Author: Mike

Jason Tomlinson Didn’t Graduate

On By MikeIn naval academy, navy football, usna7 Comments

That piece of WTF information comes courtesy of Bill Wagner at The Capital. It was Jason’s choice, not the result of any military or academic shortcoming.

I have no idea what he was thinking. I think it is a huge mistake. He has probably heard that a million times by now from friends and advisors, so I’m sure he doesn’t need some dude who doesn’t know him running his piehole on the internet about it. But I will say this: I spent four years rooting like hell for him. I’m not going to turn my back on him and condemn him now. I will continue to root for him in whatever he does. I just hope he knows what he is doing.

No word yet on how the Navy will have him repay the cost of his education.

In other news, don’t miss Christian Swezey’s excellent piece on Sander Gossard and other prior enlisted football players. It’ll make you proud. So will Irv Spencer’s beard!

Loose Change

On By MikeIn air farce, army-navy, bowls, conference talk, football, going pro, lacrosse, naval academy, navy basketball, navy football, navy lacrosse, patriot league, Paul Johnson, recruiting, usnaLeave a comment

Lots of chatter popping up in the last couple of days:

  • In the “ignorance is bliss” category, we have PJ’s Monday presser. Talk about a list of things you wish you didn’t know… Kaipo’s in a neck brace, none of the punters are consistent, the secondary’s all hurt, and Greg Thrasher is in PJ’s doghouse. Yeesh. I guess there’s a silver lining in that Rashawn King is recovering well from his shoulder injury, but anyone who didn’t like PJ’s media day optimism can feel better knowing that it’s back to business as usual.
  • Navy will once again be an NCAA lacrosse tournament quarterfinal host this year. The ability to host events like these were a big reason why Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium made the switch to FieldTurf, so it’s nice to see that move pay off. It’ll be nicer if it’s a Navy home game this year.
  • The unending football conference affiliation talk resumed as Chet talked to Ron Snyder about the difficulties of finding bowl games as an independent. Conference membership means a lot more than bowl game access, though. I still don’t think that this will happen anytime soon, if at all.
  • Navy’s been sold out of Army-Navy tickets for a while. Now Army is too. If you want tickets, looks like you’ll be headed to Stubhub or eBay.
  • Scout.com’s Temple site previews Navy (subscription required). For those without a subscription, it’s very complimentary, saying that Navy “might be the second-toughest team on the schedule.” In case you’re wondering, Temple plays Penn State this year.
  • Some Air Force Academy grad wants to play pro baseball. I don’t really care that much as long as this doesn’t become a habit; the Air Force will do what it thinks is best for itself. But will people PLEASE stop comparing every scrub that wants to turn pro to David Robinson? By the time Robinson played his first game in San Antonio, he had already been an Olympic medalist, a Naismith Award winner, a Wooden Award winner, on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and led Navy to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. That is a far, far cry from being one of thousands of players struggling to find a place in minor league baseball. Robinson is one of the best players in the history of his sport. Karl Bolt is not. It makes a difference when the Navy or Air Force is considering an athlete’s fate.
  • Bill Wagner offers a look at college recruiting, including Billy Lange’s approach.
  • ESPN.com talks Patriot League basketball as part of their “Shoot Around” series.

New Depth Chart Released

On By MikeIn football, navy football4 Comments

The football depth chart has been updated following Saturday’s scrimmage. Here are the changes:

Left Tackle

53 Josh Meek . . ..Sr. . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . .274

66 Paul Bridgers . .Sr. . . . . . . . .. .6-3 .  . .268

60 Austin Milke . .So. . . . . . . . . .6-3 . . . ..260

Meek establishes himself as #1 LT.

Left Guard

72 Anthony Gaskins . .Jr. . . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . . . .281

64 Mike Von Bargen . .Jr. . . . . . . . .6-5 . . . . . . . .272

79 Osei Asante . . . . . . So. . . . . . . ..6-1 . . . . . . . . .270

Mike Von Bargen replaces Chad Peterson as #2 LG.

