{"id":26906,"date":"2019-10-11T12:21:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-11T16:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allsportsdiscussion.com\/?p=26906"},"modified":"2019-10-11T15:27:48","modified_gmt":"2019-10-11T19:27:48","slug":"connor-slomka-blends-the-old-and-the-new-at-west-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allsportsdiscussion.com\/2019\/10\/11\/connor-slomka-blends-the-old-and-the-new-at-west-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Slomka blends the old and the new at West Point"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In sports, there\u2019s old school and new school. Most people fall on one side or the other, but Connor Slomka is both — an old-school warrior and new-age athlete. Warrior is a term thrown around too loosely in sports, but it applies to cadets training to be officers in the military during an endless war on terrorism.<\/p>\n

Slomka plays fullback in Army\u2019s triple-option offense and that\u2019s about as about as old-school as it gets in football. He not only fits the profile as a 6-foot, 240-pound “Sledgehammer” — his high school nickname — he has a family tree that rooted him to West Point\u2019s 217-year history.<\/p>\n

His father Jim Slomka was an Army defensive lineman from 1991-93. He served 10 years, flying Blackhawk helicopters until retiring as a captain. When Connor was entering his grade-school years, his father was a West Point assistant athletic director.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at football practice all the time,\u201d Connor said. \u201cThere are still people here that remember me as a 6-year-old kid running around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now for the new age:<\/p>\n

Slomka had verbally accepted a lacrosse scholarship offer from Ohio State as a high school sophomore. Lacrosse is one that fastest growing sports in the 21st century, although its history is traced to Native Americans. That was before West Point began recruiting him Pine-Richland High in Wexford, Pa.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a productive millennial with so many options to do?<\/p>\n

He weighed the pros and cons and said he his choice came down a simple concept. He not only decommitted from a school, he decommitted from a sport. How new-school is that?<\/p>\n

\u201cI love football,\u201d he said. \u201cThat and along with everything that comes with attending West Point and serving helped me decide I\u2019d rather play football more than lacrosse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohio State\u2019s loss was Army\u2019s gain, but team gains are the focus of Slomka as the Black Knights (3-2) face Western Kentucky (3-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday night in Bowling Green are about yardage on the ground in games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re nowhere near where we want to be as at team yet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a lot of potential. We have to keep committing to what coaches are telling us to do. I think we\u2019ll see improvement; we haven\u2019t reached our peak at all yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is leading the team in rushing to date with 74 carries for 308 yards and three touchdowns in four games, averaging 4.2 yards per carry and 77.0 a game.<\/p>\n

Army\u2019s team rushing average of 273.4 ranks eighth in the nation, but it is well behind last year\u2019s national-leading average of 349.8 that drove Army to an 11-2 record, second straight Commander-in-Chief\u2019s Trophy and Armed Forces Bowl romp over Houston.<\/p>\n

Quarterback Kelvin Hopkins led team in rushing with 1,017, but he has only 253 in essentially three games due to a knee injury sidelining him.<\/p>\n

The Black Knights also are adjusting to missing center Bryce Holland perhaps more than expected as one of the two graduated offensive linemen. He was a bulwark in the middle as a 3-star recruit out of high school that chose West Point over any NFL aspirations to pursue an Army career.<\/p>\n

Slomka is filling the lead fullback role following the loss of 1,286 yards between two graduates, Darnell Woolfolk (956) and Andy Davidson (330). Slomka was the third fullback behind them with 74 carries for 324 yards and five touchdowns.<\/p>\n

Sharing the fullback role with Slomka \u2013 it\u2019s too punishing of a position for one player to take all the snaps \u2013 are Sandon McCoy (38-173, 4.6\/34.6) and Cade Bernard (13-77, 5.9\/15.4).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus is week to week because you never know what your role is going to be one game to the next,\u201d he said. \u201cOne game you might get more carries and the next you\u2019re a lead blocker. I have to be flexible for whatever role I have to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Army is playing its second game after a bye week when fundamentals were emphasized after what head coach Jeff Monken characterized as a sloppy 52-21 win over Morgan State.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on little details because if you get tired your fundamentals break down,\u201d he said. \u201cWith an offense like ours, fundamentals make a difference if you\u2019re tired or if the other team is tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

That method of striving to improve is as old-school, but there is one more new-school story that helped make West Point his choice.<\/p>\n

His father was willing to step back rather than pressure his son into a family tradition. Jim Slomka understood the discipline and demands required to get through a military academy is different than asking a son or daughter to follow a family path to State U.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing what that commitment to West Point represents, that\u2019s a decision you have to make on your own,\u201d Jim said. \u201cHe asked a lot of questions and did a lot of soul searching, but if you ask him, he\u2019s happy he made it. He\u2019s learned tremendous leadership skills and met people that have left a mark on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not bad for an old-school fullback.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

I invite you to follow me on Twitter @shanny4055<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Shanahan, Author: Raye of Light http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/knsqtqu<\/a><\/p>\n

— Book on Michigan State’s leading role in the integration of college football. It explains Duffy Daugherty’s untold pioneering role and debunks myths that steered recognition away from him to Bear Bryant.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/shanahan.report\/a\/the-case-for-duffy-and-medal-of-freedom<\/a><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe the myths at Duffy Daugherty\u2019s expense about Bear Bryant\u2019s motivation to play the 1970 USC-Alabama game or myths about the Charlie Thornhill-for-Joe Namath trade. Bear Bryant knew nothing about black talent in the South while he dragged his feet on segregation.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.shanahan.report\/a\/forty-four-underground-railroad-legacy-facts<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/shanahan.report\/a\/myths-that-grew-out-of-1970-alabama-game-with-usc<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/shanahan.report\/a\/mystery-solved-in-thornhill-and-namath-myth<\/a><\/p>\n

David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and biographer; “History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.”<\/p>\n

Click here for the link to order from August Publications<\/p>\n

-30-<\/p>\n

Make sure you follow the All Sports Discussion Twitter account at\u00a0<\/b>@AllSportsDACC<\/b><\/a>\u00a0and please like our\u00a0<\/b>Facebook Page<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n
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