With two weeks remaining before the Navy football team hosts Notre Dame at M&T Bank Stadium, coach Paul Johnson is looking for a quarterback to run his triple-option offense.
The team?s starting quarterback, Brian Hampton, appears to be out indefinitely after dislocating his knee in Saturday?s 34-0 homecoming loss to Rutgers. Navy is expected to reveal the results of an MRI on Hampton?s knee later today.
Recommended Stories
There is an urgency to establish a leader of the team, not only for the Note Dame game, but for the rest of the season. Navy (5-1) is one game away from becoming bowl eligible. If that happens, the team is expected to play in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.
After Hampton?s first-quarter injury, sophomore Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada saw the most action against Rutgers and primarily ran the ball. He was 2 of 6 passing for 28 yards, and he ran 22 times for 36 yards. During the fourth quarter, sophomore Jarod Bryant was 2 of 10 for 20 yards. Bryant also ran for 10 yards.
Johnson refused to put the blame of the loss on the two backup quarterbacks.
“We had two young quarterbacks out there,” Johnson said. “You can?t lay it on them.”
Players agreed.
“You have to play with whoever is out there,” fullback Adam Ballard said. “You can?t lay all the blame on the quarterbacks. We didn?t do anything right. It was a complete meltdown.”
Johnson went one step further, criticizing receivers for several dropped passes.
“It wasn?t like anybody was going to make any plays catching it for [the quarterbacks] when they did throw it close to them,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he was unsure who would start in the Oct. 28 Notre Dame game. When asked if he was ready to face Notre Dame, Kaheaku-Enhada did not pause.
“Yes, sir,” he said.
Kaheaku-Enhada and Bryant showed fairly good command of a complicated offense that Hampton was starting to master.
“We now go back to work,” Kaheaku-Enhada said. “It?s up to the coaches to decide who plays. We have some talent at quarterback. Any of us can run it.”
