES: College football TV, radio, web schedules for 2025 kmcmillan@ X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army football ranked No. 35 in preseason coaches polling
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Jeff Monken: Army approach must stay the same in bid to repeat as American champions
Army coach Jeff Monken could certainly stand tall as he was introduced for his second appearance at the American Conference Football Media Days on Friday. 'He holds the distinction of the only coach in the building today to have never lost a conference game in the American … eight-and-oh,'' noted commissioner Tim Pernetti. Add to that a win over Tulane in the championship game, and Army beat nine American foes as part of an historic 12-win season in 2024. 'It was a tremendous story.'' It's a small sample size, with Army having joined the league only last season, but that makes the Black Knights the envy of the 14-team circuit. It was noted several times on Friday that the American was very competitive last season, with four teams in legitimate contention for a spot in the inaugural College Football Playoff – though eventually left out. Undaunted, the league posted a 6-2 mark during bowl season, earning the Bowl Challenge Cup. Army played its part with a 27-6 win over Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl, finishing ranked No. 21 in both the AP and coaches' polls. 'To be in those conversations (for the CFP) was pretty exciting and fantastic for our program and for West Point,'' Monken said. He noted the timing was finally right to make the move from independent status to affiliated play. 'That wouldn't have happened had we not joined the conference and become part of the American. We are very honored and thrilled to be a part of this league, and looking forward to this season.'' Following the trend of other conferences, a media poll was not conducted. With notable personnel losses on the offense, Army is predicted to take a step back, picked for a three-way tie for fourth place by Phil Steele magazine, fourth by Lindy's Sports and ESPN and fifth in Athlon Sports and two prominent betting websites. Navy, Tulane and Memphis have notable top three predictions by the same sources. 'We were able to beat all the teams in the league that we faced and then win the conference championship, which is a great source of pride for our team and for our program,'' Monken said. 'But that's last year, and nobody … is going to give us a head start or any points on the scoreboard when we kick it off because we won the league last year. We're going to have to earn it.'' Monken said the approach remains the same: win every play and focus only on the game at hand – Army hosts Tarleton State in the season opener on Aug. 29. More: College football TV, radio, web schedules for 2025 'That's our biggest concern right now, is how do we maximize who we can be for that game and how that will prepare us for the next one and the next one and the next one, not look at the entire season and how do we get ourselves to win 12 games and play for a championship,'' Monken said. Following Tarleton, Army travels to Kansas State. The Black Knights head into Tuesday's first practice of the preseason with an emphasis on discovering what a rebuilt offense can do and how that will affect decisions on how to tweak the triple option attack. Army must replace 2,776 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns by graduated quarterback Bryson Daily and Arizona State transfer running back Kanye Udoh, and replace three players off college football's top offensive line. '(We have) new faces and guys in new positions,'' Monken said, 'but we've got some important pieces back, and I'm excited about that.'' Monken said senior Dewayne Coleman is the No. 1 quarterback on the depth chart but hinted the spot could be up for grabs. 'There's some good, healthy competition there, and that's kind of exciting going into camp with a quarterback competition,'' he said. kmcmillan@ X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR Army football 2025 schedule Friday Aug. 29 – Tarleton State (CBSSN), 6 p.m. Sept. 6 – at Kansas State (ESPN), 7 p.m. Sept. 13 – OPEN Sept. 20 – North Texas* (CBSSN), noon Thur. Sept. 25 – at East Carolina* (ESPN), 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4 – at Alabama Birmingham*, TBD (an ESPN network) Oct. 11 – Charlotte* (CBSSN), noon Oct. 18 – at Tulane*, TBD (an ESPN network) Oct. 25 – OPEN Nov. 1 – at Air Force (CBS), noon ET Nov. 8 – Temple* (CBSSN), noon Nov. 15 – OPEN Nov. 22 – Tulsa* (CBSSN), noon Fri. Nov. 28 or Sat. Nov. 29 – at Texas San Antonio*, TBD (an ESPN network) Dec. 5 – OPEN or AAC championship (ABC), 8 p.m. Dec. 13 – vs. Navy, at Baltimore (CBS), 3 p.m. This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army at American Conference Football Media Days
New York Times
04-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
AAC football once again full of great coaches (and Trent Dilfer)
Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic's college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox. Today in college football news, chickens are brining patriotically. First, yes, I'm pretending I intentionally scheduled the American Athletic Conference edition of this newsletter's 2025 preview series for the Fourth of July. 🇺🇸 Next, the memory-jogging AAC basics: In the bigger picture, the AAC remains a transient realm on the fringes of everything, in ways both good and … tolerable. Not a girl, but not yet a woman, in the words of one Mississippian. Just one example: Other than reigning champ Jeff Monken, every head coach who has ever won an AAC title game has soon wound up in a power-conference job. It often seems like a curse, being the conference long thought of as juuust a step shy of the powers. Schools with more money turn to you first when they need new coaches, and the same goes for big leagues looking to splatter themselves across even more of the map via realignment. But there's absolutely an upside. The AAC has a place in the pecking order, and it's far from the bottom. I know AAC fans hate seeing their league constantly referred to as if it's just a proving ground for ascendant coaches. Of course it's more than that. It's the conference that revived the Memphis-UAB Battle for the Bones trophy, for one thing. [In the newsletter version, I included a photo of the trophy. Subscribe today for photos of trophies.] Advertisement But I wonder this: How much does the AAC's transience really matter, when the conference has long proved itself capable of replenishing? Consider Tulane. Despite losing Fritz to Houston, the Green Wave returned to the conference title game in year one under Jon Sumrall (swiped from Troy). And this season, despite losing about a dozen contributors to bigger programs, the New Orleans school is arguably the G5 favorite to land a CFP spot — because Tulane has yoinked 'a mid-major all-star team' away from lower-tier programs, as Bill Connelly put it. In Chris Vannini's ranking of 2025's best G5 coaches, the AAC dominates the top (No. 2 Sumrall, No. 3 Monken, No. 5 Jeff Traylor of UTSA, No. 7 Ryan Silverfield of Memphis), but it's No. 9 Tim Albin of Charlotte who stands out to me. After going 30-10 in the last three years at Ohio, the Oklahoma native jumped from one of the MAC's best programs to one of the AAC's worst. The AAC has earned its rep as the league always shepherding the nation's best pound-for-pound collection of coaches. And that means its standards are far too high for, say, coaches who have gone 7-17 in the football-revering state of Alabama while also doing frequent gaffes and bloopers. Good god, that's Trent Dilfer's music! (It's probably Kenny Chesney.) Let's end with a question on the perpetual duality of the AAC: Will this league produce both this cycle's hottest P4 candidate and the season's first firing? Looking at a UAB schedule in which the Blazers might not be favored in any games after Week 3, along with revisiting this David Ubben story on everything that's gone wrong in the Dilfer era, there's a good chance. 🌽 Along with the ads you've probably seen in our newsletters for Ndamukong Suh's new podcast here at The Athletic, here is the world's fastest Suh interview, delivered at the speed of one sack of Colt McCoy: If it were up to you, which of Nebraska's rivals would you add to the Big Ten? Easy. Oklahoma. Roughly how many times have people told you that you deserved more votes than you got in the 2009 Heisman race? More times than I can count. 🌀 'Some other schools — notably Texas Tech, Miami and Oregon — will have the chance to prove otherwise, but I'm here to crown LSU as the winners of the offseason transfer portal.' Manny Navarro explains what that could mean this season. 📺 'The ACC is the first conference to use TV figures as a metric for conference payouts. Clemson estimated that the new model could yield an additional $120 million over a six-year period. That'd be enough to make the Tigers financially competitive with top programs in the SEC or Big Ten.' New details on ACC money. Advertisement 🤔 'Perhaps his silence was a product of not being familiar enough with the college media landscape.' On the Big Ten having less messaging oomph than its alleged best new buddy, the SEC. 🧢 A month ago, Alabama ranked No. 45 in the 247Sports Composite. As of now, make that No. 7. Grace Raynor explains Kalen DeBoer's national surge, plus big developments elsewhere in recruiting. Two brief notes: What if the ACC and the Big 12 made a trade? ACC gets: Cincinnati, West Virginia and UCF. Big 12 gets: Stanford, Cal and SMU. Who says no? — Andy J., Columbus, Ohio It makes way too much sense. Stanford and Cal get to reunite with Arizona/Arizona State/Colorado/Utah, plus frequent nonconference foe BYU. SMU gets back natural rival TCU and fellow Southwest Conference expats Baylor, Texas Tech and Houston. Meanwhile, Cincinnati and West Virginia used to be in the Big East with Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville and Boston College. (The Mountaineers also overlapped with Virginia Tech.) And UCF gets more bus rides to Tallahassee and Miami, fewer flights to Stillwater and Ames. Now, the Stanford and Cal administrations were pretty dismissive of Big 12 academics last time around, but that was before they got stuck playing 3,000 miles from home for a 30 percent paycheck. Presumably, times have changed. But would the Big 12 want them? On the one hand, they don't exactly help your football or men's basketball products. But it's not like the schools they're losing are necessarily headliners, either. Not to mention the Bay Area schools would immediately become the best programs in many of the Big 12's Olympic sports. More Mandel mailbag here.
