Senior nose tackle Jackson Pittman was such a coveted football recruit in the eyes of the Navy coaching staff that Pittman fell into a special category as a dominant, two-way lineman playing for the prestigious Brentwood Academy.
As head coach Ken Niumatalolo and offensive line coach and Tennessee area recruiter Ashley Ingram got closer to securing a commitment from Pittman, they did what they sometimes have to do to tip the scales toward Navy.
They threw the question to Pittman. Where would you like to play? On the interior offensive line as a guard or center, where you're 6-feet-2 frame approaching 300 pounds would be an ideal fit in the spread option attack that is the Navy foundation? Or would you rather take on those huge centers and guards as an attacking, run-plugging force in the heart of the Navy defense?
"I would have loved to have [Pittman] on our offensive line. He has that explosiveness that we love, and he's a really good blocker," Niumatalolo recalls. "But we wanted Jackson so badly. Whatever he wanted to play [was fine with us]."
As he entered the Naval Academy Prep School in 2015, Pittman thought it over. He also consulted with his father, Jack Pittman, who had coached him for years at Brentwood, the same school in the Nashville area that has been long established as a Navy pipeline. Former notable Navy football players such as Jabaree Tuani, Mason Graham, Barry Dabney, Kwazel Bertrand and Amos Mason are Brentwood graduates.
Of course, Pittman chose to line up on defense, and there have been no regrets about that decision.
"I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed playing in the triple option," says Pittman, alluding to the reads and timing and precise footwork and technique needed to make a blocking scheme work.
"I mean, I definitely enjoy pancaking somebody or just making the blocks that make a play happen. But defense is about reading a play, anticipating it and being aggressive and disruptive."
Pittman remembers arriving in Annapolis for plebe summer, ready to compete for a steady place in the defensive line rotation immediately. It worked out very well. He appeared in every game in 2016. His 11 tackles and two forced fumbles were a factor in Navy's 9-5 season that included a 7-1, regular-season mark against the American Athletic Conference.
Pittman has anchored the Navy defense for the past three seasons as a starter at the nose, where he derives much joy from drawing opposing double teams and freeing up others behind him to roam freely and collect tackles. Sophomore inside linebacker Diego Fagot (team-high 17 tackles, 12 solo tackles, three for losses) is a prime example.
As a product of Una Bears Youth Football, a renowned recreation program in Nashville, which attracted rich young football talent including such names as future Navy superstar quarterback Keenan Reynolds and current NFL cornerback Jalen Ramsey, Pittman learned he was bigger and stronger than a lot of his aggressive counterparts.
"When I first got into playing football, I was about nine. I'm not sure then how much I really liked football," Pittman recalls. "I was pretty aggressive, but it was a shock how physical that football was. I started loving the physical matchups more by about [age] 11.
"And it didn't take long for me after that to love having a guy running the ball behind me [as a blocker] or having a guy running the ball at me [as a defensive lineman]. I knew I was going to be able to destroy the guy in front of me. Either make the block or make the tackle."
The Mids (2-1) are glad that an experienced hand such as Pittman is setting the tone for Navy's rejuvenated, new-look defense under first-year defensive coordinator Brian Newberry.
Navy's defense is all about changing looks at the line of scrimmage – before the snap or on the snap. The front shifts regularly, meaning Pittman is not lining up directly over center or a center-guard gap every time. Blitzes and zone blitzes are disguised often.
That has allowed Pittman to find more one-on-one matchups and show off his two-step bursts of speed from the line. Pittman, always quick for his huge size, has never looked lighter on his feet. He has collapsed the pocket impressively, while giving Navy's tacklers the room they need to fly to the football.
"To have a guy like [Pittman] who has played a lot of snaps brings some calm to the defensive line," Newberry says. "We're not a real seasoned group on defense. [Pittman] has probably played more meaningful snaps than anybody else [on the defense].
"Sometimes when you have big staff changes like us, some seniors might turn their noses up at you with a 'What can you do for me?' attitude," adds Newberry, alluding to the six new faces on defense in 2019.
"Jackson hasn't been that way. He's embraced us. We've gotten him out of his comfort zone. We're moving him around, asking him to play at a higher level than he has been asked to play. He's in really good shape. For a 300-pound-plus guy, he's extremely quick."