Right Tackle

75 Andrew McGinn . .Jr. . . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . . . .255

68 Ricky Moore . . . . .Jr. . . . . . . . .6-4 . . . . . . . ..283

65 Sander Gossard . . .Jr. . . . . . . . . . .6-4 . . . . . . .273

Andrew McGinn takes over sole posession of the #1 spot. Von Bargen’s move to guard creates an opportunity for Sander Gossard.

Wide Receiver

89 Tyree Barnes . . Jr. . . . . . . . .6-2 . . . . . . . .188

86 Curtis Sharp . . .Jr. . . . . . . . . . .6-4 . . . . . . .239

84 T.J.Thiel . . . . . ..Jr. . . . . . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . . 191

No more “OR” between Tyree Barnes and Curtis Sharp.

Slot Back

26 Shun White . . . . . .Jr. . . . . . . . .5-9 . . . . . . . .186

28 Zerbin Singleton . . .Sr. . . . . . . . . . .5-8 . . . . .164

23 Scott Oswald . . . . .So. . . . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . ..200

A lot of rearranging with the A-backs; Shun White moves over from being Reggie’s backup and claims the starter’s spot from Zerb.

Slot Back

7 Reggie Campbell . . ..Sr. . . . . . ..5-6 . . . . . . . .168

29 Greg Shinego . . . . .Jr. . . . . . . .5-9 . . . . . . . 182

33 Bobby Doyle . . . . . So. . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . . . .194

Shinego moves from being #2 behind Zerb to #2 behind Reggie.

Left End

92 Chris Kuhar-Pitters . . . .Sr. . . . . .6-2 . . . . .258

70 Andrew Burger . . . . . . . .So. . . . . .6-3 . . . . .243

91 Ryan Griffith . . . . . . . . . .Jr. . . . . . 6-2 . . . . ..257 OR

98 Artie Pauls . . . . . . . . . . . ..Jr. . . . . 6-1 . . . . . 244

Andrew Burger must have turned some heads, vaulting himself to the #2 spot at LE. Artie Pauls, one of my favorite players from the Blue & Gold game, breaks into the 3-deep.

Nose Guard 

99 Nate Frazier . . . . . .So. . . . . . . .6-3 . . . . . . . .285

69 Jordan Stephens . . So. . . . . . . ..6-4 . . . . . . .251

90 Andy Lark . . . . . . . So. . . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . . . 290 OR

94 Derik Rothchild . . . Jr. . . . . . . . 6-3 . . . . . . . .251

Andy Lark returns to the 3-deep, alongside Derik Rothchild. The two of them replace John Maddox.

Right End

38 Michael Walsh . . . .Jr. . . . . . . . .6-2 . . . . . . . .239

97 Kyle Bookhout . . . .So. . . . . . . . .6-2 . . . . . . . 240

83 Will Scarle . . . . . . . .Jr. . . . . . . .6-4 . . . . . . . . .242

Bookhout moves from #2 LE to #2 RE, replacing Casey Hebert.

Outside Linebacker

9 Matt Humiston . . . . . Sr. . . . . . 5-11 . . . . . . .207

49 Craig Schaefer . . . . So. . . . . . . 6-2 . . . . . 215 OR

52 Jordan Eddington . .So. . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . . . .225

Jordan Eddington– one of the young linebackers that PJ mentioned on media day– moves over from the other side to challenge Craig Schaefer for the #2 spot, replacing Dell Robinson.

Inside Linebacker

44 Clint Sovie . . . . . . . Jr. . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . . . .201

50 Tony Haberer . . . .So. . . . . . ..6-1 . . . . . . .229 OR

51 Ross Pospisil . . . . . .So. . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . . 223

Pospisil draws even with Harberer.

Outside Linebacker

54 Matt Wimsatt . . . . . .Sr. . . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . . . .216 OR

59 Matt Nechak . . . . . . .So. . . . . . . .6-4 . . . . . . . .244

40 Ian Meredith . . . . . .So. . . . . . . . . .6-3 . . . . . . .229

Eddington moves to the other side.

