Army Navy Football Games

Class of 2010 Arrives at Academy

Army head coach Bobby Ross welcomed the newest members of the Black Knights' football program into the fold today as he announced his club's 2006 recruiting class.

Thirty-two recently graduated high school student-athletes and 34 others that attended the U.S. Military Academy Prep School last year help comprise Ross and his staff's second full recruiting class since taking over the reins of Army's fabled football program in December 2003.

For the second straight year, Ross and his staff focused on adding size and strength to the Army program, importing a group that includes18 players standing 6-3 or better and seven new plebes weighing at least 275 pounds.

"I'm very pleased with this class. We brought in 34 kids from the prep school and 32 others on direct admits," explained Ross. "Clearly, this is the best class we've had in terms of potential. We brought in two very fine quarterbacks and this class has some great potential in the offensive backfield.

"The real strength of this class right now might rest in the defensive line and at cornerback. We have some people in the defensive secondary that might help us as early as this year. There is decent size in the offensive line as well. I really like the height this group possesses. We've got several kids that have a chance to really mature and fill out. We've already tested some of the new players from the prep school and some are stronger than some of our varsity players right now. That is a good sign."

The group of signees includes 34 defensive standouts and 32 offensive players. Heading the positional breakdown is defensive line where Ross and his staff injected 14 newcomers, followed by linebacker (13), offensive line (12), defensive secondary (7), fullback (5), running back (5), tight end (4) and quarterback (3).

Twenty-three different states are represented in the class. Florida, a longtime recruiting bastion for the Army program, leads the way with 11 new Black Knights, followed by Texas with seven, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania with five each, and Georgia and Virginia with four apiece. California, Iowa, Maryland and Oklahoma are represented by three players each and Alabama by two.

"All in all, it's a good group," Ross added. "I think there are as many as 10-15 players from this class that could possibly help us this year, particularly in the secondary at cornerback and possibly in the offensive backfield."

The Class of 2010 includes the intriguing brother combination of Fritz and Ted Bentler. Ted saw action in seven games at defensive tackle last fall as a redshirt freshman at the University of Iowa. He elected to transfer to West Point as a member of this year's freshman class, joining his brother Fritz (6-4, 230), who was recruited as a defensive end by Ross and his staff. Ted Bentler (6-2, 280) registered four tackles last year for the Hawkeyes and was considered one of the fast-rising defensive line talents in the Iowa program following a strong showing this spring. While Fritz is immediately eligible to play for the Black Knights, Ted will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer guidelines. He will be eligible next fall and will retain two years of football eligibility.

"It takes a high-character individual to make the decision Ted Bentler made - to start out as a freshman after two years in college in order to serve your country," Ross stated. "Ted just likes this style of structured life. He appears to be very excited about the opportunity to be here and has already taken a leadership role in his cadet company from what I understand.

"Ted is a good, solid football player. We've seen film on him and are very impressed by what he did at Iowa. We're excited about him, and his brother Fritz, joining our program."

Fans can order 2006 Army Football season tickets, individual home game tickets or Army-Navy tickets by calling 1-877-TIX-ARMY or via the internet at www.goARMYsports.com.

