Frank The Tank
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00:00All right well this is a very special walk you know we got army taking on
00:10Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium it's a hundredth anniversary of the four
00:13horsemen game and it's extra special this year because army is coming in that
00:20game ranked and 9-0. This is this is a big stage and I'm here joined by
00:31Jabril Williams and Noah Short. Let's go for a walk.
00:37You know I mean this season you guys getting into the rankings is the first
00:53time that you and Navy are ranked at the same time in over 60 years what's that
00:59been like? I'd say it's really a credit to the modern era of college football
01:07nowadays you've got the transfer portal you've got NIL money but here it's a
01:13little bit different we can't we can't profit off of NIL money and you can't
01:18transfer into the United States Military Academy so one thing that we really get
01:24to reap the benefits of our brotherhood and selfless service and good leadership
01:31we're not gonna have any guys coming in third-year starters from somewhere else
01:36and swooping in big tons of money nah it's not like that here you just got a
01:40bunch of hungry guys who love each other and who want to play football anytime
01:45anyplace it's really a credit to our culture it's a credit to the culture
01:50that Coach Munkins built and we're really just excited to play with each
01:53other and yeah that's basically how I wish it was been. And well it's not just that it's you
01:59have a structure you have more commitments more what is a day like for
02:05an Army football player what is a typical day like because you have all
02:08the soldier commitments you have all the class commitments and you have to be in
02:13class this is not like this is not like you're at the University of Florida
02:18taking recreation you have to take real majors real jobs what is it like for a
02:25student at the Army US Military Academy who plays football what is their
02:31structure like what's a day like? I'd say it starts with morning formation you
02:36got to wake up around 615 620 every day put the uniform of the day on and I like
02:43how you mentioned you have to you have to attend class because that's very true
02:47here there's a big tracker on Excel and if you miss a class they're gonna find
02:55out and if it's unexcused and you get detention hours for just one missing one
03:01class so you know then you got your morning classes and then lunch
03:06formation that's you pretty much just get with all the cadets you live with
03:11and it's accountability for where you're at and this one make sure you're where
03:16you're supposed to be at and then if you have afternoon class we usually have
03:21one of those and then head up right to the stadium get either in the meetings
03:26or a team lift right away at 2.30 and then from there position meetings
03:32special teams meetings and then you got your taping address get ready for
03:37practice got mandatory dinner after that you got to make your weight and then
03:43from there take the bus back down to oh yeah yeah yeah and then you gotta get
03:51back down to your room and you crack open the books for the first time in
03:54the day around 9 p.m. so it's definitely rigorous but it's worth it I mean it's
03:59it's a full day it's like oh yeah every day it's a commitment like no other it's
04:04it's anyone that goes to a service academy and plays sports the commitment
04:09they have is is always breathtaking to me and I I know anytime I see any
04:15military academy have success it just is impressive to me oh yeah yes I mean you
04:27got these big schools at the NIL you say you can't even get the NIL money you
04:32can't transfer in you can't transfer out you have to have fully committed full
04:37on board and it's so hard you play these guys who are basically now getting paid
04:45to play can go anywhere they want and they don't have the structure and
04:53requirements you guys have right yeah no it definitely means a little more here
04:59you know everybody has some skin in the game but like Jabril said earlier I
05:05think it just makes the bond we have with the guys on the team that much deeper.
05:13A lot of the things that like you said we've got responsibilities we've got
05:18rigorous day-to-day activities but a lot of that really stems from a call to a
05:24higher service everyone here wants to be here and we certainly believe that in a place like this
05:31surrounded by such good people that at the end of the day some things are worth
05:36much more than money my company I've got so much love for my company and my
05:41company mates I've got so much love for the Corps of Cadets in general they come
05:46out to every single game they're shouting their hearts out and it's of
05:51course you have that at other schools too but it's much different here because
05:54you have the entire Corps of Cadets in their uniform cheering on the army team
05:59it's nothing like it and a shout out to the Corps of Cadets we really do appreciate you guys every single weekend coming out cheering us on that's it that's it you guys have no idea how much that fuels us.