Left Cornerback

18 Rashawn King . . . . . . Jr. . . . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . . . .190

34 Ram Vela . . . . . . . . . . So. . . . . . . . . .5-9 . . . . . . . 196 OR

37 Darius Terry . . . . . . . .So. . . . . . . . . .5-7 . . . . . . . . . .168

Right Cornerback

1 Blake Carter . . . . . . . . . .So. . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . . . .188 OR

11 Ketric Buffin . . . . . . . . Jr. . . . . . . . .5-7 . . . . . . . .170

34 Ram Vela . . . . . . . . . . .So. . . . . . . ..5-9 . . . . . . . 196 OR

20 Greg Thrasher . . . . . . Sr. . . . . . . . . 5-8 . . . . . . 181

There’s a LOT of moving around with the defensive backs.  Ram Vela moves from right CB to #2 at left CB. Blake Carter switches from safety to cornerback. Ketric Buffin moves from left to right.  Greg Thrasher is apparently being sent a message.

Rover

3 Jesse Iwuji . . . . . . . . . . . .So. . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . . . .179 OR

11 Ketric Buffin . . . . . . . . . Jr. . . . . . . . .5-7 . . . . . . . .170

8 Wyatt Middleton . . . . . . Fr. . . . . . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . 200 OR

24 Emmett Merchant . . . . Fr. . . . . . . . . . .5-9 . . . . . . 185

Jesse Iwuji is now fighting Ketric Buffin instead of Blake Carter for the starting rover position. A pair of plebes crack the three-deep as well.

Free Safety

17 Jeff Deliz . . . . . . . . ..Sr. . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . . . .195

32 Kevin Snyder . . . . .Jr. . . . . . . . . .5-11 . . . . .192 OR

16 Joey Taylor . . . . ..Jr. . . . . . . . . . .6-0 . . . . . .196

Corey Johnson and Casey Nichols fall off, while Joey Taylor moves from rover to challenge for #2 FS.

Punter

11 Kyle Delahooke . . . . . . . .Fr. . . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . .185

31 Greg Veteto . . . . . . . . . . Sr. . . . . . . . .6-1 . . . . . . . .178

Kyle Delahooke makes a splash and takes the #1 punter spot.

Punt Returner

7 Reggie Campbell . . . . . . .Sr. . . . . . . . .5-6 . . . . . . . .168

80 O.J.Washington . . . . . . Sr. . . . . . . . . .5-10 .  . . . .188

O.J. Washington takes over for Shun White as #2 PR.

That’s it for changes. There are a couple of surprises on there, like Shun being ahead of Zerb and Greg Thrasher falling to #3. Some might also be surprised that there was no change at quarterback, despite the rave reviews for Ricky Dobbs’ performance in the scrimmage. The next depth chart update will probably be released after the next scrimmage, which is Saturday.

Drama on the Internets!

On By MikeIn football, navy football3 Comments

When I started this blog I swore to myself that I’d leave e-drama out of it, but this Maryland mess apparently has a lot of people spun up. People like this guy. I wrote a response to his post and was going to leave it at that, but he is either A) experiencing technical difficulties, or B) cherry-picking which replies to post, because he’s added other comments but not mine. It’s no big deal; a man’s blog is his kingdom, and if he wants to filter out all but the most easily dismissed responses then that’s his business. But there are a lot of kingdoms out there on the internet, and when a guy can’t be heard in one there’s always somewhere else to go. Like here.

We can begin with the unintentional comedy about how this guy decides he’s going to tell Chet “how things work” when it comes to bowl games. Considering that Navy has been to as many bowl games under Chet Gladchuk as Maryland has under Debbie Yow– all without the safety net of conference affiliation to fall back on– I’d say that Chet has a pretty good idea how these things work. Considering also that he has been athletic director at Boston College and Tulane– who went to another four bowl games between them during Gladchuk’s tenure– I’d say that he probably has a good idea of how things work on the conference side, too. I know that the blog world doesn’t appreciate fact-checking as much as it does snarky, condescending one-liners, but sometimes attention to detail pays off.

