March 19, 2009

Navy Head Football Coach Ken Niumatalolo Previews Spring Practice

Part II

Q. How is Walsh doing?

A. He is doing well. He is ahead of schedule. He won't participate in spring practice, but he's already jogging.

Q. Is there anybody else that will miss spring ball?

A. Matt Nechak. He had knee surgery in the offseason. He played through it last year and probably could have played with it this year, but we felt like it was best to just get it taken care of now and he will be ready to go in the fall. They are the only two guys that played last year that will miss spring ball. Jarrod Shannon and James Howell are two young guys that will miss practice. Shannon is a young defensive back that we are really counting on. He played great in JV games. He reminds me of Wyatt Middleton.

Q. Any position changes going into spring?

A. Sovie is moving to outside linebacker and Jordan Stephens went from nose guard to defensive end.

Q. Why did you move Stephens?

A. His size is probably better for defensive end and we have some young guys we really like at nose guard. Chase Burge and Francis Archibald both have a chance to be good players. Believe it or not Archibald played quarterback in high school. We are really excited about those two guys and Jarod Marks is another young guy we like at nose guard. With Nechak and Walsh out this spring it allows us to play some other guys at defense end.

Q. You have a lot of experience at defensive end with Walsh, Nechak, Tuani, Yarborough, and Marshall all having played last year.

A. I like that. That's a good thing.

Q. The competition should be pretty good on the defensive line with all the veterans you have over there.

A. No doubt. This is a great opportunity for some of the guys to get reps that might not have gotten them had we not had some of the injuries we have had. It will give some guys a chance to play with the first team and go against the first team offense. It is a great opportunity for them.

Q. Did Darius Terry play rover last year?

A. Buddy moved him all over the place. He can play safety or corner. We cross-trained him at both positions and we are preparing for the worst-case scenario with Emmett Merchant, that he doesn't come back. Another guy we are thinking about cross-training at rover is Ram Vela. The job description for that outside linebacker position he plays and rover is pretty similar. Our strong safety is basically like an outside linebacker. You saw that last year with Jeff Deliz. In Buddy's scheme they are very similar positions.

Q. You must feel really good about Haberer and Pospisil inside to move Sovie outside.

A. We know we can move him back if we need too, but the one thing that we saw in the Wake Forest game (the bowl game) was when we had some blitz schemes and brought Clint off the edge he came off the edge fast. That was his position in high school and some guys have a knack for that. He's not the biggest guy, but he has great wheels and this position might suit him more.

Q. With his size and speed, why wasn't he always an outside linebacker?

A. We had other outside guys and we needed him inside. He is still one of our better inside linebackers, but we have some flexibility inside now so we are going to see what he can do outside.

Q. How about Simmons? He was real impressive in the spring game and I thought he would play more last year, but he basically only played on special teams.

A. That had a lot to do with the guys in front of him (Pospisil, Sovie and Haberer). Coach Johns rolled all three of those guys and there wasn't much playing time left.

Q. How about John Angelo? He never really came back after that concussion. How is he doing?

A. We will see this spring.

Q. That was a severe concussion.

A. Doc Fair said we have never had one like that before. We probably won't put him back at kickoff return anymore. I don't know if a guy ever gets over something like that. At least if he plays defensive back he is hitting somebody else and you have your eyes open, you aren't looking at the ball waiting to get hit.

Q. Amazing that it wasn't a penalty.

A. Yeah, we got called for a push in the back. The official had to look over the Angelo hit to see the push in the back.

Q. What are your thoughts on Jon Teague becoming the full-time kicker?

A. He has some big shoes to fill. Harmon was automatic. Really the only two he missed was the one at Ball State and in the bowl game against Wake. All of his other misses were blocked or a mishandled snap or a high snap. He was automatic.

Q. Has Teague shown in practice that he has the consistency to make kicks? We know he has a strong leg.

A. Don't forget he was a plebe last year so he is going to have a stronger leg. I remember as a plebe we weren't that impressed by Reggie Campbell. He came in and we thought he was going to be this super fast back, but during his plebe year he showed just OK speed, but the next year his legs came back and we saw what we were hoping for. I think you will see the same thing in Jon. He just needs to settle down and not try to over kick everything. This is a big spring from a kicking standpoint.

Q. Any changes on the coaching staff as far as coaching different positions?

A. No, we are the same.

Q. Any concern about the other outside linebacker position (Corey Johnson's spot)?

A. It is a big concern of ours. Corey Johnson played phenomenal last year. As the year went on he played better and better. The light continued to click on for him every game. He always had the physical tools. In the Duke game he really struggled and messed up some coverage's, but after that he was a totally different player. Corey was a luxury to have because he was so versatile. He could come off the edge and rush the passer or drop back into coverage. That is a major question mark for us this spring. We need to find somebody that can do all of that or a couple of guys that can do bits and parts of what Corey did.

Q. It seems like athletically Travis Sudderth has the tools to be that guy.

A. He has all the tools. He is like some of our young slot backs, we like what we see but now it is time to see if they can do it under the lights. Time will tell.

Q. What happened to Sudderth last year? It seemed like he was battling for a starting spot, but then he just kind of disappeared.

A. I think a couple of things happened. I think he got overwhelmed with everything a little bit, similar to what happened to Teich, and then Corey Johnson just played well and our confidence in Corey increased.

Q. How much better do you think you are as a coaching staff after going through a full season together?

A. I think guys know what to expect a little bit more. Guys know what to expect from me. There are some things that are in my mind that are either dreams or visions or ideas of what I want to get done and after going through one season I know what I need to do to get those things done. I think some of the new guys that came last year had never coached at an Academy and although they had an idea of what it was like to coach here now they actually know. We are juggling three balls at all times here. You go from recruiting, to keeping the guys you already have here, to player development. We just finished recruiting, we are in the process of trying to retain the guys we have and we are getting ready for the developmental stage for our football players and in some way, some how you have to keep all three of those balls in the air at all times. You always have to be thinking about those three things and you can't let one of those balls drop. After having gone through that for one year I think I have a better idea of how I want to do things. With Army hiring Ellerson and with Calhoun at Air Force I know they are on our heels and that keeps me motivated, because I don't want them catching us. You can never consider yourself on top of the mountain. You always have to keep working to stay on top. We also improved technology wise. Chet Gladchuk and the Naval Academy have been great to us. We got a brand new video system and an assistant video coordinator, which is really going to help us. We feel like we are improving in this area. We are always looking at ways to get better. You can never get complacent.