Navy Midshipmen
Preview 2009
By
Pete Fiutak
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us know
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2009 CFN Navy Preview |
2009 Navy Offense
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2009 Navy Defense |
2009 Navy Depth Chart
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2008 Navy Preview |
2007 Navy Preview |
2006 Navy Preview
Head coach: Ken Niumatalolo
2nd year: 8-6
Returning Lettermen:
Off. 10, Def. 15, ST 2
Lettermen Lost: 28 |
Ten
Best Navy Players
1. NG Nate Frazier, Sr.
2. LB Ross
Pospisil, Sr.
3. QB Ricky Dobbs, Jr.
4. LB Clint Sovie,
Sr.
5. DE Matt Nechak, Sr.
6. O Jeff Battipaglia, Jr.
7. OT Matt Molloy, Jr.
8. DE Jabaree Tuani, Soph.
9.
SS Wyatt Middleton, Jr.
10. CB Blake Carter, Sr. |
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2009 Schedule
CFN Prediction:
COMING
2009 Record: 0-0
9/5 at Ohio State
9/12 Louisiana Tech
9/19 at Pitt
9/26
Western Kentucky
10/3 Air Force
10/10 at Rice
10/17 at
SMU
10/24 Wake Forest
10/31 Temple
11/7 at Notre Dame
11/14 Delaware
11/21 OPEN DATE
11/28 at Hawaii
12/5
OPEN DATE
12/12 Army (Phil.) |
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2008 Schedule
CFN Prediction:
7-5
2008 Record:
8-5
Aug.
30 Towson W 41-13
Sept. 5 at Ball State
L 35-23
Sept. 13 at Duke
L 41-31
Sept. 20 Rutgers W 23-21
Sept. 27 at W Forest W 24-17
Oct. 4 at Air Force W 33-27
Oct. 11 OPEN DATE
Oct. 18 Pitt L 42-21
Oct. 25 SMU W
34-7
Nov. 1 Temple W
33-27 OT
Nov. 8 OPEN DATE
Nov. 15 Notre Dame L 27-21
Nov. 25 at No. Illinois
W 16-0
Dec. 6 Army
(Phil) W 34-0
EagleBank Bowl
Dec. 20 Wake Forest L 29-19 |
And now it's
the defense's turn.
The Navy offense has been
the reason for the tremendous success over the last
several years, with the rushing attack the best in the
nation four years running. It's impossible to properly
simulate the speed and precision of the Midshipmen
attack in practices, and it has shown as teams with far
superior talent, which is almost everyone on the
schedule, always appear shell-shocked when they have to
see the machine work up close and personal. And while
there will be rushing production, as always, this year,
it'll be the defense that has to lead the way to another
bowl game.
Navy, like all the service academies,
always has lots of turnover and always seems able to
plug in the gaps with players, cogs, who can do the same
things as the ones before them. Lose one small, quick,
running quarterback, replace him with another. Lose one
too-small linebacker who makes up for his deficiencies
by going 100 miles per hour, dust another off the plebe
pile and throw him in. But this year, the holes might be
a little too big at running back to patch up, while the
defense has more than just carbon-copy players ready to
step in. The defense has some real, live, talent.
To understand how amazing Navy's success has been is
to realize that all of this is happening with FCS
talent. Every year, maybe half the starters would start
for another FBS team, and there are only a handful that
could start for a BCS conference squad. However, this
year's defense has a group of players that can really
play. They not only have the full-tilt motors, but they
have skills that should make this the best Navy D in
years.
Start with Nate Frazier, a 292-pounds
nose guard who's the anchor of a run defense that
allowed just 135 yards per game. Add in a deep,
stunningly decent-sized group of ends to fill out the
3-4 and a linebacking corps with veterans Ross Pospisil
and Clint Sovie who can hang around and produce against
just about anyone not in the top 20, and all of a
sudden, teams that spend all their time worrying about
the Navy offense will have to figure out how to move the
ball.
Offensively, the line will be solid and QB
Ricky Dobbs is a talented veteran, so the production
shouldn't slip too much, but there's a major talent
drop-off at running back where bruising fullback Eric
Kettani and lightning fast slot back Shun White have to
be replaced after all but carrying the attack.