Poorly-reasoned insults aside, there is a lot of ranting and raving about what Chet said without considering why he said it. Let’s set the stage. Gladchuk and Yow had been talking about setting up a game in 2010, apparently for several weeks. When that story broke, Chet wasn’t a part of it. Heather Dinich’s article was updated after she got Chet’s reaction, but her blog entry stayed the same. As it says there, “Gladchuck is in meetings today and wasn’t immediately available to comment…” So clearly it was Yow who went public with the negotiations, and that’s what rubbed Chet the wrong way. I can just imagine Chet’s reaction when he came out of sitting through meetings all day to read that Navy is “dragging its feet” in getting these negotiations done, and seeing Debbie Yow’s ultimatum that a deal needs to be done in 4-6 weeks or she’s going elsewhere.

Yow thought that she was playing hardball by taking her case to the papers. She thought that she could pressure Chet into completing the deal by talking publicly about her self-imposed deadline. She was wrong. Chet’s response is intentionally over-the-top to make sure that Debbie Yow got the message that he isn’t going to be pressured that way. The message might have been lost on Maryland bloggers, but I’m sure it was loud and clear to Yow: Chet’s going to take as much time as he deems necessary whether Debbie Yow likes it or not. None of this would be a story if Yow had kept these negotiations where they belonged– behind closed doors.

Yow’s tactics are a hell of a way to do business with a fellow athletic director. They also say a lot about what she apparently thinks of the Naval Academy. If she was trying to get Michigan on the schedule, do you think she’d go to the media to tell their AD to hurry up? Would she go to the media to issue an ultimatum to Notre Dame’s AD? Not only no, but hell no. She probably wouldn’t even do that to Vanderbilt (no offense to Vandy, a school for which I cheer and have tremendous respect). Of course, Navy isn’t Michigan or Notre Dame. But you know what? Neither is Maryland. Navy carries enough clout relative to Maryland that they don’t need to be subject to the bush-league tactics of their athletic director. When programs like Virginia Tech and Florida State have come to Navy trying to get us on their schedules and when we already play Notre Dame every year, it’s going to take a lot more than a call from Debbie Yow at Maryland for Chet Gladchuk to get star-struck.

If I had to guess, I’d say that this game will still be played. One thing I don’t have to guess about, though, is Chet Gladchuk’s resolve. If this game happens it won’t be the product of Debbie Yow’s attempted coercion. It’ll be on terms that Chet thinks are best for Navy.

What We’ve Learned So Far

On By MikeIn navy football, Paul Johnson5 Comments

OK, so the first week of practice is behind us. That means that there’s also a week’s worth of post-practice press conferences, those daily glimpses into the mind of greatness. So what do we know after a week?

— The media day optimism has been tempered. Not that it’s all doom & gloom or anything, but PJ is back to the regular “we need to get better everywhere” routine. Since I fear change, I see this as a good thing.

— Zero-block cruise has been a huge help with summer conditioning.

— Andy Lark squat-lifts @#$% 610 pounds.

— Bill Wagner gets four weeks of vacation from the Capital. PJ went to Hawaii for vacation, but we already knew that.

— Matt Humiston is a knucklehead and Nate Frazier isn’t Deacon Jones (yet).

–Troy Goss is staying at quarterback. As far as newsworthy stuff, this is probably the biggest thing. Since Troy was moved to WR last year before Brian Hampton got hurt, some people (like myself) figured that he’d probably get moved again this year so that Greg Zingler or one of the two impressive plebes (Robby Davis or Ricky Dobbs) could take the #3 spot. That’s not going to happen; Goss has played too well in practice to be switched from quarterback.

— Corey Masisak’s hair > Bill Wagner’s hair.

— Tyree Barnes still runs well after his surgery.

— This CSTV All-Access is great. I originally signed up for All-Access a while ago to listen to Pete Medhurst & Joe Miller call a couple of baseball games. It was sort of disappointing after that, since there wasn’t much content. Content is no longer a problem. The media day coverage was terrific. So was being able to see PJ’s press conference after practice last night. There’s going to be a lot more of those, plus postgame pressers, video for all home basketball games, player interviews, and of course an uninterrupted radio feed for games when WNAV Online goes haywire. My only complaint is that maybe the pressers could be archived a little bit longer, like say until the transcript comes out. But that’s picking nits. It’s awesome. This CSTV deal gets better all the time (I swear I’m not being paid to say this). It’s so much easier to be a Navy fan than it used to be– the days of huddling around the phone and calling “Teamline” are long gone.

