The 2019 Army Black Knights football team represented the United States Military Academy as an independent in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Black Knights were led by sixth-year head coach Jeff Monken and played their home games at Michie Stadium. Due to playing an away game at Hawaii and the NCAA's "Hawaii Exemption", the Black Knights played a 13-game regular season in 2019. They finished the season with a record of 5–8, finishing in third place for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy following losses to Air Force and Navy, and missing out on a bowl game for the first time since the 2015 season.
Preseason
Offseason Defensive coordinator Jay Bateman announced in December 2018 that he would be leaving to become the co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach at North Carolina under newly hired coach Mack Brown. Weeks later, head football strength and conditioning coach Brian Hess was announced as joining Bateman at North Carolina. Assistant football strength and conditioning coach Maurice Sims would also leave for North Carolina within the month. Safeties coach John Loose, after serving as the interim defensive coordinator for the 2018 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl victory over Houston, was announced as the full-time replacement at defensive coordinator on January 10, 2019.
On January 14, 2019, Army West Point announced a new multi-year contract extension for head coach Jeff Monken through the 2024 season. On the same day Army beat writer for the Times Herald-Record, Sal Interdonato, broke the news that Kansas Wesleyan head coach Matt Drinkall had joined the Army football staff as an offensive analyst. On January 18, Interdonato revealed that defensive line coach Chad Wilt had taken the same position with the Cincinnati Bearcats.
On January 31, the West Point athletics department announced that Matt Hachmann would be joining the football staff as the outside linebackers coach. He had spent the past two years as the linebackers coach at Stony Brook, and before that eight years as defensive coordinator at Towson. Because of his posting as linebackers coach, several defensive assistant coaches changed positions of responsibility. Coach Daryl Dixon, the former outside linebackers coach, is now responsible for cornerbacks, and Coach Christian-Young, the former cornerbacks coach, is now responsible for safeties. Additionally, assistant strength and conditioning coach Conor Hughes was promoted to head football strength and conditioning coach. On February 5, Coach Monken's last assistant coach position was filled with the announcement of the hire of Kevin Lewis as defensive line coach. Lewis had spent the previous five seasons as the defensive line coach at William & Mary
On February 19 it was announced that Rusty Whitt and GC Yerry had been hired to serve as the two assistant football strength and conditioning coaches, filling out the remaining open positions on Monken's staff. Whitt joined the staff after serving as the head football strength and conditioning coach at Texas Tech from 2016−2018, while Yerry joined after serving as the director of athletic performance at Stony Brook, also from 2016−2018.
On March 19, the West Point athletics department announced that Jim Collins would join the staff as the new Director of Player Personnel. Collins brings 25 years of head coaching experience at the Division II and Division III levels, including tenures as the head coach at the University of Dubuque from 1994−1996, Capital University (OH) from 1997−2007, and most recently at Saginaw Valley State from 2008−2018.
The Black Knights began their spring football session on March 7 and concluded it on April 12 with the annual Black and Gold Spring Game, where the Black team completed a fourth quarter comeback to win 35−28 in overtime. Following the conclusion of spring ball, rising firsties Kelvin Hopkins Jr. and Elijah Riley were named team captains in addition to returning 2018 captain Cole Christiansen.
The Black Knights' fall camp began on August 1 and consisted of 14 practices, finishing on August 17 with an intrasquad scrimmage in Michie Stadium. Following the completion of camp, the Black Knights shifted their preparation to their Week 1 matchup with Rice. During August, the Black Knights received votes for the preseason AP and Coaches Polls, just missing out on starting within the Top 25 for the first time since 1959. They received a total of 94 points in the AP Poll and 91 points in the Coaches Poll, placing 2nd and 5th respectively in each poll's 'Also Receiving Votes' category.
Award watch lists
Listed in the order that they were released.
