NEWPORT, R.I.-- The Naval Academy has been sailing through the waters of college football as an independent for the past 134 seasons. But the Midshipmen have finally weighed anchor as a member of the American Athletic Conference and will begin play this fall.
The Midshipmen have always been a class act. They are a national program with a service academy profile and an impressive resume. They have won at least eight games in 11 of the last 12 seasons and have made 10 bowl appearances in the last 11 years.
They have an excellent coach in Ken Niumatalolo, who teaches a sophisticated version of the triple option offense that has traditionally caused fits for teams like Notre Dame (Navy beat the Irish in 2009 and 2010). The Midshipmen should be in the thick of the hunt for The American’s West Division title in the first year of the league’s new 12-team format. They also participate in one of America's great rivalries, against Army, in a game that will be held. Dec. 12 in Philadelphia.
This is a home run for The American and the Navy coaches and players are on board with the concept.
“I was happy when our school decided to join a conference,” senior quarterback Keenan Reynolds said. “We have never played for a conference championship. That really changed the game. And we also have the opportunity to go to bigger bowls, where we may not necessarily have been. It's really up to us. If we win all our games, win our conference we will have a chance to go to a big bowl game.”
Reynolds is an excellent decision-maker who rushed for 1,191 yards and 23 touchdown last year despite missing two games with injury for an 8-5 team. He enters this season with 64 career rushing touchdowns, which is tied for fourth in NCAA history. The NCAA record is 77, set by Monte Ball of Wisconsin in 2012.
“It's something that's out there,” said Reynolds of his potential run at history. “If I get it, I get it. If I don't I don't.”
The five-foot-11, 213-pound Reynolds, a three year starter, has also thrown for 23 career touchdowns with only seven interceptions. He has developed into an accomplished talent who could be the first Navy player since Roger Staubach in 1963 with Heisman Trophy potential.
Reynolds had the chance to meet Staubach when Navy played at Texas State last year. “A great guy,” Reynolds said. “Definitely a legend. Best player who ever went to Navy.”
Reynolds has drawn comparisons to Seattle Seahawks star Russell Wilson. He has come a long way since he was a two-star recruit from Goodpasture Christian Academy in Nashville, where he was a two-time All-Mid-State selection in Tennessee but was considered too small to play his position, yet alone dominate it, in college.
Reynolds has been a quarterback ever since he started playing organized football for his father Donnie with the Grey-Mar Pirates in Antioch, Tennessee. He was the first freshman ever to start for long-time coach David Martin at Goodpasture, getting his opportunity to run a Wing- T offense when a returning senior starter, knowing Reynolds was destined to beat him out, asked for a shift to another position.
Reynolds had a chance to lean on Benny Cunningham, who now plays for the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals, when he was a ninth grader, but quickly established his own reputation as a runner and passer, leading the Cougars to consecutive district titles and becoming an honors student. But Reynolds only had one offer prior to his senior year – from Navy. Other schools were scared off by his size and wanted him to move to receiver.
Reynolds said no thank you.
He chose to accept an appointment to Navy over offers from Air Force and Wofford. He likes the idea of a free education (the Navy pays 100 percent of the tuition, room and board, medical and dental care costs of Naval Academy midshipmen) and the chance to serve his country and to have a job when he graduates.
He also liked the idea of playing Division I football. His growing success is the product of an unrelenting, round-the-year work ethic. Reynolds actually went to Navy practices and sat in on team meetings at Annapolis during spring break of his senior year in high school.
He then proceeded to master the intricacies of the complicated triple option. Reynolds scored his first college touchdown as a freshman when he came off the bench with 9:03 left against Air Force and led the Middies on a 75-yard drive, rushing for 22 yards and completing all three passes for 55 yards before scoring on a 15 yard run to set up a game tying two point conversion. Navy eventually won the game, 28-21.
Reynolds has since led Navy to six fourth-quarter comebacks and beat service academy opponents Air Force and Army five of six times. He attracted his first national attention when he ran for seven touchdowns and passed for another when Navy defeated San Jose State, 58-52, in triple overtime during his sophomore year in 2013. He has scored three or more touchdowns an NCAA-record 12 times in his career – twice as a freshman, seven times as a sophomore and three times as a junior, making him one of the most dangerous players in college football.
“It's definitely tough to learn our offense,” Reynolds admits. “But I enjoy the challenge. It's a tough learning curve. The coaches are throwing a lot at you at one time. It's like they say, drinking out of a fire hose. It's a lot of reps. The best way to learn is from your mistakes in practice and having the coaches barbeque you. Eventually you pick up confidence and it allows you to get better.”
Reynolds has led the Navy offense long enough to understand it's power when it is run the right way. ”It's a tough offense to prepare for,” he said. “But (opposing) players are smart. Coaches are smarter. They know what it takes to stop it and every year it gets tougher, but if we succeed in execution, it doesn't matter what happens. We can move the ball. The only people who can stop it is ourselves. If we are out-executed, we're going to get stopped. If we turn the ball over, we're going to get beat. So,we are in control of our offense every game. That's the mentality we have and have to continue to have game in and game out.”
Navy has been projected to finish third in The American’s West Division, behind Memphis and Houston, in the league's preseason poll. But the Middies are always dangerous. Reynolds will have a chance to show the Tigers what they missed when Navy plays Memphis Nov. 7 in what could be a divisional showdownat the Liberty Bowl.
“We expect to win at Navy,” Reynolds said. “We want to bring the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy back to Annapolis and try to play our way into the championship.”
Reynolds has a bigger vision of his life than just football. He is a political science major who spent two weeks this summer on an LHU-Wasp in Norfolk, training with officers. He is preparing for information warfare as part of his five-year obligation after graduation.
”We’re the Naval Academy, and we’re never going to change the way we do things,” Niumatalolo said. ”Our mission, first and foremost, is to prepare Naval officers and leaders of our country.”
It is courage and dedication that should be appreciated.