Did I miss anything?

EDIT: Yeah, I did. I almost forgot to mention that the first Dolphins depth chart was released. It’s very early in camp, but Kyle’s got some work ahead of him.

Bad Timing

On By MikeIn basketball, patriot leagueLeave a comment

That’s what Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett has to say about head basketball coach Billy Taylor’s decision to accept the head coaching position at Ball State. Coaching searches are never easy when you start less than a month before classes begin. It’s a tough blow to a team that’s returning four starters next year.

The Ball State saga, you might recall, involved the resignation of Ronny Thompson after it was discovered that he attended voluntary offseason workouts (an NCAA violation) and lied about it afterwards. Then it got uglier, with Thompson’s lawyer claiming that he left not because of the NCAA investigation, but because of a “racially hostile work environment.” Thompson’s concerns apparently didn’t phase Taylor. I bet Joe Sterrett wishes that they did.

As Hoop Time points out, it was always assumed that Taylor would take off sooner or later, although I doubt anyone guessed it would happen in the middle of August. Now the search for someone else’s bad timing begins.

UPDATE: The search ends as Lehigh stays in-house, promoting Brett Reed.

More Maryland Talk

On By MikeIn football, navy football11 Comments

There’s been all kinds of hints about another Maryland game in Baltimore lately. This time it comes from the Baltimore Sun. Unlike the mention in the Examiner last week, it’s clear here that the game is far from a done deal. Our 2010 schedule as it stands right now is:

Sept. 11 . . .Rutgers
Sept. 25 . . .at Wake Forest
Oct. 2 . . . .at Air Force
Oct. 16 . . . SMU
Oct. 23 . . . Notre Dame (Baltimore)
Nov. 6 . . . .at East Carolina
Nov. 13 . . . Delaware
Nov. 20 . . . at Houston
Dec. 4 . . . .Army (Philadelphia)

With Rutgers and Wake Forest already on the schedule, plus resurgent programs in Houston, East Carolina, and maybe even SMU, 2010 might not be the best year for this game to happen– especially considering that we’re already scheduled to play another game in Baltimore that year. But if it means getting another million dollar check, it almost has to happen eventually.

UPDATE: OK, WTF Baltimore Sun? Talk about a complete re-write of an article after I posted it. Anyway, now that the article is updated with Chet’s response, I guess it doesn’t have to happen eventually. Apparently he’s upset at last year’s missed opportunity. There’s clearly more to this story.

Slow News Day

On By MikeIn air farce, football, navy basketball, navy football4 Comments

Compared to the excitement of media day, the rest of the week has been sort of slow. A quick scan of the web reveals:

  • Congratulations are in order for Doug Wojcik as he earned a contract extension from Tulsa. 20-win seasons will do that for you. Actually, since last year was probably the first of what will be many 20-win seasons under DW, maybe I should be congratulating Tulsa.
  • A New Jersey columnist providing some bulletin board material.
  • A Colorado Springs columnist provides some too, although a bit more unintentionally. I think.
  • Northern Illinois’ kicker is looking forward to his team’s trip to Annapolis in November.
  • The football season has its first knucklehead.
  • A writer for Scout.com’s Temple site thinks that Navy has all the advantages in their season-opening game. This is premium content on Scout, so unless you’ve subscribed you won’t be able to read it. I wouldn’t exactly be rushing to pull out the ol’ wallet yet. The big advantage discussed here is that Navy has an extra five days of practice. Not an extra five practices, just an extra five days to accomplish the same number of practices. I think it’s a slow news day in Philadelphia too.
  • Troy Calhoun being Born-Again Option.

I’m going to compare a couple of quotes. Here’s something that Coach Calhoun said in January:

“I think you still have to run some option,” Calhoun said. “It’s tough to defend, but we have to find ways to get more predetermined carries. You can find the guy who is a pretty darn good player and start to feed that guy the ball 20 to 22 times a game. And a good one only gets better. He starts to get into a little bit of a rhythm, feeling a knack for a cut or where a hole might start to open.

