Jan. 14, 2009

• 2008 Final Football Release

Navy Falls to Wake Forest in Inaugural EagleBank Bowl
• Wake Forest outscored Navy, 22-6, in the second half to rally for a 29-19 victory over the Midshipmen in the inaugural EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.
• Wake quarterback Riley Skinner was named the game's most valuable player, completing all 11 of his pass attempts for 166 yards and one touchdown.
• Navy jumped out to a 13-0 lead thanks to field goals of 40 and 47 yards by Matt Harmon (Sr./Greenville, S.C.) and a 50-yard return of an Alphonso Smith fumble by senior cornerback Rashawn King (Sr./Raleigh, N.C.).
• The Mids were looking to add to their lead late in the second quarter, driving the ball deep into Wake Forest territory, but on second down from the Wake Forest 27-yard line senior quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada (Sr./Kapolei, Hawai'i) overthrew Tyree Barnes (Sr./Hampton, Va.) and Smith intercepted the ball at the two-yard line.
• The Navy defense had dominated the game up to that point, but the Mids allowed Wake Forest to drive 98 yards in 3:48 to cut the Mids lead to 13-7 at the half. Navy had Wake in a third-and-14 situation early in the drive but allowed Skinner to hit D.J. Boldin with a 30-yard pass play. Josh Adams scored from four yards out to cap the drive and the momentum in the contest shifted to Wake.
• The Demon Deacons took their first lead of the game on their first drive of the second half, driving 73 yards on 10 plays (nine of those plays were runs) in 5:17. Adams scored from five yards out to make the score 14-13.
• Navy would retake the lead early in the fourth quarter after a defensive stand gave the ball to the offense at the 50-yard line. Kaheaku-Enhada ripped off a 35-yard run on the first play and then he scored from two yards out five plays later to make the score 19-13. Navy's two-point conversion attempt failed.
• Navy's lead did not last long as Wake answered Navy's touchdown with one of its own, marching 80 yards in nine plays. The big play of the drive was on third-and-seven when Skinner hit Chip Brinkman with a 44 yard pass down to the Navy 11-yard line. Skinner struck again two plays later on another third-and-seven, this time hitting Ben Wooster with an eight-yard touchdown pass. Skinner converted the two-point conversion with a pass to Devin Brown to make the score 22-19.
• Shun White (Sr./Memphis, Tenn.) returned the ensuing kickoff all the way down to the Wake Forest 11-yard line, but the play was called back after Trey Grissom (So./Garner, N.C.) was nailed for holding.
• Navy still had two opportunities to tie or retake the lead, but Kaheaku-Enhada was stopped for no gain on third-and-five from the Navy 47 on the first drive and then lost a fumble on fourth-and-10 on the second drive.
• Wake's Rich Belton converted Kaheaku-Enhada's fumble into a 35-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds remaining to put the game away.
• Kaheaku-Enhada led Navy with 83 yards rushing and a touchdown on 15 carries, while senior slot back Shun White (Memphis, Tenn.) ran for 71 yards on 14 carries. Kaheaku-Enhada completed just two of his seven pass attempts for 32 yards with one interception. Barnes had both of Navy's receptions for 32 yards.
• Junior linebacker Ross Pospisil (Temple, Texas) led the Navy defense with 13 tackles and a forced fumble, while senior outside linebacker Corey Johnson (Anderson, Ind.) had eight tackles and two tackles for a loss. Junior nose guard Nate Frazier (Atlanta, Ga.) added seven stops and a tackle for a loss.


Six-Straight Winning Seasons
• Navy clinched its sixth-consecutive winning season with a 16-0 victory over Northern Illinois on Nov. 25.
• The six-straight winning seasons are the most by Navy since the Mids enjoyed 10-straight winning seasons from 1952-61.

Mids Earn NCAA Record Fourth-Straight Rushing Title
• Over the last seven years, the Mids have consistently been one of the top rushing teams in the country, never finishing lower than third.
• In 2003, the Mids led the nation in rushing, averaging a then school-record 323.2 yards per game.
• In 2005, Navy led the country in rushing for the second time in three years, averaging 318.7 yards per game.
• Navy finished the 2006 campaign averaging a nation's-best and then school-record 327 yards per game.
• The Mids rushed for a school-record 348.8 yards per game in 2007, becoming the first team in NCAA history to lead the nation in rushing three-consecutive years.
• The 348.8 yards per game are the most yards rushing by a FBS team since Nebraska averaged 349.3 yards per game in 2000.
• In 2008, Navy led the country in rushing for an unprecedented fourth-consecutive year, averaging 292.4 yards per contest.