Lott IMPACT TrophyCole ChristiansenLBSRMaxwell AwardKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRChuck Bednarik AwardElijah RileyCBSRDavey O'Brien AwardKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRRimington TrophyPeyton ReederCJRBronko Nagurski TrophyElijah RileyCBSRBobby Dodd Coach of the YearJeff MonkenHC--Walter Camp AwardKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRCFPA National Performer of the YearKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRJohnny Unitas Golden Arm AwardKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRManning AwardKelvin Hopkins Jr.QBSRMortell AwardZach PotterHSR
Personnel
Coaching staff Jeff Monken Head coach 2014 2014 MillikinOffensive staff Brent Davis Offensive coordinator/offensive line 2014 2014 Georgia Marcus Edwards Wide receivers 2018 2018 South Florida Sean Saturnio Tight ends 2018 2014 Hawaii Pat Tresey Offensive line 2018 2016 Mount St. Joseph Mike Viti Fullbacks 2016 2016 Army Mitch Ware Quarterbacks 2014 2014 Southwest Missouri State Tucker Waugh Slotbacks 2015 20071 DePauwDefensive staff John Loose Defensive coordinator 2019 20142 Ithaca Josh Christian–Young Safeties 2019 2015 Central Missouri Kevin Corless Inside Linebackers 2014 2014 Northwest Missouri State Daryl Dixon Cornerbacks 2019 2016 Florida Matt Hachmann Outside linebackers 2019 2019 St. Thomas (Minn.) Kevin Lewis Defensive line 2019 2019 Virginia TechSpecial teams staff Mike Krysl Special teams Coordinator 2018 2018 Central MissouriQuality control staff Matt Drinkall Offensive quality control 2019 2019 Western Illinois–Quad Cities Rick Lyster Defensive quality control 2019 2019 LafayetteStrength and conditioning staff Scott Swanson Director of Strength & Conditioning 1998 19983 Wake Forest Conor Hughes Head Football Strength & Conditioning 2019 2017 Springfield College (Mass.) Rusty Whitt Assistant Football Strength & Conditioning 2019 2019 Abilene Christian GC Yerry Assistant Football Strength & Conditioning 2019 2019 Stony BrookSupport staff Clayton Kendrick-Holmes Chief of Staff/Director of Football Operations 2018 2018 Navy CPT Zachary Reichert Assistant director of Football Operations 2019 2019 Army CPT Blake Powers Admissions Support Officer 2018 2018 Indiana Jim Collins Director of player personnel 2019 2019 Wittenberg Devon Doyle Assistant director of Recruiting Operations 2019 2019 Tanner Dupuis Assistant director of Recruiting/Content 2019 2019 Georgia Southern Danny Payne Director of scouting 2017 2017 Kennesaw State Brett Moore Director of On-Campus Recruiting 2017 2017 Georgia Southern Lawrence Scott Director of Player Development 2018 2018 Army Jack O'Reilly Director of Video Operations 2018 2018 Clemson Michael Zeoli Assistant director of Video Operations 2017 2017 William Paterson
Tucker Waugh also served as the wide receivers coach at Army from 2000 to 2004. John Loose also served as the linebackers coach at Army from 1992 to 1999. Scott Swanson also served as an Assistant Strength & Conditioning coach at Army from 1995 to 1996.
Source:
Roster
The Army football roster for the Week 1 game versus Rice (as of August 26, 2019):
2019 Army Black Knights rosterQuarterback 1 Jabari Laws, Sophomore (5'9, 185) 2 Tyhier Tyler, Sophomore (5'8, 185) 4 Cade Ballard, Freshman (5'9, 204) 5 Steven Migut, Freshman (6'0, 185) 7 Jemel Jones, Freshman (5'10, 199) 8 Kelvin Hopkins Jr., Senior (5'10, 205) 10 Maurice Bellan, Freshman (5'10, 179) 11 Walter Harris, Freshman (6'1, 224) 13 Christian Anderson, Junior (6'1, 185) 15 Clay Czyzynski, Sophomore (6'0, 220) 26 Cole Wright, Freshman (6'3, 185) 38 Kyle Terry, Freshman (6'0, 181)
