On a day in which college football's top individual honor was presented, Navy's Malcolm Perry delivered an unforgettable performance to bring the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy back to Annapolis
by Dick Weiss for TheAmerican.org
PHILADELPHIA — Perhaps it was only poetic that the annual Army-Navy game was nationally televised on CBS prior to the annual Heisman Trophy award ceremony on ESPN, which featured three quarterbacks — Joe Burrow of LSU, Jalen Hurts of Oklahoma and Justin Fields of Ohio State — among the four finalists.
And perhaps if the Heisman vote were to take place after the Army-Nav game, there might well have been another candidate. America got a chance to see Navy’s 5-9, 190-pound senior quarterback Malcom Perry, who put on a spectacular individual show as the Midshipmen defeated the Cadets, 31-7, on a rainy Saturday afternoon before a near sellout crowd of 68,705 at Lincoln Financial Stadium that included President Donald Trump.
Perry set Army-Navy game and American Athletic Conference single-game records when he rushed for 304 yards and two touchdowns as the 21st-ranked Midshipmen (10-2) reclaimed the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and broke a three-game series losing streak to the Cadets (5-8) in the 120th anniversary of the rivalry between these two storied military academies. Perry is only the fourth quarterback in FBS history to rush for 300 yards in a game.
This was Perry’s ninth consecutive 100-yard rushing game this season and his 10th in Navy’s 12 games. He not only dominated America’s Game, but also passed Napoleon McCallum to set Navy’s single-season rushing record with 1,804 yards and became the academy’s single-season record-holder in total yardage with 2,831 yards.
Perry was the last one off the field after the game, stopping along the way so fans could take pictures to memorialize his performance.
”I’m not one to say no so I was caught up for a while on the field,” Perry said. “It was a good feeling.
“This means the world. It was my biggest goal. For me personally, this was the biggest game I’ve played in my life. We didn’t win our last three games (against Army), so this makes it even more sweet, especially for our seniors.”
Army and Navy both have a proud tradition of Heisman Trophy winners. Doc Blanchard (1945) Glenn Davis (1946) and Pete Dawkins of Army (1958) and Joe Bellino (1960) and Roger Staubach of Navy (1963) all won the award in the pre-Vietnam War era. Navy’s Keenan Reynolds, who scored an NCAA-record 88 touchdowns in his career, finished fifth in the Heisman voting in 2015. They may no longer produce a galaxy of stars. But whenever they have a special player, he should be celebrated
Sadly, Perry never got a sniff from the Heisman voters.
Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo, who gave Perry a huge embrace at the end of the game, realizes how valuable he has been for this resurgent team, which won eight more games than last year, “He’s the greatest running back that I’ve ever coached,” Niumatalolo said of his quarterback. “He’s has God-given talent. I wish we could show a clinic like him doing something and us showing some cone drills, as if we helped him – but that’s just him. Either you have it or you don’t. He’s just an amazing runner.”
Perry started his career as a slot back, then shifted to quarterback, where he started eight games, savaging Army for 250 yards during a 14-13 loss in 2017. But Niumatalolo only started him under center for three games as a junior, shuttling him between taking snaps and playing him at slot back.
“People look to the quarterback for leadership,” Niumatalolo said, “and if you’re wishy-washy as we were last year as a staff on who the quarterback is, it’s hard to be the leader. I thought we did him a disservice last year, and the other quarterbacks I thought we did a disservice.”
Niumatalolo handed the keys to the offense last year and then got out of the way as Perry played his way to becoming The American’s Offensive Player of the Year.
Perry ran for a 55-yard touchdown in the first half and ripped off a 44-yard run against Army, helping the Midshipmen run away with the game.
“We wanted to open up the box,’; Niumatalolo said. “The last few years we played in a phone booth. We didn’t want to play that way. We wanted to spread things out and let Malcom’s talent take over.”
Perry was also part of a trick play that gave Navy a 14-7 lead with just six seconds left in the first half. He took a snap at the Army 1-yard line, ran to his left and pitched the ball to receiver Chance Warren, who threw to Jamale Carothers for a touchdown in a twist on the famed Philly Special that Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback Nick Foles used to help defeat the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
It was Navy’s only pass of the game.
Army jumped out to a 7-0 lead when surprise starter Christian Anderson took the Black Knights on an 18-play, 78 -yard scoring drive on the Cadets’ first possession that lasted 10:41 and ended with Anderson scoring on a five-yard run with 27 seconds left in the first quarter.
It took Navy just four plays to tie the game when Perry took off on his first dynamic run and the Midshipmen took control of the game when Carothers, who started the season on the junior varsity, scored on a five-yard run in the third quarter to send Navy up 21-7 and lock up the game.
Navy rushed for 395 yards. Army, which could only manage 123 rushing yards against a stout Navy defense after averaging 311.7 yards this season, never had a chance.
All Army coach Jeff Monken could do afterwards was marvel at the brilliance of the opposing quarterback.
“I couldn’t be happier to see Malcom Perry graduate,” Monken said. “He is a terrific player. He ran through us today. There wasn’t much we could do about it. He wasn’t the only one. They did a good job of running the football and blocking us.”
Perry, who is from Clarksville, Tennessee, will have a chance for one final encore in his home state when Navy plays Kansas State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis on New Year’s Eve.
It will be hard to top this masterpiece.