TCY: Navy Midshipmen Football

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Trent Sies is another Rust Belt offensive lineman that fits the mold of what we're looking for. Maybe a little underweight out of high school, athletic, smart, hard working and a s**t kicker in the run game. You can never have enough depth on the offensive line and we'll continue to build that.

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We finally add a CB to this class with Henry Armendariz. He's long with the frame to put on some muscle and hopefully play close to 200 lbs. He's another super high character, multi-year captain with a terrific attitude. I expect he'll get an opportunity to start right away next year. He's got 4.5 sacks and 11 interceptions in his senior season.

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The first TE signing since we've come aboard at Navy, Everett Emmons, is an exciting pickup. We stretched a little bit on our normal standards to get him in the class. It's a position we've had very little production from so far and we hope he can change this. His strength is going to be in the run game though. He's already 6'7" 253 and is dominant as a blocker. Colleyville is about 30 min outside of Dallas and it's nice to snag our second Texan in this class.

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Our fourth and final DB in this class, North Jersey's Pete Chance really doesn't fit our mold at defensive back. He's definitely undersized but we felt with the number of guys we've brought in, we could start to stray a bit from our typical measurables. That's especially true when that player has 18 interceptions in 9 high school games. This kid is a lockdown corner and a great leader.

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Week 10 thoughts..

Just a really satisfying team-win. We clicked in pretty much every department.

We made some offensive game plan changes going into this one. One of which was to vary the types of running plays we attacked with. We got Reggie Pollard more designed runs and it worked well. He ran for 50 yards. Obviously, Mike Hicks had a really nice game. Dixon Horner got fewer carries than he's now used to.

The other game plan change we made was to try and make our passing game less big-play oriented. We felt like it was important to get Pollard into a rhythm in the short passing game and it worked. The small plays turned into big plays and Pollard to Cash was a really nice combo.

Although Nolan Ramsey won POW, Howard Scott actually led the way on the offensive line. Randy Bartee and Kerry Bradley surprisingly weren't on their A game but Scott dominated, going 5 for 8 in KRO's. Les Dicaprio struggled again, allowing 2 sacks. Claude Flynn is going to get the start next week. We just felt like Lawrence Cooper wasn't quite ready.

The pass rush was on for us again defensively. All four of our sacks came from the defensive line, with Troy Manning adding 2 more and Andrew White getting his first career QB takedown. Vinny Houck continued his recent strong play with a sack himself.

Wade Lake has had a tough freshman season as he's been thrown right into the fire. He showed up in this one though. He only had 7 passing snaps but really defended the run well with 7 tackles, including one TFL. He also recovered a key fumble in the redzone to help flip momentum.

One continually weak spot this year has been at punter. Mickey Hoffman's takeover at the position has yielded very little change. He punted 4 times in this game and averaged just 29.5 yards per kick. It's a position we'll continue to evaluate our options at.

After two consecutive wins, we head on the road to take on 2-6 Vanderbilt.

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The second TE in the class, Shane Wilson is similar in a lot of ways to Everett Emmons. He's another big kid with a nice frame whose strength is in the run game. He's maybe not as heralded of a prospect as Emmons but he probably offers more from an intangibles standpoint. We basically took him from the backyard of UW so he has something to prove to them, as well.

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Robbie Abah offers some of the things physically that Jumbo Tubbs does not. You can't teach 6'6" and 287 as a high school senior. He lacks a little glass in his diet still but that should come. He's a run blocker through and through. He's from just outside of NYC and is a fantastic student and excellent kid.

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Peter Washington will be the only defensive lineman in this class. He's entering a crowded depth chart with three freshmen currently on the roster. Very similar in a lot of ways to both Rufus Ingersoll and Troy Manning...similar builds, stout against the run, good student and effort. Has an eye opening 99 tackles this season which speaks to his high motor.

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It's tough to find LB's with the frame that Brian Holdhusen has at 6'4" 224 lbs. He rounds out the LB class at 3. He's going to bring a bit of a unique skillset in that he can really get after the QB from the inside. However his size is going to hold him back a little bit in pass coverage.

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Week 11 thoughts...

That's 3 wins in a row now and 30+ points in 3 straight games. This is after being shut out in the two weeks prior.

The QB situation is going to be interesting if Quentin Bush gets healthy this year. Reggie Pollard is playing exactly how we need him to play right now and it's really working.

A week after I was concerned about the lack of carries for Dixon Horner, he had 12 and led the team in rushing.

One move I made earlier in the year was moving Sophomore Lincoln Bates into the starting TE spot. He's been quiet but solid in the spot and had a nice game in this one, with 4 catches for 56 yards.

The defense was stout. Last year in this game, JB McMahon tore us up and won POG. This year he was held in step. Their passing game found some success but we were able to create sacks (3) and takeaways (2 INT). Rufus Ingersoll led the way with his 1.5 sacks and 3 TFL's.

Wade Lake continued his strong play of late by only allowing
2 catches and having a PBU.

With our record back at .500, we head to South Bend next week to take on #4 Notre Dame.

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The 16th and final member of the 2005 recruiting class is OG Michael Coggins. Coggins was the final scholarship offer we had out there, so the class played out nicely. He's basically a carbon-copy of Trent Sies, although he is the first lineman we've taken from down south in two years.

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Week 12 thoughts...

This one was pretty close for awhile. It was 14-10 at half after Rufus Ingersoll recovered a fumble and ran it back for a touchdown. Things fell off in the second half as we couldn't hold on.

Corwin Henry was eventually too much for our defense but they shut down the run for 4 quarters and created 4 more takeaways. Wade Lake had a forced fumble and a big INT early in the redzone.