The Nation's Most Improved Scoring "D"
• The Navy defense improved its scoring defense by 14.4 points per game this year, the best improvement in the country.
• The Mids gave up 36.4 points per game in 2007 and 22.0 points per game in 2008.

Niumatalolo Agrees to Contract Extension
• Navy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk recently announced that Ken Niumatalolo has agreed to a contract extension as the head football coach at the Naval Academy. Terms of the contract were not released.
• Niumatalolo is coming off the most successful campaign for a first-year head coach at the Naval Academy in the modern era, compiling an 8-5 record.
• Additionally, he led the Mids to a school-record sixth-straight Commander-In-Chief's Trophy, defeated a school-record four bowl teams, appeared in a school-record sixth-straight bowl game, won an NCAA-record fourth-consecutive national rushing title and led the nation in graduation rate for a fourth-straight year.
• "Rare is the case when a major coaching transition at this level of competition results in the extraordinary success we realized this past season under Kenny's leadership," said Gladchuk. "Having been a member of the Naval Academy family for more than a decade as both an associate and head coach, there is no member of our staff that understands the philosophy, values, commitment, objectives and dynamics of this leadership institution more so than he. His vision for the future of the program and our midshipmen goes well beyond this past season's stellar accomplishments. There is not a better on or off the field leader and role model for our midshipmen than Ken Niumatalolo."
• "The Naval Academy has made a significant commitment to me and my family, for which we are eternally grateful," said Niumatalolo. "We love this great institution, we love Annapolis and we love the young men that we have been entrusted to lead. The Naval Academy is a special place and I have no desire to coach anywhere else in the country. This mutual commitment is a clear sign of the future direction of this storied program. The Naval Academy is about excellence. Excellence is not just expected here, it is demanded. We will continue to raise the bar of excellence on the field while we continue to develop leaders of men off the field."
• Niumatalolo's eight wins are the most by a first-year Navy coach since 1926 when Bill Ingram led the Mids to a 9-0-1 record, while he became just the second coach in Service Academy history (joining Navy's George Welsh) to win the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy in his first year.

Niumatalolo Makes History
• Finishing his first season as Navy's head coach with an 8-5 record, Ken Niumatalolo is just the third coach since World War II to lead Navy to a winning record in his first year at the helm. He joins Wayne Hardin (5-4-1 in 1959) and Gary Tranquill (6-5 in 1982) on the exclusive list.
• Niumatalolo's eight wins are tied for the fourth most by a first-year coach in school history.
• Niumatalolo is also the first head coach in program history to lead the Mids to a bowl game in their first year.

Niumatalolo Wins CIC Trophy In First Year
• Ken Niumatalolo became just the second Service Academy coach to win the CIC Trophy in his first year as a head coach by beating Air Force, 33-27 and Army, 34-0.
• He joins George Welsh, who, in 1973, led the Midshipmen to wins over Air Force (42-6) and Army (51-0).

Class of 2009 Fifth All-Time in Career Wins
• Pitching back-to-back shutouts over Northern Illinois (16-0) and archrival Army (34-0), the Class of '09 closed the chapter on its football career ranked fifth on the Navy's career wins list with 33.
• Each of the last three classes are among the five winningest classes in program history ... the Class of 2007 and '08 each turned in 35 wins.

Tuani Named ECAC Rookie of the Year
• Navy defensive lineman Jabaree Tuani (Madison, Tenn.) has been named the ECAC Freshman of the Year by the head football coaches on the Eastern Seaboard.
• Tuani was selected over freshmen from Connecticut, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Penn State, West Virginia, Temple, Syracuse, Boston College, Buffalo and Army.
• He will be honored on Feb. 24 at the annual Eastern College Football Awards Banquet at the Pegasus Restaurant at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, N.J.
• Tuani, who did not garner his first start until the fifth game of the season, led Navy with nine tackles for a loss and tied for the team-high with three forced fumbles. His 42 tackles were just two behind Nate Frazier for the most tackles among defensive linemen.
• Tuani joins an impressive list of past winners that includes Michael Vick (Virginia Tech), Larry Fitzgerald (Pitt), Chris Henry (Pitt), Steve Slaton (West Virginia) and LeSean McCoy (Pitt).

