Army West Point Black Knights College Football Pregame Quote, 11/10/2020

Well we are excited to be in another game week and hopefully we won’t have any snags and we’ll be able to play this weekend. I know there have been a lot of games that have been postponed and canceled and rescheduled and those kind of things, and we’re just hopeful that we’re able to play. It’s been a couple of weeks. It seems like a long time since we were last out there on the field and we love to have the chance to play. We’re playing an outstanding team. They have improved so much from the early weeks of the season. Coach (Willie) Fritz is just a tremendous football coach. He has two great coordinators: Jack Curtis, who I know really well, was our defensive coordinator at Georgia Southern for three years while I was the head coach there and Will Hall, who is now in his second year. They are doing a great job and it has been impressive to see how both coordinators have tweaked their philosophies a little bit to fit their personnel and they’re doing a nice job. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge. We’ve played them three times since I’ve been the coach here and we haven’t beaten them yet. They’ve all been close games. Last year they got away from us and were up a big score and we were able to ramble back by way of a scoop score and then scored a touchdown and we just couldn’t bet back into it. They have a really good team and they’re well-coached. It’s going to be a challenge to play down there at their place.

On how hungry the team is to get back on the field:

Our guys have worked really hard. They’ve worked hard since June, since we’ve been back here, with a desire to play and play a full football season. I’m glad we’ve made it this far and had a chance to play seven games, but there have been other teams that have played more and a whole lot that have played less. We’re fortunate to have had the opportunity to play as much as we had, and we want to continue the season. This is a great football team. They have a talented team and they essentially have had our number. We’re excited to play and to measure ourself against Tulane.

On game week health protocols:

We test regularly, as everyone in college sports has to, and essentially we provide the names to our opponents and our opponents provide the names to us of who is going to be one the sideline and who will be on the airplane and who has been tested. We provide our entire roster of who has been tested, the last time they’ve been tested and the result of those tests by name, by position, player, staff, coaches, administration. That is shared information that everybody has an agreement on. Some are conference rules, and it is up to some of the independent schools like us and BYU, etc., to set protocols that are in line with the rest of college football. It is important so that we know and that they are comfortable with the people we are going to be competing with and be in close quarters with on the field.

On the Tulane offense:

I think they’re really good. They score a bunch of points and Coach Hall has really tailored the offense to their quarterback. A lot of quick throws. He gets rid of the ball. He makes it very difficult to get a pass rush and get to him. They’ve got a number of skilled players both on offense and defense. They are a difficult offense to defend. I really admire what they do and they’re effective at it. They seem to have improved as the season has gone along and each week at quarterback the more he plays, the better he seems to get.

On Tulane’s defense:

Jack Curtis, their defensive coordinator, knows our offense very well. Having defended it in practice, spring ball and all those things against our own offense at Georgia Southern, but we had teams in the league in Wofford and The Citadel so we ended up defending it multiple times throughout the year. So, he’s had plenty of opportunities to tweak and work it and now they play Navy every year. He’s done a really good job. He used to be a four-down coordinator and they’ve gone to a three-down to an odd front and he’s just done a remarkable job of transitioning, which is not easy to do.

On Cedrick Cunningham Jr.:

He’s done a really good job with leadership. He’s made some plays and I think he really has a great respect from the rest of the guys on the team — certainly the defense. He has been much more vocal this year than he ever has. That started even in the offseason last year in January and February. I’ve been really pleased with him. He’s done a nice job.