March 17, 2009

Navy Head Football Coach Ken Niumatalolo Previews Spring Practice

Part I of II

Q. What are your goals for spring practice?

A. Offensively we are kind of where we were last spring with the defense, a lot of question marks. Defensively, we have a lot of experience coming back. I think we have some good young players and now it is time to see what they can do. These guys have been in our system so even though the average fan hasn't seen them play on the field, they know what they are doing. We are excited to see how some of the young guys react now that the light is shining on them.

Q. Is anybody leaving school?

A. Emmett Merchant is going through his yearly decision on if he wants to be here or not. It happened last year too and he decided to stay and we are hoping he comes back.

Q. At quarterback, is it Ricky's job to lose?

A. It's Ricky's job to lose, because we've seen what Ricky can do and he's been in real games. He's performed well under pressure. I really like what I've seen from our young quarterbacks. Kriss Proctor, Mike Stukel, Kameron Smith and Brian Blick have all worked really hard in the offseason and they know the back-up job is up for grabs and I'm sure some of them are thinking they can compete against Ricky. I have been very excited to see how they've competed in the off-season.

Q. Can you tell us something about each of the young quarterbacks? Do you see all four sophomores staying at quarterback?

A. We will probably keep three out of the four guys at quarterback. Eventually we will move one of them to wide receiver or defensive back, depending on which guy gets moved. Stukel is very similar to Brian Hampton. He is a very strong runner and has quick feet. He is probably faster than Hampton. Brian was probably a better passer, but as far as running the option Stukel has everything we are looking for. He can run between the tackles and he has the speed to run outside. Proctor reminds me of Brian Madden. He is a very smooth and athletic kid that can throw the ball. I have been very impressed in the morning workouts with Mike Stukel, Kriss Proctor and Alex Teich. They are extremely competitive kids and they came out and tried to make a statement in the morning workouts. I was really impressed by them. Kameron Smith is similar to Proctor in that he's very smooth. You watch him run and he doesn't look fast, because he just kind of glides. He is very athletic. All three of them have what we are looking for athletically, now the question is can they make the checks and make all the reads. The one thing that separated Kaipo from everybody else was that he made the correct reads and could handle all the stunts a defense would throw at him. Will these guys be able to do that? It remains to be seen, but they certainly have the tools.

Q. What puts Stukel and Proctor ahead of the rest of the group?

A. That is based off what we saw in the JV games, but that could certainly change. The depth chart is in pencil right now. Kameron might be better than both of them, we will find out real soon.

Q. Did one guy start more games than another on the JV?

A. No, they rotated almost every series.

Q. How about Alex Teich? Fullback may be your biggest question mark. This is the first time in many years that you haven't had a ready-made guy to step in and play that position.

A. From a physical standpoint we like everything about him. He has gained weight, he weighs about 215 right now, and he looks great. He has really busted his butt during the off-season. He understands that he is fighting for a job that is wide open and he has worked really hard. He has everything we are looking for as far as speed and quickness. He isn't the big bruising guy we have had there in the past, he is probably a quicker version of Timmy Cannada. I am very excited to see what he can do.

Q. There was some buzz about him last fall early in camp, but it seemed like he kind of faded from the picture a little bit. Why was that? It seemed like the few reps that were left went to Kevin Campbell.

A. I think he was overwhelmed a little bit with everything from his assignments on the field to just being a plebe in school. I think it was just a culmination of everything.

Q. What about Campbell? Is it tough for him being a senior and playing some last year being listed behind a sophomore?

A. I'm sure it is. If you are any kind of competitor it's going to be hard. We have been upfront with Kevin. From an athletic standpoint some of these other guys are a little better, but you still have to produce on the field and that is the one thing about Kevin. He is a steady back, he knows the offense and he knows where he is going. Teich gives us a home run threat, while Kevin is more of a tough, hard-nosed, three yards and a cloud of dust type of guy.

Q. How about Eddington?

A. We are really excited to see what he can do. He weighs 230. He looks phenomenal. If you could build a fullback from scratch that is what he would look like. He has less than 10 percent body fat. He is chiseled. He runs a high 4.4 in the 40. He was a running back in high school so it isn't like this is completely foreign to him. He has been coming in on his own to watch tape.

Q. What about some of these young slots? It is hard to even differentiate all these young guys. You have Doyle and Finnerty and then a bunch of guys that we don't know much about.