Tuani Named Second-Team Freshman All-American
• Freshman defensive end Jabaree Tuani (Madison, Tenn.) has been named a Second-Team Freshman All-American by Phil Steele's College Football Magazine.
• Tuani had a phenomenal freshman campaign, tying for the team lead in tackles for a loss (nine) and forced fumbles (three), while finishing second among defensive linemen in tackles with 42. Tuani was able to accomplish all this despite not making his first-career start until the fifth game of the season against Wake Forest.
• Tuani recorded a career-high 10 tackles in Navy's 33-27 win over Air Force and had two tackles for a loss against Wake Forest and Notre Dame.
• He forced a fumble in each of his first-three career starts.

Kettani Receives Senior Bowl Invite
• For just the second time in the history of the Under Armour Senior Bowl, a player from one of the service academies will represent his school in Mobile.
• Navy fullback Eric Kettani (Kirtland, Ohio) was extended and has accepted an invitation to the Jan. 24 game.
• Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm (ET) and the game will be televised live by the NFL Network.
• Kettani joins former Navy running back Napoleon McCallum as the only other player from a service academy to play in the Senior Bowl. McCallum, Navy's all-time leading rusher, played in the 1986 game.
• Kettani heads to Mobile after finishing the 2008 season just 18 yards shy of 1,000 for the year and helped lead the Mids to an 8 and 5 mark and trip to the EagleBank Bowl.
• "It is a huge honor to play in the same game that Navy great Napoleon McCallum was the MVP of 23 years ago," Kettani said. "I am in this game because of my teammates and everything they have done the last four years to make Navy football a success. I will be playing this game for the Navy Football Brotherhood."
• In his four year career, Kettani rushed for 2,091 yards on 395 carries and scored 15 touchdowns. His best game of the year was against Wake Forest during the regular season when he rushed for 175 yards against a stingy Demon Deacon defense.
• "We're excited to have the U.S. Naval Academy represented for the first time in 23 years. Eric has been a tremendous competitor and leader of the Midshipmen and we look forward to having him down here," Senior Bowl President Steve Hale said.

Bowl History
• Navy has made 15 bowl appearance, including a school-record six straight.
• Prior to Navy's current six-game run of bowl games, the Mids played in back-to-back bowl games just once in school history (1980-81).
• Navy owns a 6-8-1 bowl game record, dropping the last three bowls by a combined 14 points.

Six Bowls in Six Years
• The Mids' bid to the 2008 EagleBank Bowl marked the first time in school history that Navy has played in six-consecutive bowl games.
• The Mids lost to Texas Tech in the 2003 Houston Bowl, 38-14, defeated New Mexico in the 2004 Emerald Bowl, 34-19, crushed Colorado State, 51-30, in the 2005 Poinsettia Bowl, lost a heartbreaking 25-24 decision to Boston College in 2006 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, lost to Utah, 35-32, in the 2007 Poinsettia Bowl and fell to Wake Forest, 29-19, in the 2008 EagleBank Bowl.

Bowl Records
• Rashawn King's (Sr./Raleigh, N.C.) 50-yard fumble return for a touchdown was just the second defensive touchdown in a bowl game in school history.
• Greg Mather had a 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Missouri in the 1961 Orange Bowl.
• Matt Harmon's (Sr./Greenville, S.C.) 47-yard field goal in the second quarter was the longest field goal made in a bowl game by a Navy player.

Six Consecutive Bowls, Six Different QBs
• Not only has Navy made six consecutive appearances in bowl games, it's done so with a different starting quarterback directing the charge in each of those seasons.
• It is just the second time in NCAA history (UCLA 1982-87) that a team has appeared in six consecutive bowl games with a different QB starting the majority of the games each year.

Mids On One of the Most Successful Runs in the Country
• The Mids are 51-25 (.671) over the last six years after posting a 3-30 (.091) record from 2000-02. The 51 wins are the 19th most in the country.

White First Slot Back to 1,000 Yards
• Behind his 11-yard gain at 11:07 in the third quarter of the Army game, senior Shun White (Memphis, Tenn.) became the first slot back in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
• Additionally, he is the first Navy player to run for 1,000 yards since fullback Kyle Eckel in 2004 (1,147 yards).
• After an 83-yard performance against Wake Forest in the EagleBank Bowl, White joined Navy's all-star cast of single-season rushing leaders. He concluded his career 10th on the leader board with 1,092 yards.

