Monthly Archives: March 2009

Sadaat on the defense

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 31, 2009 | Comments closed
Interviewed Army co-defensive coordinator Payam Sadaat last week for a story on the defense. Here are some leftover nuggets. On Army’s new defense You can look back at coach Ellerson’s years of running this defense, he’s had some great players. There’s no question about it. There were also great players that were created because of the defense as well. [...]
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Offensive line depth chart update (updated)

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 31, 2009 | Comments closed
Received some e-mails wondering about Army’s offensive line depth chart Here’s the five running with the first-team Monday:Left tackle: freshman Brad Kelly, who was recruited as a tight end.Left guard: sophomore Mike Weich. Weich stepped in after junior David Sprague was banged up last Wednesday at practice. He’s the only current first-teamer, who has started a college game. He [...]
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Practice report, Monday March 30

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 31, 2009 | Comments closed
Not a whole bunch to report as Army only took the field for about an hour walkthrough. Got another chance to see Ali Villanueva at receiver. The 6-foot-10 junior is looking a little more comfortable at the position. I talked to Villanueva before practice. Check out my story, which appeared in Tuesday’s editions. Plenty of Army players [...]
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Taylor Hall update

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 27, 2009 | Comments closed
Army freshman Taylor Hall’s football days at West Point aren’t over. Hall, the son of former Army record-setting QB Leamon Hall, has decided to play sprint football in the fall, his mother, Kim said. The sprint football team runs a spread offense, which Hall has worked on running with his father and grandfather, Homer Smith, a former [...]
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Ellerson on progress, QBs

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 26, 2009 | Comments closed
On the progress of spring practice “I think they are growing fast. There’s an awful lot for those guys to have absorbed. There’s a practice routine, drill work that is unique to their instillation on offense and defense. In some cases, we have guys who have moved into new roles and are playing new positions. So [...]
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Interview with OC Ian Shields

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 26, 2009 | Comments closed
Got a chance to speak with offensive coordinator Ian Shields for the first time after practice Wednesday. Here’s what Shields had to say on a variety of topics: On how the offense is progressing “Our expectations are so high. We are expecting precision right now. We are not there. We are five practices into spring ball with really [...]
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Practice report, Wednesday March 25

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 26, 2009 | Comments closed
Army is getting pretty thin at cornerback. Sophomores Jordan Trimble and Richard King and freshmen Eric Jones and Antuan Aaron didn’t participate in contact drills. During one part of practices, kickers, wearing green pennies, were disguised as cornerbacks. Talk about your mismatches, junior Ali Villanueva, at 6-foot-10, was lined up against punter Kolin Walk, who is listed [...]
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Roster moves (updated)

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 25, 2009 | Comments closed
Ten players were removed from Army’s roster on the academy’s Athletics Web site Tuesday. It’s a sign that coach Rich Ellerson has made his final cuts. Among the group was freshman Taylor Hall, son of former West Point passing great Leamon Hall. The younger Hall entered West Point as a quarterback but we moved out of the [...]
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Position changes

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 24, 2009 | Comments closed
I picked the wrong practice to skip Monday. According to the Army athletic Web Site, several players were tried out at new positions. The most interesting may have been 6-foot-10 junior Ali Villanueva playing wide receiver. Villanueva started all 12 games at left tackle in 2008 and was listed at 302 pounds. He was shifted to [...]
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Ellerson’s message to his junior class

By Sal Interdonato | Published: March 13, 2009 | Comments closed
Since his first day at West Point, Rich Ellerson has challenged his juniors. They’ve been through a lot in their Army careers. Three straight 3-9 seasons and now their third head coach. Ellerson is asking them to have faith once again. He was expected to remind them again in a team meeting Wednesday night. “They’ve been to [...]
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