A. Bobby Doyle and Cory Finnerty are very similar players. We tried to get the ball to Shun last year, but every time Bobby and Cory touched the ball they did good things. They are both very solid players and good blockers. Bobby, in particular, made some big plays for us last year. The rest are a bunch of athletic young guys that run well, but they still have to prove they can play. None of the other guys are proven. We will see this spring what they can do. Andre Byrd had a great spring last year, but then got injured and never really recovered in the fall. He had the mysterious high ankle sprain, which is like a hamstring injury in that they take forever to get better.

Q. Is he fully healthy now?

A. Yeah, he's fine. He isn't limping anymore.

Q. How intriguing is Curry just based on his size? Outside of Doyle he is 35, 40 even 50 pounds bigger than some of the other slot backs.

A. He is the type of slot back we are looking for if we could build the perfect slot. He is a guy that can do everything. He has the size to block, he has the speed to run the ball and he can catch the ball. You don't have to worry about positioning him in one spot or another depending on the play. He can do everything. The learning curve of transferring everything from the classroom to the field still remains to be seen with him.

Q. Are any of these younger guys in the range of Shun White as far as speed?

A. No, we have never had anybody as fast as Shun since I've been here. Reggie was quick, where Shun had the straight ahead speed. Reggie was great because he could go the same speed going 20 different directions. This group is, and putting anybody in Reggie Campbell's league is a big thing to say, but these young guys are more like Reggie than Shun. They are quicker backs. They don't have the straight out speed that Shun has, they are more like a Reggie Campbell as far as quickness.

Q. Is this the fastest group of slot backs you have had? Before it seems like you had two or three guys that were fast, while now it seems like you have a whole group of fast slots.

A. It is. This is the most athletic we have been at slot back as an entire group. Obviously Reggie and Shun were difference makers, but the overall group is as athletic as we've ever had.

Q. I am surprised to see that Chris Hill is not listed among all these slot backs. He was one of your more heralded recruits.

A. He has struggled off the field a little bit both academically and militarily so we are trying to get him up to par that it is more than just football here. He has to get his act together in the Hall. We are looking for more than just football players. Obviously we want good football players, but they have to do what is right in Bancroft Hall as well so he has taken a back seat to some of these other guys for the time being.

Q. How about Brady DeMell at center? I thought Osei Asante might move over there.

A. We really like what Osei did at guard last year. He pretty much played the entire Army game at guard and did a great job so we are really pleased with him. We are moving DeMell to center to get ready for Air Force. That is our Air Force move, because they put a guy over the center and we need somebody there that can handle it. We moved him in there because he was the one guy that fit the mold of what we want. He has loose hips, he is tough, he can move and he has the mass we are looking for. We felt like we got manhandled a little bit inside against Air Force last year and that made it tough for us to run inside the box. Obviously our main focus right now is Ohio State, but our long term thinking is to get ready for the first leg of the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and that is why we are moving him in there. We moved Ricky Moore in there last year because of his size, but this is the first time we've moved a young guy in there with size. He is the one young guy that traveled on the offensive line last year. Patrick Snow will be fine playing against a team with an even front, he is a tough, hard-nosed football player, but we are just looking for a little more size in there.

Q. Do you feel pretty good about the rest of the offensive line? The rest of these guys have played.

A. Our two tackles have a chance to be really good. Battipaglia started every game and Molloy started the last six games. Molloy is as nasty as it gets. He is a nasty football player. He is not a guy you want to turn your back on. His nickname is Norman Bates. He is kind of a psycho on the field. Battipaglia is just a solid football player. He is smart and has good skills. He is such a perfectionist that we have to get him to relax a little bit. The offensive line takes tests the day before every game and they have 60 minutes to finish the test and most guys get them done in about 30 minutes, Battipaglia takes 59 minutes because he has to make sure every line is precise and that everything is just perfect. We have to get him to chill out a little bit. We want to keep the bar raised high, but you are going to make mistakes and he is almost obsessive compulsive over being perfect and he just has to relax and go play.

Q. How about Mario Washington? It is time for him to step up at wide receiver now that Tyree is gone.

A. Mario wants the ball. He has told me many times during the offseason that he wants the ball thrown his way. He certainly doesn't lack confidence. He is one of the more confident players we have. In fact, he wants to play wide receiver and slot back, but I had to tell him to get the wide receiver and punt returning part down first before we talk about other positions. Honestly though I love it, I like a guy that wants the ball. I don't have any problem with that. Mario just needs to be more consistent. He has all the physical tools, he just needs to be more consistent week in and week out and I think that will come with maturity.