A Look Ahead to the 2023 Navy Football Season
•    First-year head football coach Brian Newberry and the Navy football team will open the 2023 season when the Midshipmen report for fall camp on Tuesday, July 25. Navy will hold its first practice on Wednesday, July 26.
•    Media Day / Fan Fest is set for Saturday, July 29 at 10:00 am at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Newberry, co-captains Lirion Murtezi (Sr / C) and Will Harbour (Sr / LB), along with Jayden Umbarger (Sr / WR) and Jacob Busic (Sr / DE) will meet with the media, while the rest of the team will sign autographs on the concourse of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
•    The annual Blue & Gold BBQ will take place on Saturday, Aug. 12. Practice begins at 10:00 am with the BBQ to follow at 11:30 am.
•    The final day of fall camp is Wednesday, Aug. 16, with classes starting on Thursday, Aug. 17.
•    Navy will resume its normal practice schedule on Aug. 17, practicing from 4-6 pm. Aug. 17 is also the first day the plebes will be available for interviews.
•    The Mids will depart for Dublin, Ireland on Wednesday, Aug. 23 and Navy will kick off the 2023 campaign on Saturday, Aug. 26  at Aviva Stadium against Notre Dame (2:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm Dublin) on NBC and the Navy Radio Network.

Murtezi and Harbour Named Team Captains
•    Navy head football coach Brian Newberry announced at the annual Navy Football Senior Salute that seniors Lirion Murtezi and Will Harbour were voted team captains for the 2023 season by their teammates.
•    "Our players have spoken and I couldn't be more pleased with the two captains they have chosen to lead and represent our program," said Newberry. "Player-led teams are the best teams and Will and Lirion will be exceptional in their roles both on the field and in Bancroft Hall. They personify everything the Naval Academy and Navy football are all about."
•     Murtezi, a 6-3, 328-pound center from Pittsburgh, has played in 24-consecutive games for the Mids along the offensive line, making 9 starts. He started the final 6 games of the 2022 campaign.
•     Murtezi, who moved to Pittsburgh from Pristina, Kosovo in 2006, was a team captain at North Hills High School his junior and senior years.
•     Harbour, a 6-1, 230-pound linebacker from Frisco, Texas, has played in 17 games over his career, including 10 starts.  Last year, he started 7 games and finished with 30 tackles, 3.5 tackles for a loss and 1 sack.
•     In his career, Harbour has recorded 51 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and 1.5 sacks.  Harbour was team captain his senior year at Rick Reedy High School in Frisco.

Navy Lands Multiple Players on Athlon Sports and Phil Steele's Preseason All-AAC Team
•    Eight Navy football players have been named to the Athlon Sports Preseason All-American Athletic Conference Team.
•     Colin Ramos (Jr / LB) was named to the first team, Jacob Busic (Sr / DE) and Will Harbour (Sr / LB) to the third team and Donald Berniard Jr. (Sr / NG) to the fourth team.
•     Daba Fofana (Jr / FB) and Josh Pena (Sr / OG) were both named to the third team offense, while Amin Hassan (Sr / PR) was named to the second team and Riley Riethman (Jr / P) to the fourth team.
•    Additionally, 8 Navy football players have been named to Phil Steele's Preseason All-American Athletic Conference Team.
•     Donald Berniard Jr. (Sr / NG) and Colin Ramos (Jr / LB) were named to the second team, Daba Fofana (Jr / FB), Rayuan Lane III (Jr / S) and Riley Riethman (Jr / P) were named to the third team, while Connor McMahon (Jr / OT), Jacob Busic (Sr / DE) and Amin Hassan (Jr / PR) were named to the fourth team.
•     Berniard Jr. has made an incredible 30-consecutive starts at nose guard for the Mids. He was named to Phil Steele's All-American Athletic Conference Third Team last year and finished the season with 35 tackles, including 4.5 for loss.
•     Busic, who has started 24-consecutive games for Navy, was named First-Team All-East, Honorable Mention All-American Athletic Conference and Third-Team All-AAC by Phil Steele last fall. He finished the year second on the team in sacks (6) and tied for second in tackles for loss (8.5) to go along with his 38 total tackles.
•     Fofana had a breakout campaign at fullback in 2022, leading Navy in rushing (769) and rushing touchdowns (6) on 186 carries. Fofana earned 7 starts a year ago and was named to Phil Steele's All-American Athletic Conference Fourth Team.
•     Harbour was a starter in 7 of the 11 contests in which he played last year and finished with 30 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
•     Hassan, who also started 6 games at slot back, ranked 18th in the country in yards per punt return a year ago, averaging 8.8.  He returned 15 punts on the year for 132 yards.
•     Lane III has been a starter in all 24 games of his career and has made 18-consective starts. Lane finished third on the team in tackles (71) and pass breakups (4) last year and also contributed 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
•     McMahon, who is projected to start at left tackle for the Mids this year, started 10 games last year as a sophomore.
•     Pena is a veteran member of Navy's offensive line, making 20 starts over the last 2 seasons, including 11 of 12 games last fall.
•     Ramos, who was named to Phil Steele's 2022 All-American Athletic Conference Third Team, was a starter in 10 of the 12 games last year and was second on the team in tackles (79), tied for second in tackles for loss (8.6) and tied for third in sacks (4).
•     Riethman, who is ranked #1 on the Navy career punting leader board with a 43.2 average over 2 seasons, punted 45 times last fall for a 43.8 average, which is tied for the third best single-season average in school history. He placed 11 of his 45 punts inside the 20 and had 13 punts go for 50 yards or more.

