Navy football coach Brian Newberry proclaims quarterback competition ‘wide-open’

Capital Gazette
Published Aug 01, 2023 at 5:30 am
Navy football has no shortage of candidates for the starting quarterback job.
Sophomore Teddy Gleaton had been heading the list after emerging from spring camp atop the depth chart. However, Gleaton has yet to participate in any of Navy’s six practices during preseason training camp because he is attending summer school.
Senior Tai Lavatai did not participate in spring drills while recovering from surgery to repair a torn ACL . Classmate Xavier Arline was very limited as he played lacrosse during the spring and was injured at the time.
Arline and Lavatai are both healthy and were full participants when Navy training camp began last Wednesday. First-year coach Brian Newberry is impressed by how complete a recovery Lavatai has made.
“I’ve been somewhat surprised by how good Tai looks. I didn’t expect him to be at this point right now coming off an ACL,” Newberry said Saturday morning. “To move as well as he is right now is very impressive. In a lot of ways, Tai is moving better than he did before.”
Lavatai has 18 career starts, amassing career numbers of 1,236 passing yards and 680 rushing yards. He has run for 12 touchdowns and thrown for 10.
The 6-foot-2, 221-pound Florida native beat out Arline last preseason and started eight games before suffering the knee injury against Temple.
Navy quarterback Xavier Arline took over the starting job late last season after Tai Lavatai suffered a season-ending knee injury. Arline and Lavatai are part of a five-way battle for the starting quarterback job that's "wide-open."
Navy quarterback Xavier Arline took over the starting job late last season after Tai Lavatai suffered a season-ending knee injury. Arline and Lavatai are part of a five-way battle for the starting quarterback job that's "wide-open." (Jeff Dean/AP)
Arline has played in 21 games with nine starts, totaling 762 rushing yards and 254 passing yards. He has accounted for eight touchdowns (five rushing, three passing). The 5-foot-9, 176-pound Long Island native started the 2020 and 2022 Army-Navy games.
Newberry acknowledged it is reassuring to have two seniors with significant game experience at the quarterback position.
“I take solace in knowing we’ve won games with those guys. We know who exactly they are,” he said. “They’ve both done really good things during games and they’ve both gotten better every season.”
Newberry has stated several times that it was somewhat of a “blessing in disguise” that Lavatai and Arline sat out spring drills because it gave the three sophomores an opportunity to get much-needed practice repetitions.
“We had 750 11-on-11 reps during spring ball and those players really grew and developed,” he said.
Gleaton entered training camp atop the depth chart with Horvath as the backup. Arline and Lavatai are both listed at No. 3. Meanwhile, a plebe has entered the mix as Braxton Woodson has quickly caught the attention of coaches.
Woodson (6-3, 202) is a direct-entry recruit out of Lake Brantley High in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The dual-threat quarterback chose Navy over the other two service academies along with The Citadel and several Ivy League schools.
“There’s a freshman we’re going to take a hard, hard look at,” Newberry said.
Newberry is hopeful offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut and quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper will settle on a starter two weeks prior to the Aug. 26 season opener against Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland.
“I’ve been really pleased with the development of the quarterbacks. They’ve all got their strengths and weaknesses. There’s a lot of flexibility in the system, so whoever that guy winds up being, we’ve got to be able to mold the offense to his strengths,” Newberry said. “The competition is wide-open and I’m excited about that. We have two young guys and two veterans. I’m looking to see how all those guys progress during camp.”
Practice plan
Newberry has made some adjustments to Navy’s weekly practice schedule from that of his predecessor, Ken Niumatalolo.
Niumatalolo turned Monday into a recovery day with no on-field activities so players could rest their bodies. Newberry indicated the team would conduct a light practice on Monday to begin preparing for the next opponent.
“We’re going to get more out of Monday as far as a game plan perspective,” he said.
Newberry said “tough Tuesday” will remain the same with that afternoon practice being the longest and hardest of the week. “Work Wednesday” will not be as rigorous a practice, although the Midshipmen will be on the field running plays and getting typical practice repetitions
Perhaps the most notable difference is that Thursday and Friday have switched as the walkthrough session for the week. Newberry said “No Sweat Thursday” will feature players out on the field wearing T-shirts and ball caps.
In a major departure, the Mids will now conduct a crisp 90-minute practice on “Fast Friday” with players taking full-speed repetitions “so everyone is primed and ready to go out and play on Saturday,” Newberry said.
Newberry noted that Navy’s previous practice schedule resulted in 48 hours of very little physical activity leading up to games.
“I think that schedule, from a scientific standpoint, is optimal. It’s also good for our players to have that break on Thursday. I want their legs to be in good shape come game day,” Newberry said. “I’m trying to do everything I can to give our guys an edge and make sure they’re properly prepared.”
Another significant change is that daily meetings will be moved from the lunch hour (noon to 1 p.m.) to later in the afternoon. Newberry needed help from the administration to accomplish that longtime goal of the coaching staff. For the first time, the Naval Academy leadership has agreed to an arrangement in which 98% of football players are off during sixth period.
“Meeting at lunch was not optimal. I never liked doing it that way. It’s a disruption in the middle of the day for the coaches,” Newberry said. “What you want to be able to do is meet, walk through, then practice. We haven’t been able to do that around here because we haven’t had everyone available during sixth period.”
Newberry made it clear the Midshipmen will conduct some physical practices during August camp with the starters and backups banging helmets and shoulder pads during regular live scrimmage situations.
Toward the end of the Niumatalolo era, Navy cut back on full-contact practices. Newberry believes that approach contributed to starting the season 1-6 in 2021 and 2-5 in 2022.
“If we want to be a tough football team we have to do tough things. That means we have to get after each other in practice. You have to block and tackle guys the same way you would to win football games,” Newberry said. “There’s a little bit of risk involved with that, but I think the reward far exceeds that. We can’t get off to the same kind of start we have the last few years.”
Navy star linebacker Diego Fagot and legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick spent about a half hour chatting in the corner of the banquet room prior to the 67th annual Touchdown Club of Annapolis football awards banquet.
Fagot was there to receive the Tony Rubino Memorial Silver Helmet Award as Navy’s most outstanding player. Belichick was on hand for the presentation of the special award named in honor of his father.
At the time, Fagot was an NFL draft prospect and the lengthy conversation with Belichick was certainly a fortuitous opportunity for the prospect. Fagot wound up signing with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent.
However, that relationship formed with Belichick paid dividends earlier this week when the New England Patriots announced the signing of Fagot. The three-time All-American Athletic Conference selection was added to the 90-man roster following a workout Monday.
Fagot was waived by the Ravens toward the end of 2022 training camp and was not picked up by another team. The 25-year-old inside linebacker was a four-year varsity letterman at Navy, appearing in 47 career games and totaling 282 career tackles (35.5 for loss) with 9.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries and two interceptions.
Fagot is considered a longshot to make New England’s 53-man roster. The Patriots already had nine linebackers on the roster led by returning starters Matt Judon, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jahlani Tavai and Josh Uche.