“Then, ultimately on offense, you have to be balanced. Defenses are bigger, they move much better and because of that, they are going to clog up some spaces if you don’t make them work all 53-plus yards widthwise and go ahead and push the ceiling a little bit down the field. We’re going to be a balanced offense.”

Now in this morning’s article:

“It’s going to be part of what we do,” Calhoun said of the triple-option, which was brought to the academy by DeBerry nearly three decades ago. “That’s where we’re going to start.”

“Candidly, these guys were recruited to work out of a pure triple-option system,” Calhoun said. “And so you’re going to see a good bit of option with what we do offensively, and in due time you may see us become a little more balanced as far as playcalls go. And yet first and foremost, you’re going to do everything you can to win this year.”

It’s a subtle shift, going from “some option” with “more predetermined carries” to having the offense start with the option and seeing a “good bit of it.” Moving from “being balanced” to “maybe being balanced eventually.” Subtle, but significant; probably gives some insight as to what Calhoun sees as his team’s talent level. Or at least the talent level relative to what he wants to do on offense.

That’s about it. FYI, CSTV is showing last year’s ECU and Tulsa games this weekend. ECU on Saturday at 9 a.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. (ET); Tulsa at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.

And So It Begins

On By MikeIn navy football, Paul Johnson1 Comment

Today is the first day of football practice. Sunbeams are bursting through the clouds, the choirs of angels are singing, and all is right with the world. Well, maybe not everything. Is it just me or does Paul Johnson sound way too optimistic in his Media Day press conference? It doesn’t seem right. Anyway, I’ll get to overanalyzing everything he said in a minute. But first, some media day links:

  • A pair of photo galleries– the first linked in the press conference transcript, chock full of Pete Medhurst and Bill Wagner hard at work; the second courtesy of Dave Ausiello at GoMids.com.
  • The fruit of Wagner’s labor, here.
  • Additional writeups from the Sun, Examiner, Times, and Post.

OK, on to the part where I read too much into every syllable that comes out of PJ’s mouth. We’ll start with his introductory remarks:

I think as a group our guys have had the best summer since I’ve been here. We had a large group that stayed here and got in a lot of workouts. They came back and tested very well and they have done some good things so we are excited about getting started.

This is a great thing to hear. Wagner’s last question touched on PJ’s concern at the beginning of spring about the team’s attitude. Apparently he wasn’t pleased, although he didn’t seem to say much about it then. If there’s one thing I fear about the Navy football program– other than some BCS school offering PJ a heap of cash– it’s complacency. It’s exciting to see a new group of seniors taking charge.

Wagner: Can you talk a little more about what you have to do to rebuild the defense?

Johnson: We lost a lot of key players off the defense. We lost a lot of guys that started for three or four years and they made a lot of plays for us. We are going to have some new faces out there, but I really think we have a chance to be better athletically than we have been on defense. There will be some growing pains. This team reminds me a little bit of where we were a couple of years ago when we lost nine or 10 starters on offense and we had eight or nine guys back on defense and we ended up having a great year. I think we have the players to be good on defense. We are short on experience, but I think they have some athletic ability.

PJ’s response sounds a lot like something you might have read on Pitch Right, particularly the comparison to the 2004 team. Props to Adam for his analysis. PJ also echoes something he said on the wine & cheese circuit over the spring, that he feels good about the athletes he has on defense. It’d be one thing if we were dealing with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, but the defense, while lacking game experience, is mostly made up of players who have been practicing in the system for 2-3 years. They’ll be ready. Actually, I don’t remember PJ ever gushing so much before:

We have personnel on defense. They don’t have a lot of experience, but athletically I feel good about where we are. We have some new guys in the secondary, but athletically they are as good or better than anybody we’ve had back there. At linebacker, Clint (Sovie) and Irv (Spencer) have played some. It’s going to be hard to replace David Mahoney and Tyler Tidwell; they played a lot of games at outside linebacker, yet we have some guys that have a chance. Mattt Wimsat has been a backup and he’s going to get a chance, Matt Humiston has a chance, we have some young guys that nobody knows that I’m excited about. They are good athletes. Jordan Eddington, Matt Nechak, there are a lot of guys that nobody has heard about that I think can be pretty good football players.

