With nine new starters entering this season, Navy expected its defense to be a work in progress as the coaching staff figured out which 11 players fit best on the field.
So far, it appears the Midshipmen (3-2) are still trying to find the perfect combination. Several players have shown promise but the unit has yet to play well for an entire game.
Navy defensive coordinator Buddy Green has used 26 players on defense in an effort to strengthen the team?s glaring weakness. Navy has allowed 138 points collectively the past four games. That?s the most since surrendering 165 during a four-game stretch in 2002, the year Coach Paul Johnson took over the team and it finished 1-10.
However, Green may have found a solution to Navy?s problem following its 31-20 win over Air Force on Sept. 29. Despite allowing 474 yards of total offense, the Midshipmen stopped the Falcons on fourth down at the Navy 5-yard-line in the second quarter, held them to field goals twice after they had penetrated the 15-yard line and blocked a field goal in the fourth quarter.
“I was proud of the defensive effort [against Air Force],” Johnson said. “Sometimes it?s not pretty, but if you get them stopped, you get them stopped.”
Johnson will see just how much better his defense has improved when the Midshipmen face Pittsburgh tonight at 8 at Heinz Field.
Many of Navy?s biggest plays on defense the past two weeks were made by players who had little to no game experience before this season. For example, sophomore linebacker Tony Haberer had nine tackles, including two for a loss, to go along with a sack in his first career start against Air Force.
Haberer said it has taken a little longer for the defense to gel after cornerback Jeff Deliz and linebacker Clint Sovie suffered season-ending injuries during a loss at Rutgers on Sept. 7.
“It takes time,” Haberer said. “Every time I go out on the field the game slows down a little bit. In the film room it?s easy to say that you should have done this or that, but it?s totally different when you actually have to do it. You have to transition as much as you can from the film room to the field.”
Navy?s secondary has also had to juggle players in and out of the lineup. Against Air Force, sophomore Blake Carter became the third player to start at right cornerback this year, following junior Ketric Buffic and sophomore Darrius Terry. But Carter responded by making a career-high seven tackles and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.
“We?ve talked about playing with emotion to go out there and win,” Carter said following the team?s victory over Air Force. “We?ve got to play with heart, emotion and effort to make big plays.”
