It takes a different kind of person to play college football at Army. These young men are not only sign up to put their lives on the line for the United States, they also choose to partake in the grueling schedule that comes with being a Division-I athlete.
There is no time to rest!
A day in the life of a college football player at West Point looks exhausting. Especially on a day that requires the athletes to wake up before morning formation.
What is the difference between USMA and USMAPS?
Before we go any further, I must first establish a very important difference between the United States Military Academy and the United States Military Academy Preparatory School. They are two distinct and separate entities under the same larger umbrella.
In this instance, we are talking about true freshman punter Ryker Floyd.
Floyd, a native of Arizona, committed to play college football at Army over an offer from Air Force. However, he is not yet admitted to the United States Military Academy.
Floyd currently attends the USMA Prep School. The Prep School was established in 1947 “to provide academic, military and physical instruction in a moral-ethical military environment to prepare and motivate candidates for success at the United States Military Academy.” It essentially serves as a gap year (or two) between a traditional high school and the USMA.
In the most simple terms, candidates who are not fully admitted to Army can attend the prep school to virtually guarantee full admittance to the Academy after additional schooling and training.
Floyd is one of those candidates. He lives on campus at West Point to attend the prep school.
The prep school also has its own football team that competes against similar programs like Howard Prep Academy, Sussex County Community College, Lackawanna College, Putnum Science Academy and the Naval Academy Prep School. It typically plays a six-game regular season schedule.
A day in the life of an Army football player is not easy.
Ryker Floyd recently posted an hour-by-hour breakdown of his daily routine. It starts at 1:50 a.m. and ends at 10:00 p.m.
His day breaks down as follows:
- 1:50 — Wake up
- 1:56 — Make bed an organize room
- 2:00-4:00 — Staff duty and homework
- 4:10 — Fix room, get ready for formation
- 6:20 — Formation and breakfast
- 7:15-8:55 — English class
- 9:05-10:15 — Biology class
- Get ready for football
- Upper body lift
- Shower and change
- Lunch
- 13:05-14:15 — Math class
- 14:20-15:30 — Military development class
- Football meeting
- Football practice
- Shower and change
- Dinner
- 19:00-21:30 — Study
- 22:00 — Get ready for bed
It should also be noted that this specific schedule is specific to this specific day. I only say that because it would be impossible to get less than four hours of sleep per night every night.
Students at Army do not have staff duty seven days a week. They typically begin their day with formation.
For example, former Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily followed a different, but equally as strict schedule last season. However, that does not take away from the grind.
Football players (and all college athletes) at the United States Military Academy are built different.