Navy center Ricky Moore vividly remembers the day last spring when Coach Ken Niumatalolo called him into his office.
“It was a very intense meeting and he told me face to face I needed to step up and had big shoes to fill and was going to come in and be a starter,” Moore said. “It was intimidating. I look up to [coach] and respect him in every way and for him to trust me means a lot.”
Moore, a 6-foot-4, 295-pound senior, is being counted on to replace graduated Antron Harper at the most important position on the offensive line. Harper was a stabilizing force and a huge reason the team broke nearly every school offensive record en route to averaging more than 39 points and 444 yards per game last season.
But so far in scrimmages, the offense has struggled. On Saturday, the offense failed to score a touchdown in the two-hour practice, drawing the ire of Niumatalolo, who was the offensive line coach last fall before replacing head coach Paul Johnson who left in December for the same position at Georgia Tech.
That’s why Niumatalolo believes his team isn’t ready for its season opener against Towson at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on Aug. 30.
“We stink on offense right now,” Niumatalolo said. “That is two weeks in a row the defense has come out and whipped the offense’s butt. Hopefully, in two weeks we can find some answers and get this thing fixed. Our biggest question mark right now is the offensive line. We have three guys that haven’t played and the offensive line is all about chemistry. [Left guard Anthony] Gaskins and [right tackle Andrew] McGinn know what they are doing, but the other three guys are still learning. They have the tools to get the job done, but they aren’t getting it done.”
Moore knows he must continue to develop as the line’s anchor if Navy is to extend its NCAA-record three-year streak of leading the nation in rushing. Along with junior right guard Curtis Bass and sophomore left tackle Jeff Battipaglia, the unit has yet to develop the consistency that allowed last year’s group to pave the way for a rushing attack that averaged 348.8 yards per game.
But Moore becomes more comfortable at his position with each practice. The comparative politics major who squats a team-best 600 pounds never played the position in high school, as Navy recruited him to play nose guard.
“I do feel tremendous pressure,” Moore, who was switched to center as a sophomore, said. “I feel it getting ready and I do have to set the example for the younger guys that anyone can be in that starting role at any time.”
