ARMY BLACK KNIGHTS FOOTBALL

November 2, 2024

Casey Larkin

Kody Harris-Miller

Press Conference

Army - 20, Air Force - 3

Q. Congratulations on the win, guys. Casey, two plays not back to back, but on the same series, if you could talk to us about them a little bit. First was the PI. You have to be careful about what you say about the officials, but didn't look to us like a PI. What did you see in there?

CASEY LARKIN: It wasn't too much that I thought about. It was just the next play mentality. For me, it's like when something doesn't go your way, it's a don't flinch. Coach Monken preaches it all the time. Don't flinch. Play the next play.

Q. The interception?

CASEY LARKIN: Interception, same way. You've got to have a short-term memory. You've got to play each play, one play at a time. And then the cards fell the right way, D-line applied pressure, and fell into my hands.

Q. For Kody, two sacks today. And the D-line, you guys were getting pressure on the Air Force quarterbacks across the board whenever they threw the ball. Was that intentional? Did you dial up blitzes for backers? Was the D-line just dominating the O-line?

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: I would say, you know, we just tried to follow the play as close as we could, listened to the coaching points we had through the week. Coach put us in the best possible spot to be in at that time, and we were lucky enough to make a play against a talented up front O-line. We tried our hardest out there and just did what we worked all week to do. And, you know, just went out there and competed.

Q. Casey, what was your thought going into the game? The number 8 defense. You held them to three points today. A lot of pressure from players. What was the strategy? How did you feel it worked out?

CASEY LARKIN: Just play together. We had a bye week so we worked our tails off all those two weeks. We know it's an Academy game, and it's the most important game on our schedule. There's two games that are the most important. And it was just the biggest thing was to play together, good communication, and that was all.

Q. Kody, maybe how did you feel about getting the pressure on the quarterback for Air Force, Quentin Hayes? Were you expecting him to play today? They had a couple of alternatives.

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: I know they were back and forth about using a different quarterback. We tried to go out there, regardless of who was out there, just tried to play our game, tried to do what we were coached to do all week. The look we were getting from the scout team, we had to follow that plan as close as possible. And today we were lucky to execute it the way we did.

Q. Certainly your colleagues -- Chance Keith, Kyle Lewis, Andon Thomas -- had a great day. It's all because of your effort up front on the D-line.

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: It was a collective group effort all across the board. I think the scout team offense probably did more for this game than we possibly could have so I just thank them 24/7, and I'm probably going to go thank them as soon as I get back to the locker room.

Q. Guys, the defense is stepping up this year. Day after day. Didn't have Bryson on offense. I guess you must have known you had to play together. Talk about, either one of you, the maturity of this defensive unit.

CASEY LARKIN: It's great. I think we have a really close bond on the entire defensive unit. Not just starters. Everybody through the entire depth chart. This team's really close. I think it's a chemistry thing. As long as we're all clicking on all cylinders, and we trust each other and do our one-eleventh, it's all we pride ourselves on. It's a great dynamic.

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: The leadership styles we have, we're fortunate enough to have three captains on this side of the ball. That's big, almost having them in every single position room. Mine, we have two of them. The leadership and the trust we have for the guys next to us, knowing that okay, yeah, maybe we may or may not have had QB1. But at the end of the day, we trust whoever is taking snaps. It's our job to go out there and do the best.

Q. Kody, can you talk about getting the first leg of the CIC in your favor?

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: It's definitely a surreal feeling. My first CIC game ever, first CIC win. But at the end of the day, we still have other games to play until then so we're just going to shift our focus. Just 24-hour rule. After tomorrow, we're focused on the next opponent, and we'll see what we can do against a very talented North Texas team.

Q. Easy for you to get up for a game against Air Force. With Bryson out, did you have a little extra to help out today?

CASEY LARKIN: Like Kody said, doesn't matter who's in the game. We all trust each other, we all love each other, and that's the most important thing about playing at West Point. Go through so many hard times together that it's so easy to build trust, especially on this team.

Q. This is the first game when you guys really have had to work hard in the fourth quarter, late in the game. You've been pushed. Can you talk about what you did to prepare for it and how you managed it? You certainly played well. You had interceptions. You had drives that looked like they were going to be strong against you, and you stopped them. It was uncommon for what's already happened.

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: Like I said, the look we get from the scout team is second to none. Those guys show up. They have the same exact class schedule as us. They have to go through the exact trials at the Academy as us. To see them come in day in and day out give the effort, energy, enthusiasm they give, the look they give. You could say they almost know their playbook more than they know our playbook in a sense.

Those guys took these past two weeks extremely personal. They made it their number one goal to help this team get better and help us try to win. And, you know, we were challenged in the fourth quarter, and it ended up somehow paying off.

CASEY LARKIN: Biggest thing is preparation. Just like Kody said, the scout team prepares us and so do the coaches. It's one collective effort. No matter what your role is on the team, like I'm going to go down there, like Kody said, and thank the scout team guys because they give an awesome look all the time. And the coaches put us in the toughest situations possible during the week upcoming to the game. So just kudos to them, the coaching staff and especially the scout team.

Q. Talk about your defense having six sacks today for the game.

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: We were just lucky enough to be in a spot that we were in when the play game. Corners did a great job of coverage. Safeties like Casey Larkin back there covering for us. Linebackers doing their reads and everything they need to do allowed us to kind of go out and be in the right spot at the right time.

Q. Also talk about the interceptions you guys had. Like how key that was at certain moments of the game?

CASEY LARKIN: So those interceptions don't happen without the whole defense doing their part. I mean, the quarterback was getting pressured all game, and he had to get the ball out quick. That's kudos to the D-line, linebackers, whoever's blitzing. The cards fell into the secondary's hands, and we capitalized.

Q. Kody, you just said a few minutes ago about the 24-hour rule. I'm curious, how do these 24 hours feel?

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: These 24 hours feel great. Like I mentioned earlier, my first CIC game, first CIC win. It's definitely an extremely surreal moment since being here at the Academy. These next 24 hours, I'm going to smile as much as I can but know coming in for practice tomorrow, we have to have a new mindset. We have a new opponent, and we're going to go out and try to refocus, revamp, rebuild, and go from there.

Q. Casey, how would you rate Army's defensive effort today?

CASEY LARKIN: Great. But I think it's important to move on and find the flaws that happened today. Of course, we weren't perfect. That's most important thing. It's easy, after a good win, to see the highlights, but we want to focus on the flaws and get those kinks out.

Q. Last thing for either one of those guys. I know you guys are on defense. Did either of you chat with Dewayne Coleman going into this game? What did you say?

KODY HARRIS-MILLER: Play your game. We had complete and total -- we just had complete and total trust in him. Like we said earlier, we trust whoever is playing behind the quarterback, playing center, whatever they're playing. We trust them completely. We trust everybody in the brotherhood. Go out and play your game, play your play. Go out there and put on for the brotherhood.

Q. Casey, in the same light, I know Bryson isn't here to talk, but did you guys talk to him about, hey, stay in there. You'll be back?

CASEY LARKIN: Yes, definitely. Talked to him last night in the hotel. Just said keep your head up. And I know he'll be back. He's one of the hardest workers in the locker room. He's an awesome leader. So can't wait to get him back.

Also, kudos to Dewayne Coleman coming in, not flinching. Did his thing and I knew he was going to because his confidence is through the roof. That's every guy on the team. There's just a great effort, and I'm looking forward for Bryson's rehab and getting on to the next week.