Like any good Navy fan, I am on the NAAA mailing list. Since you are all good Navy fans like I am, you probably received the same e-mail that I did yesterday– the one containing a press release announcing CBS College Sports’ college football coverage for the 2008 season. It starts out well enough, highlighting the new Inside College Football show that I assume will replace Crystal Ball. But then you get to the end, where next year’s game broadcasters are announced:
CBS College Sports Network returns top talent to broadcast the action this season. Former Notre Dame and NFL offensive lineman Aaron Taylor rejoins the network as a game and studio analyst. Taylor began his broadcasting career with CBS College Sports Network (then CSTV) in 2003. Taylor teams up with play-by-play announcer Carter Blackburn to broadcast the action throughout the season.
In addition, Trev Alberts returns as a game and studio analyst and will be paired with play-by-play voice Tom Hart. Former University of Texas and NFL linebacker Brian Jones returns as a studio analyst, along with former University of Georgia All-American David Pollack, who again serves as the network¹s SEC football expert.
At first, I assumed that it was a mistake on the part of CBS to forget to add the Pete Medhurst-Scott Zolak team for Navy games. Unfortunately, it was not. Pete Medhurst, who has been doing Navy football on TV since the HDNet days, will not be calling games on TV this year.
Horrible, horrible move, CBS. Pete is the television voice of Navy football. Nobody is more prepared. I hope the WNAV internet feed syncs up with the TV this year.
Bill Wagner broke the news that Kaipo is sitting out practice with a bothersome hamstring. Those of you looking to jump off the Bay Bridge are going to be stuck in traffic for a while, since an 18-wheeler got a head start on you. (It isn’t known if the driver of the truck was motivated by the news). Too early to panic? Yeah, probably, although it’s bad enough that Kaipo went in for an MRI and might miss the opener. Hamstrings are the kind of thing that tend to linger, so who knows how long this will last. Jarod Bryant has moved backfrom practicing full-time at A-back to quarterback.
The coaches have a lot of confidence in Jarod Bryant. And given the recent trend of Navy seniors rising to the starting quarterback role, it’s hard not to. Still, even the most hard-core of the Hoover High School Fan Club (Annapolis Chapter) would admit that the offense is best served when Kaipo and Jarod are BOTH on the field. Especially now, since Jarod had risen to the top of the slotback depth chart with injuries to Greg Shinego and Andre Byrd. While the coaches are apparently pleased with the performance of Cory Finnerty, it’s hard to believe that the slotbacks aren’t going to suffer when three of the top four players going into the season are either out or moved.
Bryant can do the job at quarterback, but he was really impressing people at slotback. That, and Kaipo is probably the best quarterback at Navy since Alton Grizzard. Hopefully it isn’t too long before we get them both on the field.
— The Naval Academy is a small, undergraduate-only school of about 4000 students that only puts out about 900-1000 graduates every year.
— While the average state school dumps thousands of graduates into its region each year, Naval Academy graduates are immediately sent away from Annapolis and cast to all corners of the country, and even the world.
— Within a 45-minute drive of Annapolis, you have:
Two NFL Franchises
Two Major League Baseball franchises
A large, BCS-conference state school
an NBA franchise
an NHL franchise
…all of which have seasons that at least partially overlap with Navy football season.
Media Day is in the books, and practice is underway. I was waiting to see if the SID staff was going to put out a media day transcript, but it doesn’t look like they’re going to. No biggie, as our own Adam Nettina gave a great recap of all the big points covered at the press conference writing for College Football News. Some good stuff was batted around about the defense, the race for #2 fullback, and what Coach Niumatalolo is like in practice compared to Paul Johnson. Worth the All-Access subscription, as are the player interviews with Pete Medhurst (Shun White in particular).
As I watched the press conference, one thing that I noticed was how much more comfortable Ken Niumatalolo looked in front of the media compared to just a few months ago. Since taking charge last December, Coach Niumat always looked a bit uneasy when answering questions or talking in front of the microphone. I’m sure a lot of that was because the events leading to his promotion all happened so quickly, but regardless, things have changed. Last week, coach was smiling, cracked a few jokes, and gave very frank, straightforward answers. He looked like a man in charge. Maybe this is just me reading way too much into minutiae the way I always do, but it was very noticeable.