Slot Back 5 Kell Walker, Senior (5'9, 195) 16 Malik Hancock, Senior (5'8, 180) 17 Colton Dooley, Freshman (5'11, 196) 19 Dominic Distefano, Junior (5'7, 180) 21 Zack Boobas, Junior (5'10, 180) 22 Markens Pierre, Sophomore (5'11, 205) 23 Adam Bazan, Freshman (5'10, 189) 25 Braheam Murphy, Freshman (5'10, 169) 27 Brandon Walters, Sophomore (5'11, 180) 29 A.J. Howard, Sophomore (6'0, 205) 30 Ton Evans, Sophomore (5'8, 180) 32 Artice Hobbs IV, Junior (5'9, 195) 37 Ridge Polk, Freshman (5'9, 167)
Fullback 3 Sandon McCoy, Junior (5'11, 235) 20 Anthony Adkins, Freshman (6'1, 251) 25 Connor Slomka, Senior (6'0, 240) 33 Jakobi Buchanan, Freshman (6'0, 178) 34 Rashaad Bolton, Senior (5'11, 250) 39 Noah West, Freshman (6'3, 225) 40 Cade Barnard, Sophomore (6'3, 245) 42 Cole Truex, Freshman (6'2, 221) 48 Kaelin Byrd, Sophomore (5'11, 205)
Wide receiver 6 Glen Coates, Senior (6'0, 195) 10 Jordan Blackman, Junior (5'11, 185) 14 Michael Roberts, Sophomore (6'3, 220) 36 Cole Caterbone, Freshman (6'1, 185) 49 Ben Koch, Freshman (6'6, 238) 80 Chris Gregg, Senior (6'0, 205) 80 Ryan Jackovic, Freshman (6'5, 220) 82 Kjetil Cline, Senior (6'0, 210) 82 Veshe Daniyan, Freshman (6'1, 170) 83 Reikan Donaldson, Freshman (6'2, 167) 84 Kevin Hamilton, Sophomore (6'1, 200) 85 Trenton Waggoner, Freshman (6'0, 184) 86 Christian Hayes, Senior (6'0, 205) 87 Sean Eckert, Sophomore (6'3, 215) 88 Camden Harrison, Junior (6'2, 210) 89 Jalen Moy, Sophomore (6'4, 210)
Long snapper 39 Paul Lawless, Junior (6'3, 225) 43 Clayton Cribb, Freshman (5'10, 234) 48 Kyle O'Connor, Junior (6'1, 230) 49 Patrick Szczesniak, Freshman (6'2, 225) 50 Ryan Aguilar, Freshman (6'2, 234) 89 Scott Flanick, Senior (6'2, 235) Tight end 39 Bryton Belvin, Sophomore (6'7, 230) 44 Shayne Buckingham, Freshman (6'4, 252) 46 Chris Cameron, Sophomore (6'4, 250) 81 Jake Lauer, Junior (6'3, 255) 83 Zach Saum, Senior (6'5, 250) 85 Eddie Crutchfield, Sophomore (6'3, 260)
Offensive Lineman 50 Robert Fitzsimmons, Freshman (6'5, 260) 51 Kameron Holloway, Sophomore (6'3, 275) 52 Alex Faulkner, Freshman (6'4, 277) 53 Carson Shaffer, Freshman (6'3, 308) 54 Blake Harris, Freshman (6'2, 275) 55 JB Hunter, Junior (6'4, 290) 56 Mason Kolinchak, Sophomore (6'2, 250) 57 Connor Bishop, Freshman (6'3, 271) 58 Sam Barczak, Freshman (6'2, 269) 59 Mike Johnson, Senior (6'3, 275) 60 Alex Herndon, Senior (6'2, 265) 62 Tino Arcuri, Freshman (6'3, 237) 63 Jake Baumert, Senior (6'3, 280) 64 Lachlan Holt, Freshman (6'2, 262) 65 Noah Knapp, Sophomore (6'0, 280) 66 DJ Fuller Jr., Freshman (6'3, 282) 67 Dean Powell, Sophomore (6'1, 290) 68 Luke McCleery, Junior (6'5, 290) 69 Dan Lord, Sophomore (6'5, 290) 70 Zach Ward, Sophomore (6'6, 280) 71 Daniel Parrish, Freshman (6'0, 279) 73 Jaxson Deaton, Senior (6'4, 305) 74 Jose Taveras, Freshman (6'4, 271) 75 Jack Sides, Senior (6'2, 290) 76 Peyton Reeder, Junior (6'6, 300) 77 Noah Utley, Senior (6'4, 285) 78 Cody Winokur, Freshman (6'2, 272) 79 Cade Hawley, Freshman (6'4, 246) 79 Nick Kotok, Sophomore (6'2, 280)
Defensive Lineman 18 Jake Ellington, Senior (6'3, 275) 50 Jacob Craig, Freshman (6'3, 227) 51 Grady Chapman, Freshman (6'4, 249) 55 Edriece Patterson, Junior (6'3, 265) 56 Nick Stokes, Junior (6'5, 285) 57 Jacob Covington, Senior (6'2, 275) 59 Henry Janeway, Freshman (6'4, 237) 60 David Gray, Freshman (6'4, 298) 62 Darius Richardson, Freshman (6'2, 258) 64 Tyler Komorowski, Freshman (6'3, 264) 72 Kenese Leomiti, Freshman (6'4, 293) 75 Ryan Bryce, Freshman (6'5, 264) 89 Chris Frey, Freshman (6'5, 255) 90 Jack Hough, Junior (6'3, 285) 91 Ryan Duran III, Sophomore (6'5, 265) 92 Reed Chandler, Freshman (6'3, 234) 93 Rod Stoddard, Senior (5'11, 280) 94 Conor Hough, Freshman (6'2, 218) 95 Nolan Cockrill, Sophomore (6'3, 285) 97 Kwabena Bonsu, Sophomore (6'4, 280)
Punter 17 Zach Potter, Senior (5'10, 200)