Army Football Class of 2010

Name Cl. Pos. Hgt. Wgt. Hometown/High School
Steven Allen Fr. DB 5-9 157 Trotwood, Ohio/Trotwood-Madison
Patrick Alvarez Fr. LB 6-0 230 Victoria, Texas/Memorial (USMAPS)
Kyle Bates Fr. LB 6-1 243 Springfield, Va./Robert E. Lee
Fritz Bentler Fr. DE 6-4 230 Bettendorf, Iowa/Assumption
Ted Bentler Fr. DT 6-2 280 Bettendorf, Iowa/Assumption
Ernie Bernal Fr. TE 6-4 246 San Antonio, Texas/Judson (USMAPS)
Hunter Byles Fr. DT 6-1 282 Many, La./Many (USMAPS)
Bryson Carl Fr. FB 5-11 234 Albuquerque, N.M./La Cueva
Vincent Comasco Fr. DB 6-1 191 Harrisburg, Pa./Bishop McDevitt
Jude Cooke Fr. OL 6-6 285 Philadelphia, Pa./Father Judge
Matt Coulthard Fr. TE 6-3 230 Tripoli, Iowa/Tripoli (USMAPS)
Taylor Dawson Fr. DT 6-2 246 Plano, Texas/Trinity Christian Academy (USMAPS)
Andrew Dieugenio Fr. LB 6-0 210 State College, Pa./State College
Nicholas Emmons Fr. FB 5-11 230 Corvallis, Ore./Corvallis (USMAPS)
Zachary Enlow Fr. RB 5-11 202 Tulsa, Okla./Cascia Hall Prep
Matt Feiden Fr. FB 5-7 208 Delray Beach, Fla./North Broward (USMAPS)
Ryan Flanagan Fr. OL 6-5 270 West Chester, Pa./West Chester East
Michael Gann Fr. DE 6-2 258 Roswell, Ga./Marist School
Dean Garretson Fr. OL 6-3 285 Lothian, Md./Southern (USMAPS)
Don Gbaanador Fr. WR 6-0 182 Missouri, Texas/Dulles (USMAPS)
Shane Gillis Fr. OL 6-2 275 Mechaniscsburg, Pa./Trinity
Michael Haigler Fr. LB 6-1 230 Charlotte, N.C./Providence
Ozzie Harrell Fr. DB 6-0 190 Ellenwood, Ga./Cedar Grove (USMAPS)
Geoffrey Hewitt Fr. LB 6-0 230 Corona, Calif./Santiago
Dennis Hilburn Fr. LB 6-1 230 Phoenix, Ariz./Paradise Valley (USMAPS)
Mario Hill Fr. DB 5-11 190 Greensboro, N.C./Grimsley (USMAPS)
Damion Hunter Fr. WR 5-10 166 Naples, Fla./Barron Collier (USMAPS)
Aaron Irby Fr. DE 6-1 232 Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Scioto (USMAPS)
John Jacobs Fr. DE 6-3 247 Loretto, Tenn./Loretto
Jordan Jarosz Fr. DB 5-10 170 Charlotte, N.C./Providence
Antoine Johnson Fr. LB 5-8 230 Houston, Texas/Bellaire (USMAPS)
Grant Johnson Fr. OL 6-0 256 Southlake, Texas/Carroll (USMAPS)
Jason Johnson Fr. OL 6-2 269 Las Flores, Calif./Tesoro
Jeremy Jonas Fr. OL 6-4 270 Harrison, Ohio/Harrison (USMAPS)
Justin Kay Fr. DT 6-1 269 Vestavia Hills, Ala./Vestavia
David Labensky Fr. LB 6-1 232 Winter Park, Fla./Lake Highland Prep
Dean Lisante Fr. LB 5-11 198 Ponte Verde Beach, Fla./The Bolles School
Kenric Lull Fr. OL 6-3 261 Littleton, Colo./Columbine (USMAPS)
Bradley Marren Fr. LB 6-0 217 Charlotte, N.C./South Mecklenburg
Richard Maszarose Fr. DT 6-0 243 Finksburg, Md./Calvert Hall College (USMAPS)
Sean McGrath Fr. TE 6-4 205 Mundelein, Ill./Carmel
Brian McSween Fr. WR 5-11 161 Alexandria, Va./Bishop Ireton (USMAPS)
Richard Miller Fr. OL 6-3 286 Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale (USMAPS)
Tony Moore Fr. RB 5-11 223 Sand Springs, Okla./Tulsa Union (USMAPS)
Joe Muldoon Fr. OL 6-5 274 Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic (USMAPS)
Mitch Odom Fr. DL 6-3 210 Franklin, N.C./Franklin (USMAPS)
Chase Prasnicki Fr. QB 6-0 222 Lexington, Va./Rockbridge County
Joseph Puttmann Fr. DB 6-2 210 Cincinnati, Ohio/SHAPE American (USMAPS)
Ross Richert Fr. FB 6-1 231 Ringwood, Okla./Ringwood
Nicholas Sabellico Fr. RB 5-9 188 Pittsfield, Mass./New Mexico Mil. Inst. (N.M.) (USMAPS)
Alan Sheehan Fr. LB 6-2 230 Tallahassee, Fla./North Florida Christian (USMAPS)
Ian Smith Fr. RB 5-7 193 Lake City, Fla./Columbia (USMAPS)
Phillip Smith Fr. DE 6-3 230 Burton, Mich./Davison
Greg Spencer Fr. DT 6-0 269 Sharpsburg, Ga./Northgate (USMAPS)
David Sprague Fr. OT 6-3 260 Moorpark, Calif./Grace Brethren
Patrick St. Pierre Fr. FB 6-0 248 New Philadelphia, Ohio/Central Catholic (USMAPS)
Kyle Stancombe Fr. QB 5-11 175 Bloomington, Ind./Bloomington North (USMAPS)
Chad Thayer Fr. LB 6-0 204 Miami, Fla./Miami Palmetto (USMAPS)
Karl Thompson Fr. OL 6-2 291 Richmond, Va./Varina (USMAPS)
Justin Turner Fr. RB 5-7 181 Boynton Beach, Fla./American Heritage-Boca Delray
Victor Ugenyi Jr. Fr. DE 6-2 232 Atlanta, Ga./North Springs
Alejandro Villanueva Fr. DT 6-7 265 Belgium/SHAPE American
Bryant Watrous Fr. LB 6-1 210 Satellite Beach, Fla./Satellite (USMAPS)
Carson Williams Fr. QB 6-3 216 Cullman, Ala./Cullman
Parker Woolwine Fr. DB 5-10 175 Tampa, Fla./Freedom
J.D. Ybanez Fr. TE 6-3 212 El Paso, Texas/Coronado

