By Michael Lindsay
Cookeville High School senior Blake Owen made his college football plans official Friday morning as he signed with the Army West Point Black Knights.
“The reason I ultimately went with West Point was the great culture and brotherhood they have,” said Owen. “I visited there and all the players have the same mentality and it’s high-level football. It gives you a great path after college for the rest of your life and that was really appealing to me.”
Owen started at quarterback and linebacker for the Cavaliers and leaves as the program’s all-time leader in touchdowns (54) and total yards (4,681). Owen is third all-time in rushing yards with 2,456 and recorded 136 tackles, 15 TFLs, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and an interception on defense.
“Blake is probably the most competitive player I’ve ever been around,” said Cookeville head coach Taylor Hennigan. “The leadership and physical presence that he brought are going to be hard to replace.”
Army West Point is located in West Point, NY, and the Black Knights are currently ranked #24 in the College Football Playoff rankings with a 10-1 overall record. Army is set to play in the AAC championship game Friday night at 7 p.m. CST.
“This is straight to the Academy at West Point and a top-25 program in the country,” said Hennigan. “It doesn’t happen very often and it does feel different.
“I know he’s going to be competitive in everything he does and is coachable,” added Hennigan. “He’s going to have the opportunity to play multiple positions. He played like 8 different positions for us, and all that translates to just playing good football.”
After winning 4 total games his freshman and sophomore seasons, the Cavaliers went 16-7 Owen’s junior and senior seasons.
“The biggest thing is winning,” said Hennigan. “We took over a program that had not won a lot recently, and he was part of the group that changed that. A lot of our offense was driven by him. There are so many categories here that he’s top 5 all-time in. He’s helped changed that expectation here.”
“I’m definitely going to miss all the friendships I’ve made with the guys on the team,” added Owen. “I can’t wait to get up there and play high-level football. I need to keep on working out and getting bigger and stronger.”