Anyway, with practice having started, that means the return of the practice pressers! Presser #1 came on Friday, with Wagner firing off a few questions for the Navy head coach:
Wagner: What are some of the question marks you have in your mind? You talked yesterday about the backup fullback; I know that is one of them. Who is in the mix to back up Kettani?
Niumatalolo: Kevin Campbell, Vince Murray, Wes Holland and a freshman from the prep school, Alex Teich. Those are the guys we are looking at.
Wagner: Teich was listed as a slot back, was that a mistake?
Niumatalolo: No, he was a slot back but we just moved him. He is a pretty physical kid and we liked the way he tested. We want to see what he can do.
Wagner: I don’t have the stats in front of me, but I don’t believe any of those guys you mentioned carried the ball at all last year.
Niumatalolo: Backup fullback was a big question in the spring, but we were very pleased with the way Campbell and Murray played. It is still an open battle and those guys know that the number two spot is still up for grabs. We moved Holland and Teich from slot to fullback to up the competition.
The #2 mythical creature in the Navy offense (#1 being the super-athletic quarterback with the howitzer arm) is the second coming of Adrian Peterson; the fullback that’s not a fullback as much as a traditional tailback. The guy that’s as big a threat on the outside as between the tackles. Navy’s fullback have been more of the bruiser, up the middle variety. Now, I’m not even pretending that Holland and Teich are Adrian Peterson. But maybe bringing switching a couple slots to fullback is an attempt to see if we can get that different element out of the position. Coach Johnson tried it a little when he moved Trey Hines to fullback, but Hines never really had an opportunity to learn the position. Holland and Teich will. I fully expect Campbell and Murray to be on the 3-deep this year, but this will be something to watch as time goes on.
Wagner: What other questions do you have on offense? How about the offensive line?
Niumatalolo: We are looking for a third guard and a third tackle. We are also trying to find a backup center.
Wagner: Lark hasn’t proven himself, has he?
Niumatalolo: I’m starting to like what I see. He’s a pup at center right now so he is running around like a chicken with his head cut off, but he plays with great intensity and he is very strong. I like what I see out of him.
If all we’re looking for is a 3rd guard and 3rd tackle, then we must be doing OK. It’s good that Lark is making some progress at center.
Wagner: On defense, Nate Frazier looks great out here. I heard he made all of the workouts this summer.
Niumatalolo: Defensively, we are looking for some young guys that can step up. We have a ton of guys back from last year that we are excited about. We have an experienced group coming back. We have a pretty good idea who we have on defense, but we want to see if any of the young guys can step into the mix.
I don’t know about you, but I got my fill of young guys stepping into the mix last year. I’m ready for some old, grizzled veterans on defense.
It’s all over. The topic that has created more hate & discontent than any other on this mediocre blog has reached its conclusion, and it’s glorious. The Army, in a move as smooth as concrete, plucked Caleb Campbell away at the last minute as he was to begin training camp with the Lions. Somewhat shockingly, the careers of their baseball players are over too, with Nick Hill and Milan Dinga ordered to report to their respective Officer Basic Courses once their seasons are complete. It’s hard not to feel for these guys as they’re being jerked around; few feelings are worse than that of uncertainty. But one way or another, the right thing has happened; West Point is no longer sending graduates straight to the pros. The Alternative Service Option is dead.
To their credit, Campbell, Dinga, and Hill have said all the right things since the news broke. Not that you’d expect otherwise; they’d only be hurting themselves if they made a fuss over it. Besides, there’s no need to make a fuss when the media is doing it for you. And ho-lee cow are they ever. What the Army tried to sell as a PR goldmine has turned into a PR nightmare. The stories are too numerous to count (or link), but most of them contain phrases like “shattered dreams” or “unfair treatment” and whatnot. So rather than fulfilling the Army talking points about how the ASO will be good for recruiting, “regular” Army service is instead being portrayed almost as a punishment– with the added bonus of Army leadership being shown as untrustworthy. Way to go, Army. This outcome was about as predictable as low scores from East German gymnastics judges. And frankly, the Army deserves every bit of the bad PR it gets from this.
