2017 ARMY RECRUITING CLASS FILLS SOME NEEDS

February 3, 2017 Army Football, Army-Football Recruiting Comments Off on 2017 ARMY RECRUITING CLASS FILLS SOME NEEDS

The recruiting game is a little different for the service academies. While other schools are announcing big time last minute commits signing their letters of intent, Army will not publically announce its entire haul of recruits until the summer.

Also, the Black Knights will bring in anywhere from 80 to 90 freshmen that are ready to take on the rigors of West Point life.

We do though know a number of the Black Knights biggest recruits through either traditional channels or social media. Army came into this recruiting season knowing that there were big holes to fill a middle linebacker after the graduations of Andrew King and Jeremy Timpf. Army could also use a nose guard for depth at the head of the 3-4 defense and more quarterback options are also required.

The Black Knights picked up a trio of quarterback options hoping that one can immediately come in and put pressure on Ahmad Bradshaw for the starting spot. The group is led by three-star recruit Christian Anderson out of New York. Anderson threw for 3,600 yards and 37 touchdowns last season, while adding 570 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. The one issue will be his need to convert from a spread/shotgun offense to the triple-option Army prefers.

That transition will not be a problem for one of Army’s two quarterback recruits rated at the two-star level. Tyhier Tyler out of Virginia rushed for over 600 yards and three for over 1,400 more with 29 total touchdowns as a senior. Tyler played in a wing-t offense in high school, a system straight out of the triple-option family. The other two-star recruit under center is intriguing North Carolina prospect Dominique Shoffner. Shoffner was seen as more of a pro style quarterback, but he scored a lot of touchdowns in high school and he has above average mobility for a triple-option guy.

Army scoured the nation to bring in a bunch of potential stars at the middle linebacker position. A group of four, two-star recruits leads the way, hailing from power high school states such as Alabama, Florida, and Texas. The two most interesting prospects for immediate playing time are Kemonte Yow (Texas) who played OLB, MLB, and even NT (at 228 pounds) in high school and Jeremiah Lowery (Alabama) who at 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds looks like he should already be playing in the NFL.

The Black Knights highest rated recruit is a potential for the nose tackle spot, though at 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, Ryan O’Malley (three-stars, Illinois) could also play at defensive end. He was an Illinois All-American and he had unique quickness for his size. It will be interesting to see how Army plans to use his skill set. The other big nose tackle prospect is two-star recruit Hunter Adams (Texas). Adams is 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds, so playing nose tackle at the college level is made for him. He is a high motor, great work ethic player, which is exactly what Jeff Monken looks for in his recruits.