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Diego Fagot

Diego Fagot: When life gets tough, don’t run. Keep fighting

By Gary Lambrecht

As a young, tall and wiry defender entering high school, when the idea of becoming an elite inside linebacker at a place as prestigious as the U.S. Naval Academy was a distant thought, Diego Fagot already had two goals clearly in mind.

As his father, Dean Fagot, had done years ago by becoming an infantry officer in the U.S. Army, Diego — the middle child of seven kids with three older brothers — felt a calling to serve in the military.

And Diego, who has long dreamed of playing in an NFL uniform one day, was determined to excel on the collegiate gridiron at the highest level.

Fagot laid the groundwork as a precocious talent at tiny Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Lauderdale. He starred in track and field as a thrower and especially in football as a hard-hitting, sure-tackling, fast and savvy linebacker and a three-time, all-state selection.

Fagot's instincts, football IQ and passion for the game shined as much as his toughness and athleticism. He had a knack for reading offenses and seeing plays unfold before the ball was snapped, then making plays. No wonder he eventually fielded offers from a bunch of schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

"He's got a gift. I could see Diego had it when he was eight nd playing flag football," Dean Fagot recalls. "Diego is a thinker. He got his butt kicked by his older brothers [Daniel, 30; David, 28; Dean, 25]. So he thinks about things. He knows where the ball is going before the play starts. His motor doesn't stop."

"My big brothers taught me more than I ever could have learned without them in my life," says Fagot, 23, now one of Navy's senior co-captains, who shifts from serious and thoughtful to funny and self-deprecating while chatting. Like the rest of his family, he leans hard on his Christian faith.

"I think God gave me the ability to look at formations and anticipate plays. I feel I've always had it," he adds. "I feel if football was a class, it's probably the only class I'd get an 'A' in."

The past three seasons have yielded both joyous and tough results for the football program.

Through the ups and downs, no player on the Navy defense has graded as consistently high as Fagot, who has led the Mids in tackles in each year, has totaled the most tackles for a loss in that span and has been Navy's most dynamic defensive playmaker while starting 31 games.

The Mids tied a program-best record with 11 wins in 2019, when Fagot was Navy's breakout star as a sophomore.

Since then, due in significant part to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that destroyed the Mids' normal preparation for the '20 campaign, Navy has won only five games over the last two years.

With a 2-7 record entering its home finale against East Carolina, Navy is ineligible for a bowl game for the second straight year. Youth, inexperience and injuries are partly to blame, such as the early-season injury to promising sophomore QB Tai Lavatai.

Fagot, who fought through injuries last year to earn Second Team all-conference honors, admits the thought of leaving the academy before he signed his "two for seven" commitment in 2020 weighed on him. The multiple Covid lockdowns on the Yard last year — and the extended isolation that confined Midshipmen to their Bancroft Hall rooms for more than 20 hours daily —created mental and emotional strains throughout the Brigade.

But in the end, Fagot says he could not head for the exit door, even to enhance his NFL chances by playing for a higher-profile football school. That is still a dream that is very much alive, based on the steady looks Fagot is getting from professional scouts at games and practices.

Fagot remains focused on being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps upon graduation in May with a degree in English. He remains all-in as a leader among the brothers he loves. He is one of 25 remaining seniors.

"I had plenty of [other college] coaches reaching out to me. It was hard to stay," Fagot admits. "But I felt like I had started something I couldn't quit. I couldn't turn my back on the guys I'd gone through everything with. Ultimately, it came down to the people I care about and who I am as a person."

When asked about the possibility of fulfilling his football dream — some early 2022 NFL draft speculation has him getting picked in the later rounds— Fagot responded politely and curtly. He says he is concentrating on leading Navy to a strong finish in 2021 against ECU, Temple and, of course, Army.

"Obviously, there is a chance I might have a shot at the league. It's definitely something I've always wanted. I've never thought it was going to happen," he says. "But as a captain, my teammates are looking at me to see how I respond to certain situations. My attitude and the way I approach my job are much more important to me now."

To his mother, Annemarie Fagot, a career English teacher who, besides home-schooling each of her children, has taught in public schools, on the Navajo Reservation and in Central America as a missionary, her fourth child is just being the thoughtful, compassionate, principled boy she and Dean raised.

Diego's mother fondly recalls the day he won the state title in the shot put as a junior at Calvary. Before celebrating by getting his picture taken with his award and his father, Fagot paused to seek out and console the previously undefeated runner-up he had just beaten.