THE POST-Olympic landscape in Philadelphia would surely look a lot different from the one that came before it - with a made-over Navy Yard brimming with apartments, clusters of new hotels and a world-class natatorium for swimming events.

It's been said that one of the advantages of a Philadelphia bid is that between the South Philadelphia sports complex and Fairmount Park, most of the venues needed for the 2016 Summer Games already are in place.

But several facilities would still have to be built, including a track-and-field stadium and homes for the tennis and swimming competition. Of course, there's the need for an Olympic Village that can accommodate 15,000 people, likely headed for the Navy Yard.

"In scale, the Olympic Village is the biggest thing left behind," Bill Hankowsky, chief executive of Liberty Property Trust and co-chairman of the Olympic bid's facilities committee, said. Afterward, as people fill up those structures left behind, it becomes the city's newest neighborhood.

"The Navy base is as big as Center City," he added, outlining the boundaries. "That's 1,100 acres. It would be like dropping Washington Square or Rittenhouse Square or Society Hill, one of those neighborhoods and the equivalent of that population, at the Navy base."

Yet even Hankowsky says it's not the structures that stand out as he assesses how things would change.

"It strikes me that there would be a variety of aspects of Philadelphia that would be different, and one of those would be the world's view of us," he said yesterday. "Every city that has held the Summer Olympics ends up being similarly perceived as an international city. Suddenly, you're in the big leagues."

A benefit of that elevation is hosting sporting events that wouldn't have been considered before. Atlanta boasts in the 10-year report on the Games it released this week that sporting events have brought an estimated $1.5 billion in economic impact from 1999 through 2005. Many of those events are being held in structures built or refurbished for the Games.

Sydney, Australia, reports similar growth after hosting the 2000 Games: 7.7 million people visited its Olympic Park, home to its Olympic venues, last year.

"What happens is, now it's perfectly reasonable to have an international rowing event on the Cooper River," Hankowsky said, "or an international archery event in Fairmount Park, because we would have established international-quality venues."

And generally, those new buildings housing major sporting events find a new life once the Games leave. Among arenas, only Madison Square Garden grosses more than Sydney's SuperDome. The Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, enclosed since the '96 Games, hosted the NCAA swimming and diving championships this spring.

