ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

September 21, 2024

Casey Larkin

Press Conference

Army 37, Rice 14

Q. Casey, your defense has been playing well. How does it feel as a unit to play a game like this, hold a team to 14 points? How did the defense do overall?

CASEY LARKIN: Good. Great team effort. Of course there's always things to clean up and we're going to take that into next week, make the adjustments and come out stronger next week. It's always about improving.

Q. You generated a safety today; what was that play like?

CASEY LARKIN: It was great. I'm not really sure what happened because the ball -- like I was holding up on punt, so I really -- I just heard the crowd and then the safety happened.

Q. How do you feel your defense is growing as a unit? Seems like in talking to Coach Woody during the week, he seemed very pleased with the team's performance. How does it feel?

ANDON THOMAS: It feels great. I think we're growing a lot. More off the field, too, it's not just on the field. We're all talking to each other, just being boys. Really the growth off the field is what translates to on the field.

Q. You had the interception; tell us about that play.

ANDON THOMAS: I mean, I was lucky just to be in the right position at the right time. Max made a great play, tipped the ball and I was lucky to come down with it.

Q. Casey, you guys had a blocked punt today and that was a big special teams play. When you get offense and defense and special teams together you guys are tough to beat. How important -- you guys seem to come up with some magic every week.

CASEY LARKIN: We pride ourselves on all three phases of the game. Special teams just as important a unit as offense and defense, and every single guy plays like they're on the offense and defense. That's how we treat special teams. Everyone is going 100 percent. It's a total team effort.

Q. The secondary, the pass defense in general you were able to keep the guys in front of you. Not a lot of big plays for them today. That's pretty much been the first three games. Have you worked on that in the off-season? Why is this happening?

CASEY LARKIN: I think it all falls on everybody playing together. I think the defensive line did a great job putting pressure on the quarterback and it makes our job 100 percent easier. We're lucky enough that we have such a good D-line and the linebackers that are dropping into coverage, as well, and it's just 1/11. All we're doing is that 1/11.

Q. How fun it is playing out there? You guys are 3-0, in a good spot. At home you have a pretty strong win, how fun is that?

ANDON THOMAS: It's obviously great to always win, but we pride ourselves not being complacent, on to the next one. This is a great victory for us, but we're on to the next one tomorrow, so just got to fix the fundamental stuff.

Q. Casey, it was definitely a good win today. Was there any point in the game you guys felt like you had it wrapped up?

CASEY LARKIN: No, sir. We put our foot on the gas every single game until the zeros hit the clock in the fourth quarter. We're always going to play 100 percent, no matter who's out on the field. We'll never get complacent, and we pride ourselves on that.

Q. Casey, I was going to ask you about the blocked field goal. Elo Modozie got his hand on the ball and you were able to grab it. Tell us how that play set up.

CASEY LARKIN: Elo made a great play. I just saw the ball, and it wouldn't have happened without Elo and honestly every guy doing their job. Just when the opportunity comes, it's my job to -- and everyone's job to make a play on the ball, so I was lucky enough to get the ball in my hands and try to run.

Q. As I was looking at who to talk to on the defense today, it was just a great defensive team effort, I think, across the board. One of the things I noticed was Max actually led the team in tackles with four. I think a big part of that is because your offense did such a good job keeping you guys off the field. Talk about what it's like to be able to go out there and only have to play 50 plays or so a game.

ANDON THOMAS: It's awesome. It keeps us nice, fresh on the sidelines. If the offense keeps doing that, we'll be in a really good spot. So just proud of the guys on the offense, proud of the O-line for playing the way they did. It just helps the defense a lot.

Q. Going to Casey, it's definitely complementary football. You look at especially when you're watching Army, the offense probably gets 90 percent of the attention and the headlines, but the starting defense now through three games has given up one touchdown a game. Talk a little bit about the fact that -- I think a lot of folks were a little concerned about the defense going into the season because there were a lot of fresh faces and new names, and you guys have really stepped up and really dominated your opponents in all three games. I'm sure you guys didn't surprise yourselves, but talk about the defense has come together as a team.

CASEY LARKIN: Well, so Coach Woody and the entire defensive staff prepares us every week amazingly, and they make the games easier for us. We just have to go out and execute. They pride our defense on just doing our 1/11, and I think we've been doing a really good job about that, but of course, like I said before, there's things to fix all the time. No one plays a perfect game. We're just going to take that into next week and just keep rolling.

Q. Casey, you were playing apache, they switched you to safety. You look like you're learning the position effectively, and you and Max are doing a great job back there. What's the transition been like are for you?

CASEY LARKIN: Last year I played a little bit of free safety behind Max playing apache. But I like filling any role that the coaches ask me to. Whatever is going to benefit the team, I'll never fight back on that because that's what this team is, and every single person on the defense and on the team has that same mentality of just doing their job no matter where it is on the field.

Q. Andon, can you talk about what you guys did better against the pass this week than maybe you didn't do the first two weeks?

ANDON THOMAS: I mean, like Casey just said, Coach Woody and the defensive staff does a great job preparing us, just fixing the fundamentals. I think we've tackled a lot better, so we've been focused a lot on tackling and just fixing the fundamental things before we move on to scheme.

Q. Casey, we always talk about the short week. You guys are Army soldiers here in great shape. That's what Coach was saying after the FAU game and battling those conditions. I'm sure you've been through this experience before. How tired are you guys, and does it really take to Thursday to feel better for a game?

CASEY LARKIN: No, I think it's just all about preparation. I think if you sulk in how tired you are -- honestly, the Army prepares you for that. We've done a lot of hard things outside of football, and they all share the same hardships and experiences when we're here at the academy.

I think the academy does a great job to prepare us, and it also translates over to football. I think a lot of guys don't harp on how tired they are because they just want to fight for the guys to the left and right of them.

Q. How significant is this 3-0 start and the nature of how you've done it?

CASEY LARKIN: It's great but it's important to not get complacent. That's what we've been harping on all season long. Of course there's highlights, but like I said before, there's things to fix, so I think if everyone keeps playing a team game, that's what we do, so we can just keep this thing going.