There are really two different elements to this story. First is the core idea of whether or not service* academy graduates should have the opportunity to play professional sports immediately upon commissioning instead of “regular” service. We can hash that one out again if you’d like, but I’m pretty sure we’ve already said everything that there is to say on the subject. But the second part of this debacle, and the one that the media seems to have completely missed, is that the Army completely brought this upon themselves by violating a DOD directive. The Army failed at the beginning of the whole Caleb Campbell affair when it ignored a direct order and allowed Campbell to pursue an NFL career. So while Campbell’s course change might be news now, everyone– everyone— should have seen this coming. The Army was counting on the ignorance of the public and the apathy of the Secretary of Defense in enforcing directives issued by his office. That should have been enough of a clue that their policy was shady. The Army got neither, and now they’re left with a mess.
Some may look to defend the Army now by saying that it was DOD action, not the Army’s, that led Campbell to be pulled from training camp; but that’s hogwash. The DOD made their ruling on January 1, when their directive went into effect. It was the Army that chose to violate that directive. It was the Army that told Campbell– as recently as a week before he was to report to camp– that he was still good to go despite knowing otherwise. And it was the Army that strung this out for months after a second memo was released by OSD in April that unquestionably stated the office’s intent to enforce the original directive. You might read sites like The Big Lead that want to blame this on the other service* academies. Or you’ll read sites complaining about the timing of the DOD’s decision. But that’s all crap. This train wreck has been brewing for months.
Surface Warfare officers are taught that ship collisions at sea are a result of a chain of bad decisions. At any point in that chain, if someone had stepped in and said, “wait a minute,” the mishap would have been avoided. That’s what we have here. The Alternative Service Option was one of the recommendations made by the “expert panel” put together by West Point to examine its football program back in 2003. The idea gained traction within the athletic department. And who could blame them? An AD’s job is to act in his department’s best interest, and that means doing whatever he can within the rules to make money and field winning teams. Let’s not pretend that Navy and Air Force’s athletic departments wouldn’t want the same thing. (Hell, Air Force still has their Combat Coach program!) But as some people are charged with the best interests of the athletic department, others are charged with the best interest of the school. Still others, the service. And at these levels, nobody stepped in to change West Point’s course. They ran straight into the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the bigger ship won. The law of gross tonnage isn’t something to be trifled with.
Not that he really needs anyone to remind him. The future of Navy’s offense in the post-Paul Johnson world has been on everyone’s mind since the former head coach in Annapolis moved on to face new challenges at Georgia Tech. The offense has been Navy’s calling card; it’s what made Navy, Navy. Under Johnson, the Mids never finished lower than third in the country in rushing, and they became the first team to lead the country in that category for three consecutive years. So far, Ken Niumatalolo has fielded most of the questions from the press about the future of the offense. But when Towson comes to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on August 30 it’ll be Jasper that’s under the microscope. The new offensive coordinator is, after all, carrying out the gameday duties Navy’s former offensive messiah. Paul Johnson was a master of both the science of designing plays for his offense, and the art of knowing just how to unleash those plays at the right time. Fortunately, while Jasper might not have been calling the plays, he was already a significant factor in Navy’s recent offensive success– both as the quarterbacks coach and as Paul Johnson’s gameday eyes in the booth. Jasper would relay what he was seeing from his perch above the stadium to Johnson, who called plays based on that input. Jasper was part of the decision-making process. That, plus his experience as a player in this offense (at two different positions), makes Coach Jasper about as prepared as one can be to get behind the wheel of Paul Johnson’s offensive machine. So it will be both nerve-wracking and exciting to see where the similarities and differences will be with Jasper running the show on game day. His X & O mastery is without question. But what about his style? His creativity? How will he make this offense his own?