In
his second years, head coach Ken Niumatalolo and his
staff should keep the positive run going, and there's a
chance for this to be the best Navy team yet since Paul
Johnson helped kick it all off. If the running game can
be the Navy running game again, Navy could open up even
more eyes.
What to watch to watch for on offense: More
passing ... at least a little more. Ricky Dobbs is the
most talented passer the offense has had in years, and
while he's not going to be Sam Bradford winging it
around, he has the arm to push the ball deeper and make
things happen with the offense that the past several
Navy quarterbacks couldn't. Dobbs can run, too, and it's
not like the offense is going to stop doing what it does
best, but it could be interesting to see if the attack
can open things up a bit.
What to watch to watch for on defense: The
linebackers. Ross Pospisil led the team with 106
tackles, Clint Sovie made 60 stops, Ram Vela made three
sacks and 33 tackles, Tony Haberer made 41 tackles, and
Craig Schaefer is a good veteran who appears to be ready
to come up with a good year. This group is tough, quick,
and will be flying all over the place to not only add
more to the pass rush but to be even better against the
run.
The team will be far better if … there's
some semblance of a pass rush ... again. There hasn't
been any pressure into the backfield over the past few
years, with last year a particular problem coming
up with just 17 sacks and 61 tackles for loss. For all
the good parts of the defense, one of the relative weak
points is at corner. The more the ends can provide a
little bit of pressure, the more of a break the
inconsistent secondary will get.
The Schedule:
This could be the toughest slate Navy has dealt with in
years. Starting out the season at Ohio State isn't
exactly a plus, while Louisiana Tech will be a WAC title
contender and Pitt is going to be strong. That's just
the first three weeks. There are the winnable dates
against teams like Western Kentucky, SMU, Temple, and
Delaware that should provide a nice base of wins, but
there's a ceiling on how high the team can go with road
trips to Notre Dame and Hawaii in December and a home
date against Wake Forest. The Army game is pushed off to
December 12th after coming back from Hawaii.
Best
Offensive Player:
Junior QB Ricky Dobbs. Hearts
stopped beating for a second in spring ball when Dobbs
went down with an ankle injury. It didn't turn out to be
serious, but Niumatalolo showed how much concern he has
about his quarterback situation, and his season, when
Dobbs went down. Not just a quick runner who'll gain
well over 500 yards this year, Dobbs can throw and he
should add an extra dimension to the attack.
Best Defensive Player: Senior NG Nate Frazier. If
Dobbs is the team's most indispensible player, Frazier
is No. 1A. The 292-pound nose guard is the anchor of a
great run defense with the talent and strength to hold
up against the most physical of running games. Quick
into the backfield, as well as a brick wall against the
run, Frazier is one of the best defensive tackles the
program has ever had.
Key
player to a successful season:
Sophomore
RB Alexander Teich. Part of the reason the Navy ground
game works so well is because the fullback can soften
things up on the inside enough for things to break open
wide on the outside. When the fullback is running well,
Navy will pound away with him over and over again until
a defense can step up and stop it. Teich isn't a bruiser
at just 6-0 and 212 pounds, and while he's physical and
will try hard, he's not going to be Eric Kettani.
The
season will be a success if
... the Midshipmen get to a bowl and pulls off a win
over one of the BCS teams. While this might be the best
Navy team in years, the record might not be fantastic
because of the schedule. Getting to a bowl game is
always an accomplishment and it'll never get stale. But
along the way, it would be nice to get a win over Wake
Forest or Pitt.
Key
game:
Sept. 12
vs. Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs are better than the
Midshipmen, but this is a must win for Navy as the
sandwich in between road games at Ohio State and Pitt.
Lose the home opener, and it'll likely be an 0-3 start
with the showdown against Air Force, and road games at
Rice and SMU, coming up fast. It's not a stretch to say
that a bowl game might be in jeopardy if Navy loses this
game.
2008
Fun Stats:
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Rushing yards per game: Navy 292.4 - Opponents 134.8
- Sacks: Navy 17 for 90 yards - Opponents 10 for 56
yards
- Penalties: Opponents 63 for 524 yards - Navy
41 for 348 yards
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2009 CFN Navy Preview |
2009 Navy Offense
-
2009 Navy Defense |
2009 Navy Depth Chart
-
2008 Navy Preview |
2007 Navy Preview |
2006 Navy Preview
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