ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

November 18, 2023

Tyson Riley

Press Conference

Army 28, Coastal Carolina 21

Q. It seemed like the offense was more like the old offense a couple years ago. How was it for you?

TYSON RILEY: It was just good to go out there with my team and get a hard, tough win. I thought the O-line was moving their guys a lot, and then I thought me and Jakobi and the rest of the runners were really running the ball with that intention.

Q. Third quarter you got the 43-yard run. Tell us how that play shaped up.

TYSON RILEY: It was a zone play. I pressed it up into the line like Coach Viti told me to, and then I jumped good lock hit that block it was pretty open so I just ran as fast as I could, but it wasn't fast enough to get to the end zone, but it was a good play.

Q. How was is for you on Senior Day, out there with Jakobi and working together so well?

TYSON RILEY: Uh-huh. It just kind of brought me flashbacks to the years before, just like me and him just kind of going back and forth, feeding off each other's energy, and that was great for me today.

Q. The D-backs returned today, for one game at least. Did you guys work that a lot in practice and did you know it was coming up?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, I was under the impression that we were going to use it just a little bit kind of how we did last week, but kind of going into practice towards the end of the week, they started putting me in there more to get more reps, and we were just going to use it a little bit today, but then it was really working, so we just ran with it.

Q. You haven't carried the ball a lot, right?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, this was the first game.

Q. Did that come naturally for you today?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, in practice I got a few reps at it, so I've played football for a while, so hopefully I haven't lost the ability to run the ball. But no, it was a fun day out there.

Q. The feeling of getting back into the end zone at home, I assume it probably doesn't get any better?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, no, it was super exciting, especially with how that drive was going, just eating up all the clock, just running the ball pretty efficiently, just to cap it off with a little short touchdown run, it was really exciting.

Q. Today was Senior Day and I think you're 9-1 in the Jeff Monken era on Senior Day. Why do you think you do so well on Senior Day?

TYSON RILEY: I would definitely just say the culture we have. All this week the coaches were -- I remember back to other senior days before this, the coaches always talk about do it for the seniors. Like the seniors can't do it alone, and then the team can't do it alone without the seniors. Just the focus on doing your job like better than you would, doing it for someone else, that's always a good motivating factor.

Q. The offense really seemed to get more confidence as the game went on. What was the feeling out there?

TYSON RILEY: Like just going into that first drive, it was just kind of like see what they're going to line up with, see how they're going to answer with, and I thought we had a bunch of good plays going, and just kind of that momentum of rolling through that throughout the game, really I felt like you could see that emotionally with our team, and that's what gave us the confidence to keep going.

Q. How did you feel as the game went on?

TYSON RILEY: As the game went on, I just kept feeding off the plays and feeding off the O-line and feeding off just the energy of all my teammates out there, getting pretty excited.

Q. Going into practice this week, did you know you would have an expanded rollback in the backfield after spending the past few weeks in more of a tight end's position?

TYSON RILEY: Not really. We practiced both the under center and the gun stuff this week. It was a lot of tight end, and then we have tight ends in those formations, too, so I was just getting a lot of reps at maybe the split receiver or the slot, not really the B-back. But then kind of towards the end of the week, they were putting me back there.

I was getting kind of split reps but more towards the tight end, so I didn't really know until kind of yesterday and early today.

Q. Once you got that rhythm back a little bit, once it became clear that you were going to be relied upon in the running game, you got two carries in the red zone on the first drive, got that eight-minute drive. What gave you the confidence you could keep up that momentum for the rest of the game?

TYSON RILEY: Just trusting in my O-line, and then Coach Viti was a really intricate part of the confidence for me. Last night just kind of sat me and Jakobi and Markel Johnson down, and we were just going through plays, and he was giving us all the good pointers. So on the first run we had down there in the red zone, he's like, when you see this look, just get behind your guard and tackle and just let them lead the way for you, and just remembering those coaching points as you go into every play was crucial.

Q. If you could describe this departing senior class in a word, yourself included, what would it be?

TYSON RILEY: Just tough. I'll give you another word. Relentless. Those guys, I've been with them since prep school, most of them, and then when we came to the academy, just the group of guys, a lot of us played early on and have played a lot of football here, and just the chemistry you build with those guys and the friendships and stuff, I'll never forget that.

Q. Do you feel like you're leaving the run game in good hands as you depart?

TYSON RILEY: A hundred percent, a hundred percent. You guys have seen Kanye, Markel, Rell, Hayden all the running backs. They just bring a different -- they all have their own little things they're good at, and I hope me and Jakobi have had a good impression on them in terms of what an Army running back looks like.

Q. The scrum run that you had where you just kept on moving the pile, can you talk about what that's like keeping your feet moving and gaining those yards and keeping that momentum going?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, just going back to the years I've played football here, Coach Viti and Coach Powers just indy drills where you're running into bags, keeping your shoulder pads low, working on driving your feet. We practice all that. Those are part of our fundamentals. And just like the first guy comes up to you, get your pads low, drive your feet, and then the O-line they're going to come and help out. Coach Viti was telling them coming out of halftime, like hey, when the ball carrier is stopped up, go up there and push him and help him get extra yards. I just driving my feet and when I could look up I just tried to keep going. But yeah, that was pretty good.

Q. You had only 12 carries if I'm not mistaken but an impressive 112 yards on the ground, back-to-back carries in the third quarter that actually saw you carry the Coastal Carolina defense. Obviously you knew that you were getting some reps today. What was your mindset from that perspective but also knowing that you would be doing so with a traditional triple option offense and doing it in the last game at Michie Stadium?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, I was just really focused on letting the game come to me, not going out there and just trying to do something off schedule or trying to make a play. Everyone else, they want to do their job, they want to follow the plan. So having trust in those guys to execute their job really led me today.

Q. You mentioned Coach Viti. Can you talk about the interaction you were having with him along with the other fullbacks on the sidelines today?

TYSON RILEY: Yeah, I was just -- when Jakobi was in, he was keeping us locked in, making sure we were watching what the looks of the defense were giving us, and the different reads we would make, so when we went in there we would kind of know what to expect, and just kind of coaching up runs when we'd come to the sideline and blocks and stuff like that, really keeping us locked in.

Q. Just a question about the philosophy. Obviously going back to the option football that you're familiar with was easy for you probably because you've been doing it, but just talk about the transition from what you've been running to this because you've only had a week to really kind of practice it.

TYSON RILEY: Just prior training throughout my years here just with Coach V and Coach Powers, like I said, just relying back on those fundamentals I've learned, and if you look at our recent games, we've kind of gone with a more smashmouth, in-your-face, going back to Air Force and Holy Cross. We're running the ball a lot more.

I think that's the identity that this team has and that we need to be successful for the rest of the year.

Q. But the entire unit getting a piece of this?

TYSON RILEY: I mean, we're definitely a run-the-ball-first team, so just fully embracing that. I felt like we've seen that recently in the last three games of us really committing to the run game. I would definitely say that.