Some people don’t think it’s possible to have much style or creativity in such a “boring” option offense, but style is something that sets Paul Johnson apart. One of the more fascinating things about the way Paul Johnson calls games is seeing how far ahead he thinks. He’ll spend an entire game– hell, sometimes an entire season– setting up one play. He is very conscious of what he puts on film, and knows what his own tendencies are. He uses that to his advantage. I remember reading one of his press conference transcripts after the Notre Dame game a few years ago, talking about a play he called on third & short. He commented that he made a point to do repeat one particular play in that down & distance situation all year in order to give the Irish coaches something to pick up on in the film room… Just so he could call something different on that day and hopefully catch them off guard. It didn’t work in that case, but sometimes it works to absolute perfection. Perhaps the most easily illustrated example of this is the 2006 game at Connecticut.
Navy fans remember the game, but I’ll give a quick recap for the Georgia Tech fans that will inevitably find their way to this post. The Mids had over 600 yards of offense against the Huskies in their 2006 meeting. Quarterback Brian Hampton and slotback Reggie Campbell both had over 100 rushing yards, with Campbell’s yardage coming on only 5 carries. Navy was plagued by penalties, but still rolled to a 41-17 win thanks to big plays. The Mids’ first play from scrimmage was a 77-yard TD pass from Hampton to Campbell. Reggie followed up on that play with a 68-yard TD run on the first play of the second half. (WARNING: GRATUITOUS HIGHLIGHT)
Fullback Adam Ballard had an 81-yard run. Shun White caught a pitch and took it 27 yards. Brian Hampton had three touchdown runs, the longest coming on a counter option in the 4th quarter that went for 52 yards.
It’s that last play that is the subject of this post. Paul Johnson spent an entire quarter setting up that play. How did he do it? Let’s begin with breaking down a basic Navy counter option play to find out.
The Science
Before every game, opposing coaches and players are asked about what it takes to stop Navy’s option offense. The answer is always the same: “discipline.” But if that was the case, shouldn’t Navy’s offense get shut down more often? How hard is it to teach defenses a little bit of discipline? The truth is that it’s a lot easier said than done. To demonstrate this, we’ll start with Navy’s bread & butter, the triple option:
So here’s your basic triple option play against an even front, being run to the left (my apologies for the crude diagram). The backside slotback begins his tail motion based on the quarterback’s cadence, usually a second or so before the snap. This happens right in front of the face of the backside 5 technique, in this case a defensive end. When the 5-tech sees the slotback go in motion, he knows that the play is going to go in the same direction. So what does he do? He starts to cheat that way, especially if the fullback keeps getting the ball. It’s hard not to when you see the same thing happening over and over and over again. This is why disciplined defense is so challenging. You can preach it to death in practice, but during the game, when you’re on the field for 5-6 minute drives as the offense in front of you is gaining 3-4 yards on every play, you start thinking that maybe it’s up to you to do something to force a 4th down. Or maybe you just get tired from being out there for so long and lose your concentration. Either way, that DE starts cheating inside, sometimes without even realizing it. And when that happens, Ivin Jasper sees it from his press box perch. Enter, the counter option:
Once that 5 technique starts cheating inside, he becomes an easy target for a pulling guard to seal off and trap. And that’s the heart of the counter option play. The numbering for reads is done the same way as with the triple option (if you haven’t already, I suggest reading this post from last year for an explanation on the numbers). The same A-back goes into tail motion just as he did on the triple option play. But this time, he pivots and reverses direction on the snap. Instead of being the pitch man, he carries out an arc block to the run support (#3). The playside 5 technique sees the tail motion before the snap and cheats inside. When he realizes that the play is going the other way and changes direction to pursue, he’s met by a pulling guard that traps him. This leaves the quarterback free to get upfield and read his pitch key.
