ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

November 11, 2023

Jabril Williams

Press Conference

Army 17, Holy Cross 14

Q. It's the first series for Holy Cross, and you go in on the punt team. Tell us what happened on the punt block.

JABRIL WILLIAMS: Yes, sir. Everyone was firing on all cylinders. That's purely just taking drills to the plays in the game. We like to say a lot around here that we won that play earlier in the week because we practice exactly what we expect to happen.

You put any one of the guys on the depth chart in my position, I guarantee they're going to make the same play. I just happened to be there at the right time. If you look at the play and you watch it again, everyone on the line was doing their job and getting past their guys and practicing their fundamentals and executing the way we were supposed to execute.

All credit to them and all credit to the coaches for scheming up such a perfect plan.

Q. You kind of have a knack for this stuff; is this something you did in high school, too, or is it just kind of the coaching that has happened at West Point?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: I said before actually that I believe our special teams coaches are the best in the country. The way that they have us do certain drills directly correlates to what we do in the games. That's why I'm so thankful for it, to be able to make those drills directly to the games.

As far as high school goes, always a chance to rep Joliet Catholic Academy. We always emphasized special teams in high school. Taking what I learned from there to here pretty much was an easy transition, and like I said with the coaches, how much we emphasize it here just put me in the right position and everyone in the right position to make plays all the time.

You go and look at all the other schemes and all the other phases of special teams, you can pick any guy and they're making plays.

Q. Feels like a unit touchdown, so to speak --

JABRIL WILLIAMS: For sure. Did you see Elo Modozie? He was striding. Talk about an athlete, the way he was in the right position at the right time. I'm telling you, that was all drills.

Q. To bounce off of that on Elo, did you think you had a chance at that ball, and what did you think when you saw him running it to the end zone? Did you assume an automatic six?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: I was just happy to see him scoop it up and execute so well. Like I said, that's all a part of what we do, have a guy blocking, have a guy come up right behind and scoop it. That's excellent. He has a knack for the game, as you can tell, a freshman who plays like that. He obviously was in the right place.

Once I saw him pick it up and run it, it was nothing but pure happiness on my -- that's how you do it. Great job.

Q. Special teams obviously played a big role today. You guys averaged 42 yards a punt, and of course the field goal at the end. How important was special teams to a win like this today?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: Crucial. I believe played a huge role, as does special teams in every single game. Like I said, we emphasize it here, and we believe that it's a huge part of the game.

As far as I'm concerned, not exactly sure on the word, but we believe it's like a third of the entire game, so it's a lot of plays and a lot of time played a part of the game on special teams. You talk about a guy like Cooper Allan just getting us in perfect field position, we believe that punt and punt block are crucial plays to getting us where we want to be on the field, and having guys, having 10 guys beside me doing what they have to do at the right time, that makes everything much more smooth for our team to get us in a position to win.

Q. Cooper Allan had a tough game a couple games ago against Troy, and then of course he played real well last week and again this week. What's going through his head right now?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: He's very resilient. He's a very resilient guy. He's a great kicker, as well. We couldn't ask for a better punter than him. Just the entire room, Coach Saturnio, the way he runs that room, you can take any one of those guys and they're going to execute.

He may have faced some adversity, but the important thing is he came through today and he's on an upward trend. I'm really excited to see what he's going to do, and all credit to him. I'm a big Cooper Allan fan.

Q. Talk a little bit about just the mindset that you have going into a game like this, obviously coming off a big win, and again, special teams plays an important role in any game. Talk about the special teams play today.

JABRIL WILLIAMS: Yes, sir, everything was like I said, schemed up. We all had our direct plan of what we have to do, and that's the plan every single week. Our coaches just remind us every single day, watch more film, figure out tendencies on what the punter might do or what the wing might do or what different guys on the line might do, watching the snapper, any tendencies he has, and just really studying. It's all about film.

Obviously everyone on the line, they studied everyone out there, they studied and they did exactly what they had to do to execute, and I'm just really proud of them, and I'm grateful for coaches to scheme up something like that so well that it worked out.

Q. Just wondering if you were out on the field for the onside kick recovery that Noah Short made or if you saw the play. What was involved would you say?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: I was not on the field, but I had a great view of it. Noah Short, he did his thing. Every single guy out there, they have a very crucial purpose, and they did their job today, and I'm grateful that they did.

We have different segments with different guys who align well for different scenarios, and on that team the hands team went in, and they did what they had to do, and I'm grateful for them.

Q. What does it mean for you to win this game on Veterans Day?

JABRIL WILLIAMS: That's a very, very good question. It's kind of hard to express with words what this means to me. Obviously the uniform that we don and the role that we play, it's very, very important to us to win on Veterans Day for all those who have served and all those who are currently serving.

It was huge, and it was very -- we took a different mindset coming into this game because it wasn't like any other game. The people watching, the vets in the stands, they've done their job, and it was time for us to do our job. Just a huge thank you to everyone who has served and who is currently serving. It gives us a purpose every single day when I wake up to know that we've got people fighting for us.