"Diego always admired his older brothers and wanted to be like them in different ways. He was always a thoughtful boy who stuck up for what's right," says Annemarie Fagot, whom Diego refers to as "the most giving, caring person I know. She puts anyone above her time, even the homeless man on the street she keeps food in the car for."

Annemarie Fagot adds, "[Diego] makes me think of a German shepherd or a golden retriever. It's the kind of loyal protector he is."

At 6-feet-3, 240 pounds with explosive speed, Fagot is not your basic strong-side backer anchoring the tackle box. He roams everywhere effectively in Navy's 3-4 — backward in pass coverage, pursuing sideline-to-sideline, run blitzing from various angles, flying into the offensive backfield to ruin plays before they get started.

"[Fagot] is obviously big, fast and strong, but he's got phenomenal instincts. He recognizes when an offense is telling you something. Throughout the course of a game he is great at analyzing [opponents'] feet, eyes, alignment," says P.J. Volker, Navy's third-year linebackers coach. "He takes great angles to the ball. And he is violent on impact." 

This year, despite opponents running away from his side more than ever, Fagot is averaging nearly nine tackles and five solo stops per game. He has 10 tackles for loss. He has added a sack, a forced fumble, an interception and a fumble recovery he returned for a touchdown against SMU.

"Diego Fagot is probably in the top five of linebackers we've played against," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said in a press conference, days before the Fighting Irish defeated Navy, 34-6. "He is a great athlete. He could play for anybody in the Power Five."

During the spring session in 2019, having returned to inside backer he played in high school after playing outside linebacker as a freshman, Fagot ran briefly with the second string. Then he grabbed the starting job at the MIKE spot with a dazzling show in the Mids' second intrasquad scrimmage.

"He had done well in practice and the first scrimmage," Volker says. "In the second scrimmage, Diego was as dominant a player as I've seen on the gridiron, games included. You'd have had to have been blind not to see that we had something pretty special."

The Mids had something very special in 2019, when quarterback Malcolm Perry, with his blazing speed, rushed for 2,017 yards (FBS record for a QB) to lead Navy's offense, while Fagot quickly emerged as the primary force on a tough and balanced, attacking defense. 

Fagot started all 13 games, led the Mids with 100 tackles, including 12 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. He also forced two fumbles and had an interception. He was named First Team All-AAC, before earning Defensive Player of the Game in Navy's win over Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl.

Perry went on to be drafted in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins and is now a receiver with New England.

"We knew [Fagot] was a baller from day one here. He is so gifted as an athlete with great size, and he's such a competitor and a hard worker. He covers up other people's mistakes," says senior safety and co-captain Kevin Brennan, who is convinced Fagot will play more football after this year, if given the chance.

"When you look at the work he has put in over four seasons and how it shows on the field, I think a lot of people are going to be surprised by the football career he has," Brennan says. "Since camp [in August] and early this season, I've seen more scouts here from the league than ever in my four years here, even including [those looking at] Malcolm [Perry]."

Some two dozen college football offers came Fagot's way, from service academies Navy and Army to schools such as Central Michigan and Appalachian State to Power Five members like Pitt, Boston College, Syracuse and Illinois.

In the end, after gauging all of the attention and the recruiting pitches, Fagot says he was leaning toward committing to Illinois, yet had been blown away by his recruiting visit to the Naval Academy. Shortly before Fagot's official visit to its Champaign campus, Illinois pulled its offer.

The next day, as a high school senior on September 11, 2016, Diego Fagot committed to Navy. The following summer, he would begin the next phase of his journey in Newport, R.I., where he spent a year at the Naval Academy Preparatory School.

He arrived in Annapolis at 255 pounds in 2018, and Fagot adjusted to playing a new position. That all changed for the better. Then it changed again.

Ken Niumatalolo, Navy's 14th-year head coach, gives Fagot "A's" across the board for the impactful plays he has made over and over, the examples he has provided for the teammates he loves, the ways he attacks all challenges, such as directing traffic like a natural on the punt protection team. But it's Fagot's decision to stay that moves Niumatalolo.

"[Fagot] has no weakness as a linebacker. I was surprised he came here. He's elite. We don't have a ton of those kind," Numatalolo says. "I wanted Diego to do what was right for him [when Covid struck]. What a lesson he taught other guys [by staying]. What leadership he has shown here. When life gets tough, don't run. Keep fighting."

Says Fagot, "You've just got to keep moving forward. The secret to life is do not quit."
 
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