Football
Oct 4 (Sat)
10:00 am MT
- Title:
- Inside Linebackers
Ken Lamendola enters his fourth year as inside linebackers coach at Air Force. Lamendola has had an immediate impact, helping to lead a defense that ranked No. 1 nationally in total defense (254.5), second in passing defense (159.1), third in scoring defense (13.4) and sixth in rushing defense (95.3) in 2022. The 13.4 points per game average is the sixth best in program history and best since 1997.
The group was nearly as dominant in 2023, ranking sixth in total defense (277.7), sixth in rushing defense (90.8) and 12th in scoring defense (18.2). The Falcons led the Mountain West in total defense for the fifth straight season in 2024.
The inside linebacker corps has been highly successful. Osaro Aihie was an honorable mention all-Mountain West selection last season while earning player of the week honors vs. Nevada.
Bo Richter was a first-team all-Mountain West selection in 2023, along with earned Associated Press All-Bowl team honors. He was signed after the draft as a free agent by the Minnesota Vikings. Alec Mock led the Falcons in tackles with 93 in 2023 while earning second-team all-Mountain West honors and player of the week honors vs. Sam Houston State. He was also the highest graded linebacker in the Mountain West by Pro Football Focus and signed as a free agent following the draft with the Denver Broncos. Johnathan Youngblood was second with 85 stops and tied for the team lead in interceptions with three while earning Pro Football Performance all-conference honors. He was the 17th highest graded linebacker by PFF.
In 2022, TD Blackmon was second on the team in tackles with 68 and tackles for loss with 9.5 for 55 yards. Blackmon was an honorable mention all-conference selection and ranked as the sixth highest-graded linebacker in the nation by Pro Football Focus.
Lamendola, who was recognized by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) as one of 35 under 35 in college football, came to the Academy from Furman, where he spent five years as the Paladins’ inside linebackers coach and three as recruiting coordinator.
In his first year on staff, Lamendola was forced to manage early season-ending injuries to three senior starters — a task he accomplished in solid fashion by overseeing the development of a pair of Southern Conference All-Freshman Team performers, including Elijah McKoy, who finished the season with 81 tackles on the Paladins’ 8-5 squad that advanced to the FCS playoffs, and Reynard Ellis, who was on the Jerry Rice Award watch list.
In 2018, he helped first-year starter Donavan Perryman play a key role in the squad’s strong stretch run that saw the Paladins register five wins over their final six games to claim a share of the program’s 14th SoCon championship.
In 2019, freshman inside linebacker Braden Gilby fashioned an impactful first season, earning SoCon All-Fresman honors and was a Phil Steele Freshman All-American team member while helping Furman to an 8-5 campaign, an at-large berth to the FCS playoffs, and AFCA No. 19 final national ranking. This past season, freshman linebacker Nicky Kuzemka earned SoCon all-conference honors.
The quality work Lamendola has turned in with his players on the field has been mirrored by the stellar recruiting effort he has directed the last two years. Furman’s 2019 class was rated 16th nationally while the 2020 class was second nationally.
Lamendola came to Furman from Air Force Academy Preparatory School, where he coached inside linebackers for two seasons from 2015-17.
Lamendola’s playing career spanned five seasons (2007-11) and was highlighted by a sophomore campaign that saw him rack up 118 tackles and earn honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference honors as an inside linebacker before injuries curtailed his playing time.
The Westlake, Ohio, product totaled 24 tackles before a season-ending knee injury as the 2009 Air Force squad defeated 25th-ranked Houston, 45-20, to win the Armed Forces Bowl. The next year he was a member of a Falcons’ squad that went 9-4 and beat Georgia Tech, 14-7, in the Independence Bowl, and in 2011 he served as team captain in helping Air Force capture the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, which is awarded annually based on head-to-head results among the three service academies.
Lamendola is a December 2011 graduate of the Academy, where he earned a bachelor’s in management. He has completed graduate level studies in United States Air Force Fundamentals of Acquisition Management at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and holds a master’s degree in human resources from the University of Oklahoma.
He served one year as a program manager for Air Force One in the Very Important Person Special Air Mission (VIPSAM) and Special Duty Division at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. An 18-month stint as executive officer in the VIPSAM Special Duty Division followed before he was assigned program manager duties in the E-4B Commercial Derivative Aircraft Division in Sept. of 2014. Among his many tasks there were enabling critical decision making capability to the Secretary of Defense and the National Airborne Operations Center for the $150 million/year E-4B fleet and spearheading a $400 million-dollar Low Frequency Transmit System replacement.
