"... I couldn’t help but think of how many people had helped me along the way. One of those people I wanted to personally thank for opening doors was Jimmy Raye. This book tells how some of those doors got pushed open. I’m sure you will enjoy reading about the journey!" - Tony DungyAir Force
Vikupitz and journey to center of Air Force line
Air Force center Connor Vikupitz and his offensive line teammates opened the season pushing around Colgate’s smaller defenders en route to routing the Football Championship Subdivision school, 48-7.The next game, though, the Falcons found themselves in the middle of the food...
Mallard learning to take new job straight on
Air Force fullback Christian Mallard felt he fully made the two-year transition from running back to begin his senior year. He's off to a good start proving it, too, with six carries for 53 yards in Saturday's season-opening 48-7 win over Colgate at Falcon Stadium.Although...
West Point offered them more than football
BY TOM SHANAHANKelvin Hopkins Jr. traversed Fort Bragg's rugged fields and wooded sandhills while under the Army base's hot North Carolina sun. These were his early summer days out of school at West Point as he shadowed a lieutenant and his paratroopers, combat-ready soldiers...
Asberry ready for next task and pass play
Something is different hearing an academy athlete’s tone of voice during a phone interview. As an example, take my request this week to speak with an Army running back that was coming off his best game of the season. We spoke on a routine day – for a Cadet football player,...
Capra steadily rose up ranks to his opportunity
Micah Capra practiced dutifully yet watched on Saturdays from the sidelines his first two seasons. Now, though, he is another uncanny example among academy athletes that overcome their inexperience when called upon in the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series. Capra, an Air Force...
Doomsday predictions for option are premature
“The option is still revered at certain high schools, but – despite the zeal of some coaches – the once venerated scheme has been languishing at the college level for years. Now rule changes may doom it there too.” – Sports Illustrated, Oct. 8, 2018 issue. By Tom...
Bagnall busied himself into first CiC start
The Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy series begins this week, although most of America thinks it starts and finishes with the Army-Navy Game that is annually staged as college football’s final regular season date. That egregiously overlooks the round-robin series involving Air Force...
McCain hero worth recalling at academy games
DURHAM, N.C. -- The world recognized John McCain as a fighter pilot, a decorated war hero, a U.S. Senator from Arizona and a presidential candidate, but the sports world knew the American icon that passed away Saturday at age 81 simply as a rabid fan. He liked to tell a story of...
The evolving triple option at Air Force
The service academies remain lumped together as triple-option offenses thanks to College Football Hall of Fame coach Fisher DeBerry. A generation ago he laid down the blueprint at Air Force on how to remain competitive with lightly recruited athletes. But take a closer look in...
How Army can catch up to Navy and Air Force
Army football’s steep tumble falling behind Navy and Air Force painfully includes a 14-game losing streak to the Midshipmen, but the holes to be filled have been obvious nearly 20 years. Since 1996, the last time the Black Knights won the...