about this feature contact home

Key Cogs: offense

These are some of the key players for each team that will need to play big in order for their schools to win.

Carson Williams, Army quarterback

Season: 139 of 266 for 1653 with 11 TDs and 12 INTs

Best performance: 26 of 38 for 328 yards with 3 touchdowns, 1 interception against Tulsa.
Worst performance: 9 of 23 for 124 yards with 3 interceptions, 1 touchdown against Georgia Tech.

The sophomore quarterback was pressed into duty last season for the Army-Navy game after David Pevoto went down with an injury. Williams has been the starter for most of this season and has had his ups and downs. The Black Knights are hoping he has one of his ups this week against the Midshipmen.

In his last game against Tulsa, he almost carried the Black Knights to victory. Yet, the game before that against Rutgers he was benched after a terrible 5 of 16 day, where he threw for just 44 yards. He had zero touchdowns and an interception. It’s hard to say if that game or the Georgia Tech game was his low point on the seasons.

But Williams is young, and he shows a lot of promise. The key to this game may be which Williams shows up, and we know Navy has a lot of trouble stopping the pass.

Eric Kettani, Navy fullback

Season: 130 carries for 710 yards and 9 touchdowns.

Best performance: 9 carries for 126 yards with 2 touchdown against Ball state.
Worst performance: 4 carries for 9 yards with 0 touchdowns against Northern Illinois.

It’s not often that a fullback is considered a key part of any team these days, but the junior fullback leads all running backs in Navy’s potent triple option. The big, 233-lb. bruiser gives the Midshipmen a different running style than the sub-200-lb. Kaheaku-Enhada. Several of the slotbacks are also under 200 and feature a much different style of running.

One of the keys to a good triple option is actually have three options. Navy has shown the ability to have people from multiple positions run the ball affectively, and Kettani is a big part of that success.

Another fullback, senior Adam Ballard, has almost 600 yards rushing and 5 touchdowns. Kettani is not alone in getting tough yards for the Midshipmen, but Navy will need its big fullbacks to give Army something different to contend with.

Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, Navy quarterback

Season: 46 of 79 for 823 yards passing with 6 touchdowns and four interceptions. He also has 755 yards rushing on 148 carries with 11 touchdowns on the ground.

Best performance: 9 of 12 passing for 166 yards with two touchdowns and 0 interceptions against Pittsburgh. He also had 122 yards rushing and a touchdown on 25 carries.
Worst performance: 5 of 12 for 35 yards passing with 1 touchdown and three interceptions against Rutgers. He also had 35 yards rushing with a touchdown on 11 carries.

The junior quarterback is the leading rusher on the best rushing offense in the country. That alone signals his importance. Navy did win their last game against Northern Illinois without an injured Kaheaku-Enhada, but the Midshipmen would stand a better chance of defeating Army with their best runner under center. 

Jeremy Trimble, Army wide receiver

Season: 61 receptions for 907 yards 7 touchdowns.

Best performance: 11 receptions for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns against Central Michigan.
Worst performance: 3 receptions for 22 yards with no touchdowns against Wake Forest.

Trimble gives this offense senior leadership, and he has really come on strong in his final season for the Black Knights. His previous best was 535 yards receiving and 4 touchdowns as a sophomore. His junior season was similar, but his senior season has been special.

He has a strong chance of going over 1,000 yards receiving this year if he has a good game against Navy. He’ll have to if the Black Knights are going to have any shot of winning.

© 2007 Stars and Stripes. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer | Web Notice