White and Kettani Become Navy's First 2,000-Yard Tandem
• For the first time in school history, Navy has produced two 2,000-yard rushers out of the same backfield.
• Not only did senior slot back Shun White (Sr. / Memphis, Tenn.) score Navy's first touchdown of the game against SMU, his 23-yard TD run also pushed him over the 2,000-yard mark.
• Finishing the game with 49 yards, he became just the eighth player in school history to reach 2,000 yards on the ground.
• With his 125-yard performance in Navy's 34-0 shutout over Army, senior fullback Eric Kettani (Kirtland, Ohio) became the ninth player in school history to rush for over 2,000 yards in his career.
• White jumped from eighth to sixth on Navy's career rushing list following his 13-carry, 148-yard performance against Army that gained him the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association MVP Award.
• White concluded his career ranked sixth with 2,311 yards, while Kettani amassed 2,091 yards to finish ninth among the career leaders.

White Caps Senior Campaign Ranked No. 2 Nationally in Yards Per Carry
• Slot back Shun White (Sr. / Memphis, Tenn.) rushed for a school-record 348 yards and a career-high three touchdowns on 19 carries (18.3 yards per carry) in Navy's 41-13 rout of Towson in the Mids' opener. For his efforts, he was named the National Offensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
• White is the first Navy player to rush for 300 yards in a game and is the 80th player in NCAA FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) history to bust the 300-yard plateau.
• He rushed for 214 yards on 11 carries in the first half.
• Additionally, his 348 yards go down as a school record for all-purpose yardage and total offense per play (18.3 yards per play).
• White's rushing mark ranks 17th on the NCAA's all-time single-game rushing list and it's the most rushing yards by a player from the FBS since Northern Illinois' Garrett Wolfe rushed for 353 yards against Ball State on Sept. 30, 2006.
• White's 87-yard touchdown run in the second quarter vs. Towson was the fourth longest in school history and the longest since Pat McGrew ran for a 91-yard touchdown against Kent State on Nov. 22, 1997. It was also tied as the seventh-longest run in the country this season.
• White, who owned three of the 50-longest runs in the country this year, finished 50th in rushing, averaging 84.0 yards per game.
• Additionally, White was No. 2 nationally in average yards per carry (8.27).

Harmon Among the Navy Kicking Greats
• Senior kicker Matt Harmon (Greenville, S.C.) enjoyed one of the finest seasons by a kicker in program history.
• Twice named a Lou Groza "Star of the Week" (following the Rutgers and Air Force games), he was named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award Oct. 27.
• Harmon connected on 19 of his 22 field goal attempts on the year (.864).
• His streak of 13 straight field goals made dating back to the Mids' opener against Towson was snapped by Temple when it blocked his 37-yarder at the end of the first half.
• With a pair of field goals against Wake Forest in the EagleBank Bowl, he became the school's record holder for single-season field goals with 19
• Meanwhile, he finished his career having made 33 field goals which are the second most.
• His four field goals against Air Force tied a school record, accomplished five other times. It marked the first time a Navy player has made four field goals since 1999 when Tim Shubzda nailed four against Army.
• He is ranked third on the Mids' career PAT leader board, having made 91, just two behind second-place Tom Vanderhorst who made 93 between 1995-98.
• Additionally, Harmon made 91 of the 94 (.968) extra points he took during his career, including 38-of-40 (.950) this season.
• He became Navy's consecutive PATs made record holder after connecting on all five extra-points in Navy's opener against Towson (52) ... he pushed his streak to 70 in a row by the SMU game, but hit the upright on his second try against the Mustangs to snap his string.
• He moved past Tom Vanderhorst (1995-98) and into second on the career points by a kicker list after making a pair of field goals (23, 36) and four PATs in Navy's 34-0 victory over Army.
• Though he split the uprights twice for field goals and added a PAT against Wake Forest in the EagleBank Bowl, it wasn't enough to set the record, as he finished second on the career points by a kicker list with 190 points - just two behind record holder Steve Fehr (1979-81) who amassed 192 points.

Delahooke Excels in First Season as Navy's Punter
• Navy sophomore Kyle Delahooke (Sierra Madre, Calif.) had a phenomenal first year as Navy's punter, averaging 41.6 yards per punt.
• The 41.6 yard average is the fourth-best single-season average in school history.
• Delahooke punted the ball 42 times on the year, forcing seven fair catches and pinning the opposition inside the 20 yard line on 11 of his kicks.
• He had six punts that went 50 yards or more, including a career-long of 55 yards against Temple.