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Salute to the 2016 Senior Class


GoBlackKnights.com would like to take this opportunity to salute our graduating seniors as they say goodbye to Cadet Gray to don the Army Blue. The members of this class were sophomores when Monken arrived on campus and they had not yet comitted to their service obligations, but they all chose to stick it out with the new coach and are now embarking on their 5 year service obligation.

A Quick Breakdown of the 25 Seniors

10 were listed on the roster at offensive positions and 7 of those started one or more games during their careers.

11 were listed on the roster at defensive positions and 3 of them started one or more games. Several of the defenders were significant contributors on special teams.

4 seniors were listed on the depth chart on special teams and all 4 were special team starters at one time in their career.

ON THE OFFENSE

Kelvin White, TE from Enola, PA, started his career as a quarterback and played in 6 games as a sophomore quarterback before switching to Tight End in the revised Monken offense. He’s been the starter at that position ever since, but was also called on to show his arm strength at QB in a few Hail Mary situations. White was a regular conributor on special teams, and was arguably the most versatile athlete in his class.

Matt Giachinta, FB from Cold Springs, NY, made his career debut as a plebe against Rutgers, but did not earn a letter that year. He moved to third on the depth chart at FB behind Larry Dixon and Hayden Tippett as a yearling and appeared in 8 games with 27 attempts for 112 yards. With the departure of Tippett in 2014, Matt moved up to share the backup duties at fullback with Aaron Kemper and had 46 carries for 152 yards. He was named a team captain as a senior and started 7 games with 57 rushing attempts for 274 yards. Giachinta was also a regular contributor on the kick return team and had 4 career returns for 34 yards.

Matt Hugenberg, OL from Quincy, IL, started his career as an offensive guard, with 2 games in reserve in 2012 and 12 starts at that position in 2013. When coach Monken arrived in 2014, he reconfigured the offensive line, and switched Hugenberg to center. Hugenberg became the iron man on the team, playing all but one snap at center this past season.

Ryan Alexander, OL, a 3 star recruit from Canadian, TX, earned his first varsity letter as a defensive lineman in his yearling year. Monken switched him to the offensive line halfway through the 2014 season and he appeared in 5 games with 3 starts at LT that year. He shook off injuries to start all 12 games at offensive tackle as a senior.

Deandre Bell WR was recruited from Prairie View Texas as a quarterback, but was switched to wide receiver at USMAPS. He played 5 games in reserve in 2014 and then moved into the starting lineup as a senior, playing every game and sharing starts with Kelvin White. Bell had 7 catches for 166 yards and one touchdown, this season, averaging 23.7 yards per catch.

AJ Schurr, QB from Libertyville, IL made his debut at quarteback as a plebe and earned the backup role to Trent Steelman with appearances in 5 games. He was expected to assume the starter role in 2013, but strong competition from Angel Santiago coupled with injuries limited his playing time. He appeared in 5 games as a yearling, and his comeback performance in the Hawaii game earned him his first career start against Navy that year. He was the backup for most of 2014 with just 2 starts, but appeared in all 12 games as the holder for kicks. In his senior year, Schurr appeared in 6 games with 3 starts. He had 198 career rushes for 858 yards and completed 45 of 100 passing attempts for 878 yards.

Drew Hennessey, OL from Mahapoc, NY had a career limited by injuries. He made his career debut as a reserve in his yearling year, appearing in all 12 games that year. He started the first three games of the 2014 season at RT before injuries limited his playing time. He appeared in 6 games with two more starts for the rest of the 2014 season.

Joey Giovanelli, RB followed his older brother, Tony, to West Point from Chatham IL. He started his career as a defensive back with appearances in 9 games in 2014 before being converted to running back in 2015. He appeared in the Fordham and Navy games as a senior.

Grant Escobar, RB from Mirada, CA, was a 3 sport letterman in football, wrestling, and baseball in high school. Grant’s only two appearances were against Rutgers and Navy in his senior season. Frankly, we have to wonder why he didn’t try his hand at baseball, coming in with a 10-1 record with a 1.50 ERA as a left handed pitcher out of high school.

Niko Schillaci, OL comes from Houston, TX, where he was a National Merit Scholar finalist. He had 1 career appearace against Rutgers in 2015.

THE DEFENDERS

Chris Carnegie, CB from Oakland, CA, led all his classmates in career starts with 42 total starts at cornerback in his 4 years at West Point. Over his career, he contributed 183 tackles including 5.5 tackles for loss and was credited with 22 passes defended. His most memorable contribution was his 99 yard return of an interception against UConn that won the game in 2014.

