Andy Davidson looking forward to stepping into new role
The B-back position as it’s called in the Black Knights’ offense is your typical fullback position and over the past decade, the position has been synonymous with several words, such as productivity, impactful, steamroller .... just to name of few.
Wearing those labels over the years have been players like Mike Viti, Collin Mooney, Jared Hassin [NFL’er] and most recently, Larry Dixon. Actually, you can keep going back in time and the fullbacks have been the cornerstone of the program as far back as the Jim Young era.
However, the 2015 season saw a significant drop-off in productivity from that position and one can point the finger in several directions when looking for the answer(s). Either way, the need to get back to the legacy of the position is a major staffing concern, although prior to the kick-off there was plenty of reason to be optimistic.
There was the return of sophomore Drue Harris, who cut his teeth in 2015 and showed plenty of promise and upside. That’s the good news, but the bad news is that the 6-foot-0, 220 pounder ‘may’ be lost for the entire 2016 season. What is fact is that he will miss both spring and summer practice sessions as he rebounds from off-season surgery.
Things thinned out even more when Spencer Sheff suffered an ACL injury at practice on Wednesday and will miss the entire 20016 campaign. The sophomore out of Elk Grove (Cali.) had looked really good during the first group of spring practices and he had the look of a potential starter.
The current key stake holders at the B-back (fullback) position are veteran Aaron Kemper, converted sophomore linebacker Andy Davidson, along with fellow 2nd year players, Darnell Woolfolk and Malik Crossdale.
As the team finished practice No. 4 of the spring session, we had an opportunity to catch up with Davidson, who talked about how and when he was approached by Monken regarding the positional change, just 3-days prior to the opening of spring practice.
“I was approached by Coach Monken, who ask me to think about switching to B-back, because we are low on depth,” the 6-foot-2, 230 pounder shared with GoBlackKnights.com. “He asked me how I felt about it and I told him that I don’t mind. Whatever I can do to help the team out, that I would and he told me that I would be going to B-back that afternoon ... immediately {laughing}.”
This is not Davidson’s first taste of running the ball, a role that he took on while at Emmaus High School. Some say that with his high school experience and four practices under his belt this spring, that it’s like riding a bike, that once you have learned you just pick up where you left off, even though it has been awhile since he’s last carried the ball.
“Yes, that’s a good analogy, but I’m still learning the system,” he said.
“First off, the biggest transition is that on defense you are reacting to everything and on offense you have to know what you are doing and play as hard as you can. Kemper has really helped me, Darnell [Woolfolk] has helped me and they’ve all been a great help to me, so I can’t really pick one person. The B-back group in general have just taken me in and help me along the way. I miss the linebacker group {laughing}, but it’s great to compete against them everyday.”
NOTES: The Black Knights resume practice on Saturday (4/8) for the 5th session this spring.
Saturday will be full pads and a normal practice for the team. They will have 25-30 team plays that are full speed.
So, keep it right here on GoBlackKnights.com as we continue to bring you inside Army football spring practice with our comprehensive coverage.
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