The offense never really got going in the run or pass game. This hurt our ability to flip the field as well. ND's starting field position was their own 42 while ours was our own 20.

It was a very disappointing night for our offensive line. They went a combined 6 for 41 in RBO's. They didn't allow a sack but we only attempted 15 passes.

A tough loss but a game we didn't feel like we had a huge shot at winning. This week we're on the road at 3-7, UConn.

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Week 13 thoughts...

Nice bounceback win after last week. Great performance on both sides of the ball

Mike Hicks passed the 1000 yard mark in this game. He's had a really nice season and never really came close to losing his job to a really good freshman in Dixon Horner.

Speaking of Horner, he led the team in receiving in this one and caught a TD pass as well. He's added a nice dimension to the offense with his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield

The defensive line play was really strong.. Led by POG, Rufus Ingersoll and DT Vinny Houck, they combined for 5 sacks, 2 batted balls and 5 hurries. The much improved play against the run this season has been game-changing but the pass rush has been a difference maker as well.

Army-Navy next week. Army is 6-4 this season.

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Army-Navy thoughts...

A disastrous end to the season. A total dismantling at the hands of Army.

The only thing we did well in this one was run the ball. Dixon Horner and Everett Weyand combined for over 100 yards. Mike Hicks struggled with 27 yards on only 9 carries.

We rode Reggie Pollard in the second half of the season and he performed. It all came crashing down in this one though, with a downright Gilbert Cassellish performance out there. He was 4-23 for 93 yards and an interception. Terrible. It's actually possible that Oliver Robertson could have played in this game (broken ribs) so who knows what might have happened if he had...

Army scored TD's on 4 of their first 5 possessions and we turned the ball over on 3 of our first 5. We missed a FG on another. Pollard accounted for all 3 giveaways.

The defensive backfield got picked apart. Alonzo Barnes and S Clifton Norris, the veterans of the group, allowed a combined 9 catches on the day.

A really bad way to end the season. We can only hope it serves as motivation in the offseason..

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Final 2005 thoughts and look to 2006....

QB

The quarterback spot was a rollercoaster. Returning starter Quentin Bush went down early in the season and then Oliver Robertson went down in relief right after that. The Gilbert Cassell experiment was legendarily bad. We finally got some stability once we tinkered with the offense and allowed Reggie Pollard to manage games for us. This position can only go up next year as we only lose Cassell and we bring in a top ranked recruit in Adam Gerhardt.

RB/FB

The run game was an obvious strength with Mike Hicks and the trush frosh Dixon Horner. They complimented each other nicely. Everett Weyand continued to get some spot duty as the third guy. At FB, freshman Nolan Ramsey took over the job from Peter Hardy and was an immediate stud for us. We lose no one at these spots next year and bring in freshman power back, Austin Clancy.

TE/WR

All four TE's saw action this year but the position found some stability once Lincoln Bates took over the starting job from Mercury Gatson. He will have to fight for his starting job next year with the addition of the two freshmen, Everett Emmons and Shane Wilson. Gatson graduates.

The WR position was a bit of a question mark with last year's graduations of Mel McWilliams and Rufus Johnson. Ben Cash really answered the bell at the WR spot by topping those guys' numbers. Dana Beyer was the #2 and essentially all the production was from those two. We didn't sign any recruits at WR for the second straight year.

OL

This offense has always gone the direction the offensive line has and that's been led by the trio of Kerry Bradley, Randy Bartee and Howard Scott. Bartee and Bradley graduate and will be missed. Claude Flynn will also be gone; he and Les Dicaprio split the snaps at the RT position.We bring in 4 freshmen next season so we'll see who takes the 3 new openings alongside Scott and Sean Villars.

DL

The defensive line went from a major weakness in 2004 to a strength in 2005. This was due to an infusion of young talent, particularly at defensive end. Rufus Ingersoll and Troy Manning were immediate difference makers and Ingersoll was named a Freshman All-American. Paul Gillespie was playing well before an injury ended his season. At DT, returning starters Vinny Houck and Ethan Clemons really upped their game as well and we got contributions from freshman Andrew White and senior Brock Thomas. Thomas graduates as does DE Jason Frederick. This unit will be even stronger next year as we also add freshman Peter Washington.

LB

This group battled through some issues in 2005. It's strong at the top with freshmen Rondell Reese and Ian Tate and sophomore MLB Irving Nelson but there's very little depth beyond that. That showed when Reese was lost for the season early. Junior TJ Brady and sophomore Jimmie Perez filled in at the spot but neither are good enough to be full time starters. Reese will be healthy next season and we bring in three more freshmen to add more depth to the position.

DB

Another position with little to no depth. We ended up putting two walk-on's on scholarship this year because they got so much playing time (Jermaine Walters and Eugene Nixon). Alonzo Barnes was our guy at CB but his play took a step back this season. He returns next year alongside freshman Wade Lake whose play improved gradually over the season.We bring in two solid incoming freshmen in Pete Chance and Henry Armendariz who will immediately challenge for spots. At safety, Bennie Contreras started as a true frosh and played okay. Him and Clifton Norris were serviceable but replaceable. Their jobs will be on the hot seat with freshmen Trent Graham and Sedrick Hanaki arriving in the fall.

K/P

Quinn Blackwell retained the starting K job and went 11-14 and missed one XP. Mitch Burton and Van Muerch are capable backups. The punting position has been a headache for two years as we consistently lose the field position battle. Both Harvey Davison and Mickey Hoffman have gotten their opportunity. Davison graduates and the redshirt will come off Courtney Guffey next season. Hoffman will have to win the job again.

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