Jerrick Hall, who was hired to coach nose guards and defensive tackles in February, said he pored over all three seasons of film on Pittman. Hall, who played all over the defensive line at North Carolina State in the early 2000s, adds that Pittman impressed him most early with his football IQ. He has worked extensively with Pittman on making his footwork more precise.
"Jackson has got the size and definitely the strength to play inside middle [on the line]," Hall says. "What sets him apart is his football intelligence and the way he can stay a step ahead of the offense. He can look at an offensive formation and guess which kind of blocking scheme he will see. Or he will know when a guard sets [to protect the passer], is the guard going to slide to me or away from me?"
"[Playing the nose] is definitely a selfless role," Pittman says. "I've learned to accept that role throughout my college career. If our linebackers are happy, then I'm doing my job. I'm always good friends with the linebackers."
One of those friends is definitely Fagot, who has thrived with his pursuit speed, thanks in large part to the table that Pittman sets for him.
"I'd have no chance [of putting up his tackling statistics] without the work [Pittman] does," Fagot says. "He is a great, individual player who absolutely has to be double-teamed, or he is going to make more tackles in the backfield than I ever would. He can dominate centers."
"Jackson has been playing since his freshman year, and that really shows up on film," says senior Marcus Edwards, a first-year starter at defensive tackle. "He's like a Rhodes Scholar of football, the way he keys in on small details before a play happens.
"He's always looking at the eyes of running backs, based on offensive formations and tendencies, to tell him where the play is going. He's a technician who really hones in on his craft, one of the most consistent players I've ever played with. He likes to joke around and play loose out there, but he's focused, not sloppy."
Jack Pittman, who played college football at Middle Tennessee State, laughs as he recalls the edgy side that developed in his son's game at Brentwood. When opposing blockers would refuse to stop holding him illegally, the younger Pittman would warn the offender to knock it off or face the consequences.
"Jackson would tell him, 'If you hold me again, you're going to the sideline.' Then he would flip the guy's helmet off," Jack Pittman says. "He was really disliked by his high school opponents."
Jack Pittman adds that, recruiters taking an obligatory look at the Brentwood talent tended to see his son as a college center/guard prospect. The offers he was anticipating from Georgia Tech and Memphis never materialized.
When Navy latched onto Pittman's radar, Ingram sure liked the idea of coaching a stud like Pittman, who was a finalist for the Mr. Football Lineman of the Year award in Tennessee.
"Most guys who can play on either side of the line should try defense first. It's a lot easier to switch to offense if defense doesn't work out, then the other way around," Ingram says. "Jackson definitely could have made the switch to O-line. But once he started playing on defense at NAPS, that discussion never came up again."
"Jackson and I had that talk before and after he reported to NAPS," Jack Pittman says. "My reasoning was, go over to the defensive side. We'll never know [if it was the right decision] if you don't try it. He was fifth-string [when Pittman made the switch at NAPS]. A few weeks later, he was first string."
Jason Matthews, a former NFL offensive tackle with Indianapolis and Tennessee, coached the offensive line at Brentwood when the younger Pittman was playing center.
"Jackson was our anchor, our smartest guy on the O-line. And when we needed a yard, he'd punch somebody in the face and we'd get the yards," Matthews recalls. "I kept seeing guys going ahead of him [getting college offers] that I knew weren't as talented. But [Pittman didn't have 6-4 or 6-5 in front of his name."
Jack Pittman says that, of each of his four sons, Jackson was clearly the truest of football junkies. As a young boy, he'd take on the ball boy and water boy responsibilities. He'd be by his father's side on the sideline, soaking up his coaching. He would cry hard over losses.
Eight months from now, Jackson Pittman will be making his parents cry, as he graduates from the academy and is commissioned – most likely as a surface warfare officer.
"You don't really imagine it, until they take that oath at NAPS," Jack Pittman says. "And now it's almost here."
"I try not to think past December. I want to enjoy everything about this season. It feels weird that this is the last time I will play college football," Jackson Pittman says.
"Soon enough, I'll need to worry about things like losing weight and looking for a house," he adds. "All of the Friday dinner talks, the hotels the night before games together, the morning breakfasts on game day, even the naps you take before the game. You never get those back. I just want to enjoy everything about football right now."