Reed Named Winner of Admiral Mack Award
•    Justin Reed (Jr / DE) was named the winner of the 2023 Admiral Mack Award, which is awarded to the most improved player during spring football practice.
•    Reed has played in all 24 games his first-two years, starting a pair of contests. He has recorded 19 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery. He had a career-high 4 tackles last year against Notre Dame.
•    The Vice Admiral Mack Award was established in 1976 and is named in honor of the Naval Academy Superintendent from 1972-75. Admiral Mack was a strong supporter of the school's intercollegiate athletic program.
•    Reed is the fourth-consecutive defensive player to be chosen and the 27th overall over the past 46 years. He is the sixth defensive end to win the award and the first since Jackson Perkins in 2019. Reed's teammate, co-captain Will Harbour (Sr / LB), won the award last year.

Busic Coming Off First-Team All-East Season
•    Jacob Busic (Sr / DE) was named First-Team All-East by the ECAC at the conclusion of the 2022 season.
•     Busic finished his junior campaign with 38 tackles, 8.5 tackles for a loss, 6 sacks, forced 2 fumbles and recovered a fumble.

Brian Newberry Era Begins at Navy
•     On Dec. 19, Naval Academy Director of Athletics Chet Gladchuk introduced Brian Newberry as the program's 40th head football coach. Newberry had served as the defensive coordinator at Navy for the last four seasons.
•     Navy finished third in the nation against the run in 2022, which is even more impressive when you consider it was the only defense ranked in the top 25 that faced 3 of the top-10 rushing offenses in the country. Navy also finished third in fewest first downs allowed, 23rd in sacks, 22nd in fumbles recovered and 32nd in total defense.
•     Striker John Marshall ('23) finished third in the nation in sacks and tackles for loss per game while setting school records for single-season and single-game sacks. Marshall was the only unanimous First-Team All- American Athletic Conference selection in 2022.
•     In 2021, the Navy defense acquitted itself well by finishing #32 in the nation in rushing defense, #34 in total defense and #34 in red zone defense. Linebacker Diego Fagot was distinguished with All-America honors, First-Team All-American Athletic Conference and was named All-East. He was also named MVP of the East-West Shrine All-Star Game.
•     In 2020, after a slow start due to COVID, the defense finished the year with a flurry, holding Memphis, Tulsa and Army to under 300 yards of total offense. It was the first time a Navy defense had achieved that feat since 1997.
•     In 2019, Newberry's first year on the job, Navy made massive improvements on the defense.
•     Navy ranked 20th in third down defense (121st in 2018), 10th in rushing defense (90th in 2018), 39th in passing defense (75th in 2018), 16th in total defense (86th in 2018) and 34th in scoring defense (103rd in 2018).
•     Newberry, a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, presented annually to the best assistant coach in college football, and his defensive staff installed a "Get 6" culture within the Navy defense that took off. Newberry told the defensive players if they got a combination of six three-and-outs, fourth down stops, turnovers and defensive touchdowns in a game, the Mids would win. In 2019, Navy was 8-0 when it managed to "Get 6."
•     The Mids finished 10th in the nation against the run despite facing the #2, #3 and #11 rushing offenses in the country. Navy forced the opposing offense off the field in 3 plays or less in 36 percent of its drives, which was the nation's 10th-best average. Navy also gave up just 15.2 first downs per game, which was tied for third best.
•     Prior to his arrival in Annapolis, Newberry served as the defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Kennesaw State from 2015-18, leading the Owls to the FCS quarterfinals in each of his last two seasons.
•     Newberry joined the Kennesaw State coaching staff after spending the 2012 season as defensive coordinator at Northern Michigan. Prior to his one season at Northern Michigan, Newberry served as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at the University of the South in 2011 where the Tigers improved their scoring defense by 16 points per game and total defense by 85 yards a contest.
