A Look At Army: Q&A With Sal Interdonato
In previewing Army, Blue & Gold Illustrated spoke with Sal Interdonato, who covers the Black Knights for The Times Herald-Record.
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Blue & Gold Illustrated: What’s been the biggest key in Army’s early 2016 success?
Sal Interdonato: The defense has been really good. They’ve only given up more than 14 points in a couple games, and they’ve had three bad quarters all year. They gave up 14 points to Buffalo in the fourth quarter, that was a game that Thursday before the game they buried one of their teammates, so that was a tough, emotional rollercoaster there. They had the lead and they gave it up in the fourth quarter. They had a bad second half against North Texas, they couldn’t stop the run, and they came into that game No. 2 in the country against the run and North Texas had some stretch plays that they didn’t have any answers for and their tackling wasn’t the greatest.
Their defense has really been good this year. Just look at hurricane game against Duke, they only gave up two touchdowns and the only two big plays all game. That’s been key. And when they take care of the ball they win, it’s as simple as that. When they don’t turn the ball over, they stay in games. The North Texas game, when you have seven turnovers, there’s no way you’re winning the game. North Texas scored 21 points off seven turnovers, so it could’ve been a lot worse. They did turn the ball over in the second half against Wake Forest, but they were able to wear Wake Forest down and their run game really came alive in the fourth quarter.
BGI: Why is the defense improved this season?
Interdonato: Their linebackers are really, really good. You’ve Jeremy Timpf and Andrew King, they’re three-year starters on the inside. King is just one of the best players, tacklers, their captain and a vocal leader. But last week, Jeremy Timpf against Wake Forest was unblockable on blitzes. He was able to pressure Wake Forest’s quarterback and make him throw on the move a bit and force him into a couple interceptions. Both those guys have over 200 tackles in their career.
The play of Alex Aukerman has really been key this year. He started last year but didn’t stay on the field a whole lot. This year he’s their best run stopper. He’s got five sacks I believe, he’s now 245 pounds and they’ve played him over the center a couple of times this year. He’s just so versatile, and (defensive coordinator) Jay Bateman says they can’t do a lot of the stuff they do on defense without Alex Aukerman, and he’s a guy that was recruited as a safety. He was a 200-pound safety out of high school, and he’s really played well.
Kenneth Brinson is just a talent that they haven’t had at Army in a long time, just an athletic talent offered by Stanford, Utah, Boston College. He was a big time recruit that decided to come to Army. The secondary can be a little shaky, but they have 12 interceptions and that’s the most in a long time at Army.
BGI: What has been working for the offense this season?
Interdonato: The fullbacks have been really good this year. Last year there was very little production from the fullbacks, but this year with Andy Davidson and Darnell Woolfolk, they have 13 touchdowns between those two guys. Last year their fullbacks totaled 10 the whole season. Davidson was a converted linebacker, he got off to a really strong start. He’s been banged up a little bit, and against Lafayette, they had their third string fullback Cole Macek run for 100 yards.
Last week, getting back the real Edgar Poe back. He came back against North Texas but wasn’t a factor, but last week against Wake Forest, he gives them a real vertical threat they don’t really have. If Army quarterbacks under throw the ball, he can go get it. He’s a key in the games coming up, because the defenses are going to put eight or nine in the box to try and stop the run. They have to prove they can throw the ball, and he’s their top target.
BGI: Was a season like this building for coach Jeff Monken?
Interdonato: Not so much unexpected. Last year they were 2-10 but they lost seven games by seven points or less, and they lost two on buzzer beater field goals. They played Navy really tough last year in the last game of the season, with quarterback Chris Carter in his second start, he kept them in the game and they had a couple turnovers at the end of the game in the fourth quarter. Otherwise they might have pulled out that game against Navy. They had a ton of guys back on defense, they had nine starters back. You expected the defense to be pretty good, but this good? They’ve played really well.
This is the third year of Monken’s tenure there, so this was going to be the year to do something. The schedule was tough out of the blocks, four of the first five on the road. How they came out of that was really key, and they ended up going 3-2. That was the big key. Now the backside schedule with Air Force, North Dame and Navy in your last four, so here’s another test for them.
BGI: This is Army’s best team since…?
Interdonato: Probably 2010. There’s a lot of comparisons with the defense. The 2010 defense was really good. They had Josh McNary who’s playing for the Colts now. They had Mike Gann at nose tackle … I haven’t seen a nose tackle at Army in my 10 years that played as well as Mike Gann. They had Stephen Anderson, who’s the best linebacker I’ve ever seen at Army, a two-year captain. He made a ton of plays that year.
This defense is similar. It may not have the star power, but they play well as a unit, they play well as 11 guys strong. That’s a good comparison. That 2010 team went on the road, too. This year’s Army team has won three games on the road. The previous three years, they’ve won three times on the road.
This team is a little bit different from the 2010 team in that they play harder. The 2010 team had talent. This has some talent around, but they play hard, they play hard every series. Monken’s brought a different mentality to this team, he’s a fiery guy and all over the officials during games. He’s all over his players when they make mistakes during games. They get a tongue lashing from Monken before they get back to the bench.
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