The experience of living through a 3-10 football season a year ago definitely left a mark on senior outside linebacker Nizaire Cromartie. But the reality of staring down his final season in football pads, before he graduates from the Naval Academy and is commissioned a U.S. Navy officer, is what really stokes the competitive fire in him.

"Nobody wants to be 3-10. Now we know how it feels. The seniors have that taste in their mouths they want to change," says Cromartie, who starts at the raider position. "But having a sense of urgency because you know this is our last year of ever playing football, that's what drives you even more than the past does."

Not that Cromartie's everyday approach and commitment to his football craft have changed in the least.

Classmates such as defensive linemen Jackson Pittman and Marcus Edwards say Cromartie brought striking intensity to the practice field, weightlifting room and off the field throughout the year (2015) they spent together at the Naval Academy Prep School in Newport, R.I.

The first thing Kevin Downing, one of five new defensive assistant coaches on the Navy staff, noticed upon meeting with Cromartie last winter was he asked all of the right questions.

"Right away, you can see how much football truly means to him. From the first moment I met with 'Cro' I saw a focused, super-humble guy with a hunger in his eye," recalls Downing, who coaches Navy's defensive ends and raiders.

"His whole approach comes down to how can I get better?" Downing adds. "How can I be the best player and teammate I can be? What can I do every day to help us be the best football team we can be?  He's the same every day, no mood swings. You never have to tell him to practice hard. He's the Alpha in our defense. He is what you want to coach."

To no one's surprise in the Mids' locker room, Cromartie, 6-feet-2, 237 pounds, was elected by his teammates to serve as one of four co-captains in 2019.

"I've known 'Cro' since day one at NAPS. He's always been a vocal leader who never talks himself up," says senior defensive end Marcus Edwards. "He speaks more with the way he performs. He brings the same intensity to a practice, whether we're in tee shirts, helmets or pads, just like it's another game day. He's got this infectious confidence."

Before entering NAPS out of Dudley High School in Greensboro, N.C., Cromartie had weighed offers from Army and Navy, while shining as a pass rusher at Dudley. The Panthers went 13-0 and won a state championship in his junior year.

As a senior, when Cromartie also considered joining North Carolina State as a walk-on after being accepted into the school's College of Engineering, Cromartie led the entire state of North Carolina with 18 sacks. He committed to Navy during the winter of his senior year.

"It really came down to the fact that Navy was closer to home, and they were winning more and dominating the [Army-Navy] rivalry," says Cromartie.

As a three-year letterwinner, Cromartie, an English major seeking a surface warfare officer commission in May, established himself after plebe summer by earning a steady role on special teams.

He moved into the outside linebacker rotation as a sophomore and flashed more potential, as five of his nine tackles produced losses. As a first-year starter in 2018, Cromartie was a bright spot in a rough year for the Navy defense overall. He led the Mids in sacks (3.5), contributed 58 tackles, including a second-best, 5.5 stops for losses, and forced two fumbles.

Under first-year defensive coordinator Brian Newberry, Cromartie is an important piece in a scheme designed to be disruptive and deceptive. The Mids will line up in multiple fronts, change their looks before the snap, and look to exploit matchup advantages while placing a premium on pressuring the quarterback.

"Our defense is playing more of a chess game this year. I haven't experienced anything like it before," Cromartie says. "I might be coming [after the passer] or might be dropping [into coverage] or might be part of our base defense. My stance might not be any different. I'm working on disguising things as much I'm working on making plays.

"The idea is to make it more of a guessing game for [opposing] quarterbacks," he adds. "Offenses are always getting smarter. Coaches are getting smarter. Whether you're on offense or defense, if you pick up on [opponents'] tendencies, you have the upper hand."

Cromartie gained the upper hand by making a memorable play in the season-opening, 45-7 rout over Holy Cross in Annapolis. The Mids had built a 24-7 lead by halftime and started the second half on defense. In a passing situation, Navy unexpectedly dropped eight players into coverage and rushed only three.