06:09Now other than Army Navy which is every year this is probably the biggest game
06:16that army football has played in a half a century ranked a chance that if you
06:24upset Notre Dame you could be seriously in the playoff picture you should be in
06:30a playoff picture what's that like? I mean it's like you said there's a lot of
06:40firsts this season. First year in a conference. Oh yeah exactly so there's
06:46there's definitely some external pressures but you know one one thing
06:49Coach Monk and Harp's on is you just got to go 1-0 every week and we've
06:54been doing that so far and we just got to stick to it to what we doing what
07:00we've been doing but it's definitely exciting and you definitely feel it
07:03around campus but you know you don't want to get too lost in it but at the
07:09same time you know it definitely is exciting to have this opportunity for
07:14sure. They're a really good team obviously playing against some of the
07:18best athletes in the entire country ranked so far as to my knowledge number
07:23eight and playoff contenders and we're gonna have a chance to like you said do
07:29something great but that's not our focus our focus today is practice our focus
07:34today is the next class getting up to the facility going to film going to the
07:41weight room giving it our all and then heading to practice and having a good
07:44practice before the end of practice having a good rep then having a good rep
07:47after that and then a good rep after that and you take it one by one until
07:52you build up a stable week and you build up confidence between you and your
07:54teammates and then after that there's really nothing in the world that can
07:58stop you if you believe in your brother then you can do anything that's what
08:01Coach Monk and Harp preaches. Now Jabil you were telling me earlier today that every
08:05player that you know everyone you know you know their name and their hometown
08:10what's that about? I mean I can it's so during fall camp we get a slideshow with
08:22all the freshmen that come in as well as all the vets and there's this thing
08:28called stump to chump that Coach Monk does and it's like a little game between
08:32the groups you're in for fall camp and so every night they do it and if you get
08:37called out a random group of guys will will rise up and you got another name
08:42in hometown and if you don't then you don't get points for your group and so
08:48you know he Coach Monk and he's really good at that I don't know how he does it
08:52every year but it's he knows every single person where they're from on the
08:55team. Every single person's name and it's the it's the basic way to show incoming
09:00freshmen and the rest of our teammates and staff included that we care about
09:04them. Coach Monk says that the easiest way to show that I care about you and
09:09that I love you is to know your name your hometown or your high school so Noah
09:14Short from Kings Academy California that's his high school just by showing
09:21that I know his name and his hometown or his high school that's the quickest way
09:25to show that I'm committed to you and I trust you and I love you so having the
09:29freshmen come in right after basic training the world may be swirling
09:33around they don't know a lot about the playbook they don't know about a lot
09:36about their environment there's a lot of guys on the team that they don't know
09:39first thing that we can do is show them that we love them right and how do we do
09:42that I just want to know your name I need to know your hometown your high
09:45school and after that we can build a one to two minute conversation to better
09:48know each other and by then you'll know the whole freshman class. Now we what do
09:53you think will be some of the keys going into this game against Notre Dame?
09:57Fundamentals for sure Notre Dame is really good at what they do they do what
10:02they run the ball they pass the ball their quarterback is a runner they've
10:06got athletes on both sides of the ball and they don't change their game for
10:09anyone and they just do what they do very well so what we have to do is kind
10:15of match that fundamentally be extremely sound in our fundamentals take it play
10:20by play and play our brand of ball essentially. And what have been some of
10:27the keys to the 9-0 start this year what have been some of the key moments you
10:31think Noah Shore? You know Monkey like I said what he really likes to say is you
10:42know you don't want to let Army beat Army you know we've just been playing
10:46fundamental just all units offense defense special teams have been
10:52contributing in big ways so it's just not straying from our fundamentals and
10:57not letting us beat ourselves really so that's definitely been the keys. When he
11:04says don't let Army beat Army he's essentially saying we've got 12
11:08opponents on our schedule and each one of those opponents is Army because the
11:13other team the other team doesn't need help to beat us so if we do what we need
11:19to do take care of the ball manage the clock and do our jobs and trust in each
11:25other then we won't let ourselves beat ourselves. Well it's gonna be a great
11:30game maybe be a little bit better than Noah gave you boys against him but I'm
11:38looking forward to it and I know you guys got to get back to class soon you
11:43got it your structure your schedule is is crazy I can't imagine
11:48doing things like that but thank you for joining us and well good luck in the
11:55game. Thank you. Go Army!