Army senior left guard Bill Katsigiannis was named a second-team all-America as selected by sports giant ESPN. Last month he was named first-team by Sports Illustrated.
A native of Katy, Texas, Katsigiannis played a major role with the Black Knights‘ receiving the Joe Moore Award, presented to the most outstanding offensive line unit in college football.
Army’s success could easily be traced through the consistency of the offensive line. All five players – including left tackle Connor Finucane; right guard Paolo Gennarelli; center Brady Small; right tackle Lucas Scott; and, Katsigiannis – started all 13 games.
The Black Knights led the Football Bowl Subdivision with 300.5 rushing yards per game, that’s more than 47 more than anyone else – it is Army’s first NCAA team rushing title since 2017 and 11th overall. Army’s 4,207 rushing yards ranks fourth all-time at the school and 48 rushing scores ranks second. Through 12 games, Army rushers gained positive yardage 89 percent of the time, and averaged 5.7 yards per carry, their best mark since 2017 and good for sixth in the country. A major reason was the unit’s ability to dominate at the line, netting nearly 3 yards on every snap before a defender could even touch a ball carrier.
“I’m proud of the performance of our entire team this season,” said Army head coach Jeff Monken, “but none more than our outstanding offensive line. They are truly the best in the country and the best offensive line on any team I’ve ever been a part of. They are tough, rugged, physical, play together and are well-coached by Mike Viti and Matt Drinkall. They have paved the path for the nation’s best run game and two rushers of over 1,000 yards.”
Notes: Scott is coming off an appearance in last weekend’s Hula Bowl, played in Orlando, Florida (Bo Nicolas-Paul played in the 2024 game). Wide receiver Casey Reynolds is playing in Sunday’s Tropical Bowl all-star game, also in Orlando.
Recent Army participation by offensive linemen in college all-star games include Jeremy Chapman (1998), Brian Connolly (1999) and Aaron Burger (2003) in the Hula Bowl; Brett Toth (2017, 2018) in the East-West Shrine Game and Senior Bowl, respectively.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
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This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Army offensive guard Bill Katsigiannis named all-America by ESPN