PJ usually keeps his excitement to himself, at least with guys who haven’t played yet. He usually doesn’t want to put too much pressure on anyone. So much for that! I know I’m going to be paying close attention to Eddington and Nechak now. Nechak had already sort of announced his arrival with his hit on Jarrod Bryant in the Blue & Gold game.

Vito: It seems like the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy has found a home here in recent years. Is that still a priority?

Johnson: It’s always been one of the main goals of the team. Later on tonight the captains will get the team together and they will come up with the goals for this year’s team. I’m big on letting the players come up with their own goals. I’m sure that will be one of them. Winning that trophy is one of the most important things we do here. It’s a rallying point for the alumni and former players. Navy went way too long without winning that thing and our guys kind of like having it. We are going to try and defend it the best we can.

Speaking of goals, PJ usually talks about them in his preseason radio interviews. I’m anxious to hear what the team came up with.

Wagner: The flip side of the defense is the offense where you have a lot of experience returning. Do you think you have more experienced guys playing key spots than you’ve had in a while? You have two quarterbacks back, two fullbacks and a ton of slot backs.

Johnson: I think we have some depth. If everybody stays healthy we have some good athletes on offense. The difference between the offense and defense right now is the offensive guys have game experience. There will be some real competition for the positions and I think any time you have competition it makes everybody better. We are anxious to get started. So much of having a successful season is getting the right blend together and staying away from injuries. You never know what’s going to happen until you start playing. We have the big P word. We have potential. The question is can we translate that into being a good football team. We still aren’t going to intimidate anybody. When we get off the bus the other team isn’t going to run for cover. I guarantee you that everybody that plays us has us circled as a win. They all think that they should beat us and that’s not going to change no matter who we play.

It isn’t a PJ presser until he talks about getting off the bus. I love football season.

We moved Antron Harper to center and I think that will be a good position for him, I think he’s a natural in there.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to mention that after watching his CSTV All-Access interview with Pete Medhurst, Antron Harper’s biceps look like they could turn a lump of coal into a diamond.

Ausiello: On the other side of the ball with Nate Frazier, does that put more pressure on him as a sophomore looking to contribute up the middle on defense?

Johnson: It depends on what we are doing. Nate could end up being a defensive end, he could be the nose guard, he could slide and be over the guard, he’s probably going to be an inside guy, but I don’t think there’s any more pressure on Nate than there is Jordan Stephens or Andrew Lark or Kyle Bookhout or Chris Kuhar-Pitters. Nate is listed as a starter heading into fall camp, but he hasn’t played a down yet. I don’t want everybody building him up like he’s the second coming of Deacon Jones. Let’s watch him play first. He may get beat out before the season starts. There will be a lot of guys competing in there.

There’s lot riding on Nate’s shoulders. The nose guard, more than anyone else, is the one player that can make or break a 3-4 defense. Two-gap players don’t grow on trees either, so it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of hype when there’s a player here with that kind of potential. He and Antron sure had some great battles over the spring. Despite PJ’s words of caution, I can’t help being excited.

Wagner: We spent a lot of the off-season talking about your candidacy for other jobs and talking about rumors are you happy to be standing there with a Navy shirt on?

Johnson: Yeah. As long as I beat Army this year they will let me stay one more year. A lot of that stuff you guys drum up in the press and I get a chuckle out of it. I jokingly told somebody that it’s better to be talked about for other jobs than people talking about who is going to take your job. That’s not much fun. That just comes with having a successful program. It’s a credit to the players and the assistant coaches. I wouldn’t read too much into that stuff.

Come on, Coach. Who are you kidding? I freak out about the long snapper two-deep. Things like rumors about your departure have me about a half-step from going Unabomber. It’s all gonna be taken seriously.

And that’s it. I’m fired up for a month of PJ one-liners leading up to the Temple game. Let the snot bubbles fly!

In completely unrelated news… Kyle Eckel is off the bike and back in Dolphins practice after sitting out a couple of days while nursing his hamstring.