There's no reason the same can't happen in Philly, already home of the Penn Relays and the Army-Navy football game, and expecting to lure more national events and trials as a community partner with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

One can't help talk about 2017 without paying heed to the experience from both Sydney and Atlanta: It might take five years or more to finally cultivate all that the Games leave behind. Mark Rosenberg, the Sydney Olympic Park Authority commuications director and a former Penn student, said they focused so much on delivering "the best Games ever that there wasn't enough time or resources committed to developing a detailed post-Games plan."

A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, said the city needed a couple of years to catch its breath. "You just get that one shot and, in two weeks, it's gone, and you do lose some emotion and energy," he said Wednesday. Because of a number of factors "it has only been the last three or four years that we've really exploited the Games in a good way in terms of redeveloping the whole downtown community.

Here, worrying about maintaining momentum would be a welcome problem. That would mean the region would have lured the Games, and in 2017 would be showing off its polished facades and gleaming facilities. And, Hankowsky hopes, forge a stature that outlasts even the structures.

"Physically, [the changes here] would be somewhat dramatic," he said, "but it will be less that. It will be much more about literally how you think about yourself and how they think about you. And it's dramatic. It's dramatic."

Once again, the Little Army-Navy Football Game will return to the Newark area with all the traditional color and excitement that only an Army-Navy game can produce. The two service academies' 172-pound teams will meet at Kean University in Union in Pride Bowl XXVIII on Sept. 24.

For fans, the pregame ceremonies could be every bit as exciting as the game itself. Once again, anywhere from 300 to 500 cadets and 250 midshipmen are expected to march into the stadium. Along with them will come the Navy goat, the Army mule, the cheerleaders, pep bands from both schools, the touchdown cannon and all the festivities that mark any Army-Navy confrontation.

To handle the anticipated crowd, Dawood Farahi, the president of Kean University, has expanded the capacity by an extra 1,000 seats.

The game will be followed by a 45-minute concert by the world famous United States Naval Academy Gospel Choir.

"Our campus is a natural venue for the Pride Bowl," Farahi said yesterday in announcing his feelings about his school's hosting the game. "This university started in the City of Newark when we opened our doors in 1855 and trained teachers for the City of Newark.

"Now, more than 150 years, later the students of Newark remain one of our most important constituencies and a great many of them have earned degrees here.

"That's why it is an honor to join forces with Project Pride and host this game. Without the City of Newark, there would have been no Kean. We are committed to honoring that legacy, and through Project Pride, are proud to offer our facilities as hosts."

As it has for the previous 27 years, the Pride Bowl will be the principal fund-raiser for Newark's Project Pride, which has no paid employees except for teachers, no paid staff and has never taken federal funds. The volunteer-manned organization lives solely off the game and private donations.

Last year, Project Pride, which serves youngsters residing in Newark, ran its college scholarship total to an amazing 1,038, worth $1.6 million, at every level -- from Yale, Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Penn, Dartmouth and Rutgers on down to the state's county colleges. Its after-school academics (reading, science, instrumental music, computer science and conversational French for youngsters K-6) served 300 Newark kids. Its after-school athletics handled another 50.

This will be the fifth Pride Bowl appearance for Navy, which has never lost in the game, and Army's sixth.

"Our returning players understand all there is to know about Project Pride and this game," says Gene McIntyre, the Army coach. "They have a relationship with the city now. One year they sent us a busload of 8- and 9-year-olds to spend the day with us at the Academy. We love the band and we love the atmosphere. If you don't feel your blood pumping when that stadium is full and Army and Navy are going at each other and you get to see the cadets and the midshipmen march, then you'd have to be in a coma.

"And it's Army-Navy. It doesn't matter if the sport is football or chess. If the oppoent is Navy, everything about the game becomes special,

James Clearfield feels much the same way. He takes over at Navy from Jerry Rizzo, who beat Army four times in this game.

"I was assistant head coach last year, and it was my first Pride Bowl. I didn't know what to expect. Well, now I do. I never saw anything quite like this ... the crowd ... the cause and the electricity it generates," he said.