The quarterback has his own set of concerns. At the snap, he turns in the same direction as the tail motion to carry out the triple option look. At this point, he has his back to the pitch key. This makes him vulnerable; the pitch key is unblocked and can uncork a monster hit on the quarterback if he comes in on a blitz. Because of this, the quarterback should find a “soft” #2 to run the play towards. “Soft” meaning that before the snap, he doesn’t look like he’s going to blitz (speaking of easier said than done). If the pitch key does come in and attack the quarterback, the QB will pitch the ball to the backside slotback.
The Art
It’s one thing to just take what the defense gives you. On this day, Paul Johnson pulled a playcalling rope-a-dope that made the defense give him what he wanted, and then delivered the knockout blow. After Reggie’s touchdown run to open up the second half, the Mids began mixing in plays on from a new formation on their next couple of posessions, with twin wide receivers on one side. Like so:
Other than a couple of pass attempts, Navy almost exclusively ran option plays out of this formation. And on every single option play, they ran the play towards the side of the field where the wide receivers were lined up:
This went on for a whole quarter. But on Navy’s first full 4th quarter drive, PJ dropped the bomb. The Mids ran the counter option, faking towards the wide receivers then turning around and running the play the other way. You’re going to have to watch this clip a few times. The first time, watch the playside defensive end (towards the top of the screen) bite hard on the fake and charge towards the fullback. Antron Harper is the pulling guard and completely cuts him off. The second time you watch the video, notice how the linebackers and safety also completely buy into the fake. It leaves them so off balance that the outside linebacker gets blown away by a beastly block from the left tackle, while the safety panics and overruns the play, whiffing on the tackle.
The fake was so good that even though the play wasn’t perfectly executed (Zach Gallion couldn’t maintain his block and Matt Hall couldn’t get through the line of scrimmage to block the backside linebacker), it still went the distance. With a little bit of speed and the ability to make people miss, that’s the sort of thing that can happen in this offense when a play is set up so beautifully.
And that was PJ’s style. In his best games, he didn’t just take what the defense gave him. He found ways to indirectly control the defense. We saw games where PJ liked to grind it out, and games where PJ would swing for the fences. Now it’s Coach Jasper’s turn in the lab, and we’ll probably see the same thing– at least on a macro scale. But the beauty lies in the details of just how to set up for that home run, and that’s where style comes in. Coach Jasper finding his style– his way of dictating the game–will be the story of the offense in 2008.
I’m probably the most technologically backwards blogger on the internets. I built myself a computer four or five years ago, and at the time it was a mack daddy machine. It’d still be a competent appliance today if only it had lasted that long; a little more than a year ago it decided that it had better things to do than to carry out my bidding and just quit working. Since then I’ve been using my work laptop, in all of its Windows 2000 glory. An abacus would’ve been as effective a computer at this point. Now that I mention it, that’s actually true. On Wednesday, my trusty corporate relic bit the big one and gave me the dreaded blue screen of death, making it a big, gray paperweight. The “fatal system error” message contained in that doomsday screen hinted at the disaster churning inside, as the hard drive had gone and charbroiled itself into oblivion. So while Army-Navy news was buzzing all week, I was silent. But not anymore! Last weekend I ordered my Apple-powered electronic savior, and it arrived yesterday morning. So while I may be broke as hell now, at least I’m connected. Lucky you!
So what about that Army-Navy news, anyway? We’ll start with lacrosse.
Inside Lacrosse magazine, who brought you this year’s “Face Off Classic,” is at it again. Their new event is the “Day of Rivals,” and it’s a doubleheader featuring Army-Navy and Maryland-Hopkins at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. There are two ways of looking at this. If you’re just a lacrosse fan, unaffiliated with either team… It’s great! The two games were played on the same day last year, and several area lacrosse fans made the trip for both. Putting both games in one place just makes things easier for people who’d otherwise consider making the trip.
If you’re a Navy fan… well, let’s just hope this doesn’t become a trend. Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium is already about as great a venue as there is in lacrosse. Playing the game in front of 45,000 empty seats might seem like the “big time” to some people, but not to me. Not that I mind throwing a bone to the local lacrosse fan once in a while, but does it have to be the Army game? Anyway, while it isn’t something I’m looking forward to, it isn’t the end of the world, either. Maybe there’s a little bit of money to be made on the deal. If anyone’s pissed about this, it’s Army fans– this is a two-year deal, meaning an Army home game is being played in Baltimore. Sucks to be them.
