ANNAPOLIS, Md.--Navy senior quarterback Malcolm Perry has been named the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, while head coach Ken Niumatalolo has been named the AAC Coach of the Year by the league's head coaches.  Senior guard David Forney and sophomore linebacker Diego Fagot join Perry on the first team, while junior offensive tackle Billy Honaker and junior striker Jacob Springer were named Honorable Mention All-League. Perry's honor marks the second time Navy has won the offensive player of the year award as Keenan Reynolds took home the award in 2015, while Niumatalolo has been named coach of the year three times in the last five years.

Perry has had one of the best years a Navy quarterback has had in school history, rushing for 1,500 yards and 19 touchdowns on 238 carries (6.3 ypc), while completing 43 of his 79 pass attempts for 1,207 yards and six touchdowns for a passing efficiency of 181.10.  Perry needs 88 yards rushing in the final two games to surpass Napoleon McCallum for Navy's single-season rushing record and needs 69 yards to pass Will Worth for the school record for single-season total offense.  Perry enters next Saturday's Army-Navy game fifth in the country in rushing yards per game (136.4) and tied for fifth in rushing touchdowns.  His nine 100-yard rushing games this year is a school record and if he rushes for more than 100 yards against Army, he will break the school record for consecutive 100-yard rushing games with nine (currently tied with Zach Abey). 

Niumatalolo has led Navy to a 9-2 record and a 7-1 mark in the AAC West Division, which was good enough to share the West Division title with Memphis after being picked to finish fifth in the division by the league's head coaches. Navy has improved by seven games from last year, which equals Central Michigan for the biggest improvement in the country.  He has led Navy to nine wins or more three times in the last five years, prior to that Navy won nine or more games six times in the previous 35 years.  Niumatalolo, Navy's all-time winningest coach with 96 career wins, can lead Navy to a school-record tying 11 wins this year with a win over Army and a win in the bowl game (the Mids won 11 games in 2015 under his direction).  Niumatalolo has led Navy to a national ranking of 23rd in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls, while the Mids are ranked 24th by the College Football Playoff Committee. Navy has been ranked in the top 25 on 15 different occasions over the last five years, prior to that Navy was ranked one week (at the end of the 2004 season) the previous 35 years. A win over Army would also make Niumatalolo the all-time winningest coach in the history of the Army-Navy game and give the Mids the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy for the 16th time in school history.

Forney has led an offensive line that has paved the way for the nation's top rushing team, averaging what would be a school-record 360.8 yards per game (current record is 351.4 set in 2017).  Navy hasn't led the nation in rushing since 2008, when it averaged 292.4 rushing yards per game.  The Mids lead the nation in rushing by 49.1 yards per game over second-place Army.  Navy also leads the country in rushing plays of 10 yards or more (122), second in rushing plays of 20 yards or more (41), tied for third in rushing plays of 30 yards or more, tied for 3rd in rushing plays of 40 yards or more and tied for second in rushing plays of 50 yards or more.  The Mids have been phenomenal in the red zone thanks to the offensive line as the Mids have scored on all 40 attempts whey they tried to score (took a knee once at the end of the game against Holy Cross), scoring 35 touchdowns and five field goals.  Navy leads the country in red zone scoring percentage and in red zone touchdown percentage, scoring a touchdown 85 percent of the time.

Fagot has recorded a team-high 85 tackles, is tied for second in tackles for a loss with 8.5, has recorded 2.5 sacks, one interception, two pass breakups and a forced fumble for the nation's most improved defense.  Navy has improved in almost every statistical category from 2018 to 2019 going from 121st to 30th in third down defense, from 90th to 17th in rushing defense, from 86th to 33rd in total defense, from 103rd to 47th in scoring defense, from 117th to 74th in pass efficiency defense, from 129th to 56th in sacks and from 129th to 54th in tackles for a loss.

Springer has had a breakout year for the Mids at the striker position, leading Navy in sacks (seven), tackles for a loss (13.5), forced fumbles (three) and quarterback hurries (seven).  Springer's seven sacks are tied for the sixth most in school history, while his 13.5 tackles for a loss are just 2.5 tackles for a loss out of the top 5.  His three forced fumbles are tied for the 16th most in the country. 

Honaker joins Forney on an offensive line that has been dominant for the Mids all year.  Navy has rushed for more than 400 yards in a game four times and over 300 yards in every game but three this year.

Navy will take on Army on Saturday, Dec. 14 in the annual Army-Navy Game presented by USAA, which is the greatest rivalry in all of sports.  The game will kick at 3 PM and will air on CBS Sports.