T.J. Altimalala, DL from North Las Vegas, NV, earned his first letter as a plebe backing up Richard Glover at Nose Tackle for 9 games in 2012. He continued in the backup role in 2013 and 2014 with appearances in all 12 games each season, and then moved up to the starting role as a senior when Glover graduated, and started all 12 games this past year. He has 52 career tackles including 6.5 tackles for loss.

Luke Prouix, DB from Bothell, WA, played in 8 games as a junior with 2 starts at safety, contributing 28 tackles, including a career high of 9 against Kent State that year. He contributed primarily on special teams as a senior, appearing in 6 games with one tackle against Rutgers.

Justin Fahn, LB from Bristol, TN, has contributed mostly in a reserve role at linebacker and as a regular member of special teams, appearing in 19 career games with a total of 12 tackles and 2 kick returns.

Michael McFadden, DB from Harvest, AL, is another defender whose primary contributions were on special teams. He appeared in 9 games as a junior and all 12 games as a senior and is credited with 4 career tackles

Jared Rogers, DB from Baton Rouge, LA, appeared in one game in 2013, and had his moment in the spotlight in 2014 with a fumble recovery in his season debut against Ball State. He played 6 games in 2014 and 9 games in 2015 and was credited with 1 tackle.

Evan Finnane, DL followed his older brother to West Point from Elgin, IL. He made his career debut in the Cotton Bowl, against Louisiana Tech in 2013. He appeared in one game each in 2013 and 2014 and was the primary backup to John Voit at DE in 6 games this past season.

Kyle Ricciardi, LB is another player who followed an older brother to West Point, in this case from Croton, NY. Kyle appeared in two games in 2014.

Caleb McNeill, DB is from Hope Mills, NC, where he played quarterback and defensive back. He is listed as a DB and appeared in one game each in 2014 and 2015.

Wyatt Wilkerson, DL from San Jose, CA, made his only career appearance against Fordham this season.

Alex Waugh, LB comes from Leavenworth, KS, where he was a three sport athlete in football, track, and swimming. His father, Bill, was a 1982 graduate of West Point. Alex is one of those players who stuck it out without seeing game time on the field.

The Very Special Teams

A recent study of the impact of returning players found that “On average, returning both kickers has a bigger impact than returning your starting QB.” The effect of losing both kickers was an average loss of .31 games. Not good news for the Black Knights, who lost two major contributors in that area.

Alex Tardieu, P from Grants Pass, OR was Army’s punter for the last three years, and may have been the most talented player at his position in the group of graduating seniors. He was on the Ray Guy Award list in his senior year, and he received interest from NFL scouts despite his service commitment. He was the starting punter and appeared in all 12 games in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He punted the ball 145 times for a career average of 38.9 yards, saving his best for his senior year with a 40.2 yard average, but his biggest contribution came from his ability to pin opponents deep in their own territory and the punt return defense finished 31st in the country with an average return of just 5.43 yards and limited opponents to just 2 touchbacks last season. Tardieu also served as the holder for field goals and extra points this past season.

Dan Growchowski, K from Sarasota FL, started as the place kicker for field goals and extra points as a plebe in 2012 and then took over kickoffs in 2013. He is the all time leader in PAT conversions with 126. He completed 31 of 49 field goal attempts (63.2%) with a career long a 52 yarder against Navy in 2014. On kickoffs, he was equally adept at booming kicks into the end zone and squibbing the short kick. In 3 years, he kicked off 136 times with an average of 59.1 yards per kick. He saved his best year for last with an average of 61.1 yards per kickoff this past season. One of his lesser known contributions is that he is credited with 4 career tackles, most likely preventing opponent scores on his kickoffs.

Conner Farley, LS from Inver Grove Heights, MN, is among the least known frequent contributors from this year’s senior class. He was the starting Long Snapper and Short Snapper in 2014 and 2015, and we usually don’t notice those guys unless the ball sails over the kicker’s head. He had his moment of fame on a fake PAT play against Eastern Michigan when he caught a pass for a two point conversion.

Cale Brewer, K from Prosper, TX was a backup for Dan Growchowski at place kicker all 4 years. He appeared in 5 games with 20 kickoffs in 2014 and appeared in 1 game each in 2013 and 2015. He converted both of his career PAT attempts, and he was called on to kickoff 29 times with an average of 55.9 yards per kick. He also made 4 unassisted special team tackles in 2014.

**To chat with other Army fans about this article and more, please visit The 12th Knight message board**

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