Bidding for the privilege of hosting the Army-Navy game was last done in 2003. Back then, 15 cities across the country threw their hats in the ring only to see Philadelphia walk away with the prize as usual. It’s that time once again for groups to submit their proposals, and the buzz is already starting about the possibilities. Army-Navy in Dallas? Tampa? San Antonio? Chicago? Yeah, sure. Back in 2003, if you’ll recall, one of the strongest bids was actually submitted by Seattle. A lot of good it did them. It’s tough for a city outside the eastern seaboard to make a competitive bid since the host is responsible for paying travel costs for 4,000 midshipmen and 4,000 cadets. Yet even though Seattle supposedly found a way to make it work, it didn’t do them any good. Putting the game out of reach for tens of thousands of season ticket holders is something that each institution’s respective AD is naturally hesitant to do. So while I expect a lot of noise to be made about how many cities are submitting bids and how competitive the process is, I doubt that it’ll be anything more than a strong hint to Philadelphia to make sure their bid is up to par and their stadium isn’t in such disrepair that railings are held up with duct tape. Expect to be grabbing steaks at Pat’s after the Army-Navy game for years to come, with the occasional bone tossed to Baltimore.
(When the time comes for bidding to be opened for the 2026 game, I hope it goes to Chicago for the 100th anniversary of the original “game of the century.” God help me if I’m still blogging by then. Although I’ll probably be using the same computer…)
The other change that is on the horizon for Army-Navy is the possibility of a presenting sponsor. I’m all for it. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see “The Poulan-Weed Eater Army-Navy Game” any more than you do. But if it’s “The Army-Navy Game, presented by Northrop Grumman,” would that be such a disaster? Maybe if you work for Lockheed, but other than that it would just mean more money to pay coaches, recruit nationwide, and upgrade facilities. That = good. So if corporate sponsorship is indeed headed our way, here’s hoping it’s done the right way.
There was quite a bit happening while I was gone. I-Day and the subsequent official recruit lists were the big news. The 2009 schedule evolved a bit more, too, as Rice now is scheduled for the date once reserved for Rutgers. And we also had this bit announcing that former Army punter Owen Tolson’s pursuit of an NFL contract has come to an end.
“Football is a thing of the past, I’m told,” said Tolson, who signed with the Giants in May but was cut after rookie mini-camp.
Really? So does this mean that the Army has thrown a bucket of water on the ASO witch?
Don’t get your hopes up. Caleb Campbell is still a Detroit Lion, isn’t he? And none of the Army baseball players filling the ranks of the minor leagues have been whisked away, have they? No. The Alternative “Service” Option hasn’t gone anywhere. It would appear to me that this is nothing more than housekeeping, with the goal being to simply save face by limiting the time that players have to pursue a pro contract.
That puts the Army in a rather ironic position. The best thing for them would be if Caleb Campbell was cut by the Lions. That way, the Army gets to say “See? They’re going off to serve now. No harm, no foul!” Sure, that means that they won’t get any good PR out of Campbell. But they would still get to sell the ASO to recruits (which is all they really care about), while OSD stays off their backs since there’s nobody violating the DOD policy. Well, other than baseball and hockey players, but Army’s been getting away with that for a few years now. The Army’s policy would simply be under perpetual “review.”
In a twist that everyone could see coming except for the Army, the worst part is that by possibly being called back into actual service, Campbell is generating negative PR. The headlines tell the story: “Campbell’s career could be in jeopardy.” “Campbell might have to forgo NFL career for Army.”The tone is one of disappointment. “Oh no, he’s going to have to serve now.” And that not only doesn’t help Army recruiting efforts… It harms them by painting the Army as a letdown. Talk of Campbell’s future is nothing but speculation now, but just watch. If he gets cut, the collective response will be, “oh no! Now he has to go be in the Army!”
The Birddog 