Navy?s first football game of the season isn?t until Aug. 31 when it plays Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
It may take up until then forNavy coach Paul Johnson to figure out who will play on defense for the Mids, which lose nine starters and 20 lettermen overall from last season?s 9-4 team.
Those players looking to make a good first impression this spring got their opportunity Saturday when Johnson put his team through its first scrimmage of the spring. With the temperature around freezing, Johnson left Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with more questions than answers following the two-hour scrimmage.
“I?m going to withhold judgment until I watch the tape, but I can tell you there were too many penalties on both side of the ball. It wasn?t a whole lot of difference from practice last week.”
The defense did come up with a number of play during the scrimmage as nose guard Nate Frazier and linebacker Scott Reider each had fumble recoveries while free safety Jeff Deliz and safety Casey Nichols came up with interceptions.
Linebacker Tony Haberer led Navy with 11 tackles while Frazier and linebackers Jordan Eddington and Jonathan Alvarado had 10 stops aiece. Linebackers Irv Spencer and Craig Schaefer contributed nine and eight tackles, respectively for the Mids.
Despite those individual performances, Johnson said both the offense and defense could not start the season on a winning note at this point.
“Neither side is good enough to win a game,” Johnson said.
Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green said the defense made a lot of mistakes on their assignments and there were a number of times players didn?t do what they were supposed to do.
But, Green added that right now his ultimate goal over the remaining two weeks of spring practice is to find out which individual players are most ready to start before molding the overall until together in the fall.
“We?ve got to find players this spring,” Green said. “We?re looking at a group of guys who have taken very few varsity snaps on a big stage. We have to keep driving, driving, driving them and keep getting them better. A lot of them are getting ready to take their first snap come Temple.”
