YPSILANTI, Mich. (AP) -A year ago, Rich Ellerson was the new man on the spot at Army with a new quarterback and a new offense.
The schedule starts the same this year – a road game at Eastern Michigan – but the Black Knights are surely a different team.
“Everyone is more comfortable in their skins, they’ve done this before,” said Ellerson, who installed the triple option and guided Army to a 5-7 mark last fall, just a win shy of a bowl game. “They’ve been around the block, they’re reacting together and in sync. They’ll be much, much better at adjusting as a game unfolds.”
That should bode well for Saturday night against the Eagles, who were 0-12 last season, including a 27-14 loss to Army.
EMU coach Ron English said 39 players – not all of whom were on scholarship – have left the program since last season and just three of his assistants – none on defense – are back from the staff he had last year in his debut as a head coach. He took on the task of turning around the Eagles after working as a defensive coordinator at Louisville and Michigan.
“We’re getting better, but for us to get over the hump this year guys have to believe in themselves and their teammates,” English said. “That’s one of those chicken-or-the-egg deals because we need to do that to win, but maybe some guys need to win to believe.”
They believe at West Point. The transition to the type of run-based attack that Jim Young installed with success in the 1980s has made the Black Knights a team to be reckoned with just like service academy rivals Navy and Air Force, who won bowl games after last season.
And Army has an ace this year that not many teams can match – a sophomore quarterback with 12 starts under center already. Trent Steelman returns after setting a West Point standard in becoming the first quarterback in school history to log that many starts in a season.
“Anybody who has a quarterback who has started 12 games, you’re ahead,” Ellerson said. “Certainly the newness of West Point, being a plebe, the newness of the offense, the speed of the college game, all those things are behind him a little bit. He’s much more comfortable with the offense, his reaction speed. Some of the things that he had to focus on or think about he can now do in his sleep.”
So, too, can other players on both sides of the ball.
“They’re playing faster and reacting quicker,” Ellerson said. “They have freed up the front part of their brain to be a little more tuned-in to situations and opportunities. You can hear it in the huddle when they talk to each other about what they’re seeing, what they’re reacting to, what we should be doing.”
The Army pass rush is keyed by senior rush end Josh McNary, a preseason candidate for the Lombardi Award, the Lott Trophy and the Nagurski Trophy. McNary had an academy-record 12.5 sacks last season and already is West Point’s all-time leader with 18.
But it’s Army’s multi-faceted offense that should give the Eagles the biggest headache. Defensively, EMU returns six starters from last year’s unit, which allowed an average of 427 yards and 38 points per game.
With Steelman leading the way, the Black Knights averaged just over 200 yards rushing per game last fall, while Eastern Michigan was 120th in the country in stopping the run, allowing 276.75 yards per game.
Ellerson is determined to spread the ball around more and make the perimeter game one of Army’s strengths.
“They have to defend that part of the offense consistently, and when that part of the offense is there for us we can hurt you,” he said. “If you ever leave us an opportunity, we’ll be on it and make the most of it. We’d like to have a guy in there to break your heart.
“I love this football team,” Ellerson said. “They get it. They know where they are, they know who they represent. We really feel like we’re on the right track to be a well-prepared team going into the first game, a relatively experienced team. Now we need to give the ball to the players and step back and see where we are.”
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AP Sports Writers Larry Lage and John Kekis contributed to this report.
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