•     Newberry's coaching experience also includes 4 seasons (2007-10) as defensive backs coach at Elon and 5 years (2004-06, 2001 and 2002) as defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Washington & Lee. He also served as a graduate assistant/defensive line coach at Rice during the spring of 2004, spent one season (2003) as an assistant defensive backs coach at Lehigh and began his coaching career at Southern Arkansas where he was a graduate assistant coaching the defensive backs and wide receivers in 1999 and 2000.
•     In 2004, Newberry's Washington & Lee defense produced a school-record 43 sacks and ranked among the Division III leaders in rushing defense. The Generals' defense led the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in pass defense, rush defense and scoring defense in 2005 and in 2006, Washington & Lee forced 30 turnovers and ranked among the nation's leaders in pass defense.
•     Newberry played collegiately at Baylor and graduated in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science in education. He helped lead the Bears to the Southwest Conference Co-Championship and an appearance in the 1994 Alamo Bowl. In 1995, Baylor was ranked #5 in total defense.

Aer Lingus College Football Classic Officially Sold Out
•    The 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic featuring Notre Dame and Navy on August 26 at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, has officially sold out. Over 40,000 international fans are expected to make the trip for the event, including over 39,000 fans directly from the United States which represents a new world record for the largest number of Americans to travel internationally for a single sporting event.
•     The game between the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen will be the third meeting between the two historical college football teams in Ireland. The first was held Nov. 2, 1996, at Croke Park in Dublin and the most recent was Sept. 1, 2012, at Aviva Stadium. The 2023 meeting will be the first Notre Dame home game played in Ireland, as the previous two meetings were Navy home game designations in the series.
•     The 2023 College Football Classic has been valued in an independent report from Fáilte Ireland and Grant Thornton to be worth in excess of €147 million to the Irish economy. Based on previous college football events held in Ireland, data indicates that American visitors for the game will stay an average of seven nights in Ireland and visit three different destinations. The most popular of those destinations include Dublin, Galway, Belfast, Killarney and Cork.
•     "The Aer Lingus College Football Classic Series is a really important event for the tourism and hospitality sector in Dublin and all across the island and I am pleased to support the series via funding from Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland," said Minister for Tourism, Catherin Martin T.D.
•     "The game in August will also provide opportunities for business, education and other sectoral exchanges between Ireland and US and will further strengthen the cultural, sporting and affinity links between our two countries."
•     "The demand for tickets for the 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic proves that Ireland is the home of college football outside of the United States," said Padriac O'Kane, the Co-Founder and Director of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
•     "This year's event in Dublin will see the largest movement of Americans into Europe in peace time with the game set to provide a huge boost to the Irish economy and hospitality sector."
•     The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. Dublin time with additional events such as pep rallies, pregame tailgate parties, medical summits, business networking opportunities and academic events planned in and around Dublin.
•     The game will be televised live on NBC and Peacock in the United States, while Sky Sports will also broadcast the game live to Irish and United Kingdom audiences.