Chris Carter discusses ongoing QB battle and upcoming season
There are plenty of positional battles unfolding this spring for the Army Black Knights, which bodes well for competition and quality depth. Of course, the most notable head to head duel is at quarterback with Chris Carter and Ahmad Bradshaw as the team concluded practice No. 3 of spring ball on Wednesday.
“It’s been equal as far as the amount of reps and they both have taken snaps with the first team,” said offensive coordinator Brent Davis. “The first two practices, Chris did some good things throwing the ball. I thought that today when we put the pads on, that Ahmad did a nice job making decisions and also completed some balls on the move, which was good.”
“Both are still progressing and getting back into the swing of things. It’s been awhile since Ahmad had seen live action so, that had been the first time since the middle of the season. So, it was good to see him react and adjust to the speed of the game.”
“But, there’s no one that’s ahead or anything like that and it’s an ongoing deal,” added Davis.
Head coach Jeff Monken and Davis are looking for poise and confidence from both quarterbacks as they continue to fight for starting role running Army's triple option offense in 2016. Particularly in this offense, where the mind and feet have to work together along with the other two aforementioned attributes.
Of course, being able to parlay those attributes comes from experience and the level of preparation that presently have Carter [sophomore] and Bradshaw [junior] neck and neck.
“Over the winter I just tried to work on my fundamentals and I do that every weekend,” shared Carter, who currently measures in at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds. “Obviously as everyone knows, we had a lot of problems QB-center exchange and so I got together with some of the centers and practice getting some snaps, throwing routes on the weekends with some of the receivers.”
According to Carter and Davis, the pre-spring QB-center workouts have netted early positive results thus far this spring. “It definitely has,” added sophomore signal caller. “The first two days we had zero fumbles on the ground, so that was good {chuckles}.”
“The one thing that has been a huge positive is that we haven’t had the center-quarterback exchange problem at all with the 1st or 2nd centers,” echoed the offensive coordinator. “It’s huge positive and they’ve taken pride in it and that’s something that we need to continue.”
But the preparation mode for the native of Imperial (Calif.) didn’t just start this winter, but is jump started when he made his way onto campus last summer as a freshman and manifested itself during the Army’s final two contests of the 2015 season.
“Just being a leader on the field,” said Carter, who explained what were the most valuable lesson he learned after starting both the Rutgers and Navy games. “There are a lot of guys that look to you when you are in that type of position (staring quarterback). So, just being confident and showing everybody that you can actually lead them.”
Although he was receiving his first real game action, the sophomore QB appeared to be very comfortable running the offense against Rutgers and the last game of the 2015 season against Navy. So, was he surprised at how effective he was in his first two games starting as the Army QB and what is his level of comfort with the offense now compared to last year?
“All season we have been practicing, so I wasn’t really surprised, but I was just more ready,” he told GoBlackKnights.com. “All year I was just waiting for my opportunity to get on the field and I finally got my opportunity and I just did what I did. I felt pretty good about it and taking that from last year ... taking my experiences and trying improve on my game for this upcoming year and season.”
The athletic QB fully understands that there is a heated battle going on with himself and Bradshaw, but readily acknowledged that there is mutual respect between the two players.
“He’s a great athlete, he has a great arm, he’s more of a power runner than I am and we are very close on and off the field,” shared Carter, as he pointed that Bradshaw’s style of running is one of his teammate’s game that he truly admires. “ I know that I can look up to him, I can ask him anything, I could go to him with 500 problems and he would be there for me. We have a great relationship off the field.”
“At the end of the day, it’s all about winning and that’s what we want to do, no matter how we get the win. Whoever is in there, whoever can get us the win and we are all very supportive of that and each other.”
No matter who gets the starting nod to kick off the 2016 football campaign, it is pretty safe to say that both Bradshaw and Carter are needed and both will get their share of playing time throughout the year. For Mr. Carter, not only is he anxious to pick where he left off in 2015, but do so with his family finally able to see him play in person ... something that did not occur last year. In his starts against Rutgers and Navy, which was his only action on the year, Carter rushed for 129 yards on 42 carries and 1 touchdown, while passing for 348 yards [13 of 21], two touchdowns and two interceptions.
“No sir, no sir that haven’t seen me play live,” shared Carter. “The Rutgers’ game I didn’t find out that I was going to play until 3-days before the game, so that didn’t have a chance to book a ticket out here and the same for the Navy game ... we didn’t know that I was going to start.”
“But definitely this year. My mom is making plans to come up to a couple of games, but I’m not sure which ones yet.”
Carter says that he will taking practice and game snap, while always holding unto what he says has been the best football advice that he has ever received ... and hopefully that will pay dividends this upcoming season.
“My high school coach always said to have a short term memory,” declared the QB. “If you have a bad play, forget about it and focus on the next play. That has stuck with me throughout my football career and that has really help me a lot.”
“I just want to be the best that I can be, obviously get into a bowl game, beating Navy and providing for the team as much as I can.”
NOTES: Although in shells [helmets, shoulder pads & shorts] there was a lot of banging going on and very fast paced during Wednesday’s practice session. The team went live a lot, but just did not tackle, did not bring people to the ground or cut block.
Carter received the first snaps with the first unit, both players alternated running the first group.
With several of the running back group out nursing injuries, rounding out the first unit backfield during Wednesday practice was Jordan Asberry and Elijah St. Hilaire at the slotback position and Aaron Kemper at fullback.
The Black Knights resume practice on Friday (4/8) for the 4th session this spring. Then on Saturday, the team will have their first scrimmage 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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