One of them was Cromartie, who beat the Crusaders' right tackle around the left edge and swooped in and hit quarterback Connor Degenhardt's right arm just before he attempted a pass. The ball popped loose, and Cromartie alertly pounced on it to complete a strip-sack-fumble sequence at the Holy Cross 20-yard line.

Five plays later, fullback Nelson Smith scored, giving the Mids a 31-7 advantage that effectively put the game away.

"[Cromartie] had been close earlier in the game. We'd been talking about how nobody [on the Holy Cross line] could block him one-on-one," says senior nose guard Jackson Pittman.

"That play happened because 'Cro is locked in on perfecting his craft with that great work ethic," he adds. "His switch is never turned off. What he does on Saturdays is what I see him do in practice every day."

"We're asking 'Cro to do a lot at his position. He's a hybrid sort of player," Downing says. "He needs to do a lot in [stopping] the run game. He needs to drop into coverage [and take on slot receivers or tight ends or backs] and match up. He's kind of a part-time linebacker and part-time defensive back. His quickness and flexibility and upper body strength are all important. And he's a pretty good pass rusher."

"Nizaire has taken his work ethic – which was high before – to a whole other level this year," says Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo. "He's been so professional, so business-like, so committed to his game and this team. It's hard for a younger guy not to follow his lead. And he's such a mature, thoughtful kid."

While Cromartie was growing up in Greensboro, N.C., those close to him recall those same precocious traits in him. His mother, Renee, remembers how Nizaire would take it upon himself to perform fixes on bicycles or skateboards for kids in the neighborhood, or would occasionally invite kids from broken homes to stay with the family.

"Nizaire is a strong, intelligent individual who has always been such a focused, caring person," his mother says. "He's got one of the best dispositions you could have. He never gets hot-and-heavy mad. My son is a born leader."

"I don't think I've ever really seen [Nizaire] him lose his composure, even going back to when he was much younger," says his older brother, Jordan, 26.

"During an argument or a bigger fight, he'd yell back or fight back, but he never acted scared, and he'd never freak out. Even when we'd do something bad and get spanked by our father, Nizaire wouldn't cry, wouldn't blink or anything. You will never see an opponent [on the football field] get under his skin. When schools were overlooking him [in the recruiting process], Nizaire never felt sorry for himself."

Cromartie's high school football experience ended on a disappointing note. Dudley completed a 10-0 regular season, but due to a substitution violation in the regular-season finale, the school was disqualified from the playoffs, which prevented the Panthers from pursuing their second straight state championship.

By that point, Cromartie was drawing serious interest from Army, but he was more interested in staying closer to home. Appalachian State was looking at him, but a football offer did not materialize. He visited West Point. He was seriously considering the N.C. State, walk-on option. Then, Navy entered the picture.

"At first, that was kind of scary to me," Jordan recalls. "None of us ever, when we would talk about our dreams, talked about being in the military. At that point, I didn't think Nizaire was mature enough in his decision-making. But he kept asking good questions about each [service] academy, and he stayed so calm with that weird composure of his. I was the one freaking out."

Jordan remembers how he and Nizaire watched the Showtime documentary, "A Game of Honor," which took viewers inside the Army-Navy football rivalry in 2011.

"Nizaire ended up making a great choice," Jordan says.

As a member of the National Honor Society, Cromartie was ready to tackle the adjustments that awaited him in Rhode Island at NAPS. By the time plebe summer arrived, Cromartie was primed to climb the depth chart with the Midshipmen.

He appeared in every game that fall on special teams. He performed on coverage teams and even returned a couple of kickoffs that season. As a backup linebacker in 2017 – when Navy went 7-6 overall and 4-4 in American Athletic Conference play – he played in 10 games and averaged just under one tackle per appearance.

Cromartie chipped in two tackles for losses in Navy's blowout victory over Virginia in the Military Bowl. Then came his breakout season in 2018. 

"Going back to our offseason, Nizaire has come to work every day with a relentless attitude. He has been an unbelievable team leader," Niumatatolo says. "He doesn't act like our best pass rusher or one of our captains. He acts like he's still trying to make the travel squad."