| #38 Navy Midshipmen |
| #4 in American |
I always include the “service academies are impossible to predict” caveat, because they always lean senior-heavy, and their year to year success is seemingly largely based on how a singular class pans out. See last year when I thought Army was an upset of Michigan away from playing in a New Years Six bowl, while Navy, coming off a 3-10 season (the program’s worst since 2002), while returning the fifth least production in the entire FBS, was destined for another long year. Instead, Army went 5-8, with just 3 FBS wins (Rice, UTSA, Massachusetts), while Navy went 11-2, beat Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl, and finished ranked #20, their second highest finish since 1963. So, I’m back to being bullish on the Midshipmen this year, but who knows. What I do know is that the Navy defense returns 8 starters, as indirectly mentioned, almost unheard of for the service academies. They will take a bit of a hit if LB/S hybrid Jake Springer, an honorable mention all-conference performer last year, doesn’t return. He put his name in the transfer portal in mid-March, but hasn’t yet landed anywhere. If he returns, to pair with Diego Fagot, Navy has the top linebacker duo in the American. Fagot, on his own is a difference maker, one of just three underclassmen to earn first all-conference defensive honors a year ago, and the only non-senior linebacker to do so. It’s not hyperbole to say he is on pace to become the best defensive player to play at the academy since Ron Beagle and Bob Reifsnyder in the 50s, both of whom are in the College Football Hall of Fame. In the 60 years since Reifsnyder graduated, Navy has produced exactly one All-American on the defensive side of the ball, safety Chet Moeller, and exactly two NFL Draft picks, in the 14th and 7th rounds respectively. Navy’s overall defensive stats are always going to look good, leading the AAC, #13 nationally, due to their offensive style. But even at a per play basis, the Midshipmen ranked 3rd in the conference, despite breaking in the fifth youngest defense in the FBS. They were bolstered by the return of first year defensive coordinator Brian Newberry, who turned down multiple Power Five offers, including publicly from Mike Leach at Mississippi State. Pay change aside, your defense is going to look a lot better when you pair it with an offense running a triple option, as opposed to an air raid. The offense also looks to be in solid shape...with one glaring omission, quarterback Malcolm Perry, last year’s AAC Player of the Year. Every back who saw significant carries last year, except one is back, led by dive expert Jamale Carothers. Carothers is money in short yardage situations. On 111 carries, he was only stopped behind the line twice, the ideal threat to collapse defenses in the triple option. If Nelson Smith can recapture his 2019 form he showed as a sophomore, before a disappointing junior season, with some mild injury concerns, the Midshipmen should be more than set with their backfield, if they get the quarterback position set. Macolm Perry is off to the NFL, a rare talent at Navy, opening a battle between sophomore Perry Olsen and senior Dalen Morris. Olsen probably has the edge, with three remaining years of eligibility, and saw action in nine games last year. The problem is that he was horrible in that limited action, completing just 2 of 8 passes, and averaging just 2.4 ypc on 34 rushes.
| KEY PLAYERS |
| FB | Jamale Carothers, Junior |
| FB | Nelson Smith, Senior |
| T | Billy Honaker, Senior |
| . |
| LB | Diego Fagot, Junior |
| S | Kevin Brennan, Junior |
| S | Evan Fochtman, Senior |
