Senior defensive end Jacob Busic recalls how amazed he was watching Navy's defense in the fall of 2019, a year he spent at the Naval Academy prep school in Newport, R.I.
 
Under a first-year defensive coordinator named Brian Newberry, the Mids' defense wreaked havoc on opposing offenses. Navy featured a steady diet of pre-snap shifting and creative stunts. It combined deception and unpredictability with excellent tackling and a hard-nosed, up-tempo edge. It harassed quarterbacks consistently and gave an explosive offense its share of extra possessions.
 
That defense fueled a team that went 11-2, won the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and defeated Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl.
 
"Watching that defense fly around and make plays, I couldn't wait to get to Navy as a freshman. I was so excited to get into that system and play for [Newberry]," Busic said.
 
Four years later, Busic, one of four Navy captains and a key piece in the defense, is still quite excited, only in ways he could not have foreseen upon entering the academy.
 
His defensive coordinator is now the head coach.
 
Newberry's promotion was heavily favored by the Navy players, who had seen a defense stand out over four seasons.
 
Defenders such as Busic had long become a fan of Newberry's cool, positive demeanor and creative mind.
 
"We did not want a rebuild year under someone who didn't know the Naval Academy and how we do things here," Busic said. "We wanted someone to put us on the right track again and have us hit the ground running. [Newberry] was that guy."
 
"A lot of us, especially the senior class, we pushed for Coach 'New." We knew he was the option," added senior center Lirion Murtezi, also a captain.
 
Since taking over nearly eight months ago, Newberry has put his early stamp on the program by blending continuity with change, by updating the Navy offense with a new leader, by building the team culture he is looking for with a high-energy offseason.
 
With 16 starters returning, and with a defense basically intact after finishing third in the nation against the run in 2022, third in fewest first downs allowed, 23^rd in sacks (2.8 per game) and 32^nd in total defense, the Mids, who open against Notre Dame in Dublin, Ireland on August 26, smell a rebirth brewing.
 
"Our [senior] class has endured a lot. I've learned a lot about myself here," said senior wide receiver Jayden Umbarger, another captain. "We all have asked ourselves, how do we want to go out? Having the new coaching staff has brought back a whole new energy, focus and intensity. We are becoming more of a player-led team."
 
Newberry retained seven Navy assistants, in part by promoting P.J. Volker to defensive coordinator after a four-year stint as linebackers coach, and by keeping quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper and assistant head coach Ashley Ingram, who handles the offensive line. That pair has worked at Navy for a nearly a combined four decades.
 
Newberry, however, did decide it was time to shake up Navy's offensive blueprint after the Mids had struggled to consistently move the ball and score over the past three years. Their once-vaunted triple-option attack, which in the past helped Navy average over 300 rushing yards and 30 points with regularity, had fallen significantly short.
 
So Newberry brought in Grant Chesnut as offensive coordinator/offensive line coach. Chesnut had served successfully in the same roles at Kennesaw State – the same Football Championship Subdivision power where Newberry ran the defense for four excellent seasons before coming to Navy -- since the program's inception in 2013.
 
Chesnut's spread option ranked in the top three in the FCS in rushing in six of the past seven years.
 
Newberry said the Mids still will rely on the triple option as their base, but with more passing wrinkles in the playbook and will use a tight end more often.
 
"I know [Chesnut] will bring an edge and a toughness that we've lacked on that side of the ball," Newberry said. "I think we've grown in that regard. But the creativity that he brings as well is outstanding. He is an outside-the-box thinker."
 
"We are still a triple option team, but being able to do a lot of other things around the option will make us a more explosive offense," he added. "We want to be able to throw the ball, take what the defense gives us. It's not going to be all downfield throws. We're looking for more run-pass option throws. We want to throw it on the perimeter. We can't be one-dimensional."
 
Newberry, who is enjoying dividing his time among offensive, defensive and special teams coaches and players, expects a "wide open" competition at quarterback to sort itself out by mid-August. Sophomores Tedros Gleaton and Blake Horvath topped the preseason depth chart, while seniors Xavier Arline (9 starts) and Tai Lavatai (18 career starts) are coming back from injuries.
 
"The body of work we've put in since December is what makes me feel good about things. We've got a really good nucleus of players coming back. Despite our [4-8] record [last year], we got better as the season went on," Newberry said.
 
"We talk a lot about elite attitude, effort and toughness," he added. "It has nothing to do with your 40 time or what you bench press is. We're going to take a lot of pride in playing harder than anybody in the country."
 
Umbarger said Navy's goals have not changed. They include winning the program's first CIC trophy since 2019 and winning the Mids' first American Athletic Conference title since joining the league in 2015 – a league that said goodbye to powerhouses Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida and welcomed UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice and UT-San Antonio.
 
"Having those three losing seasons has left a real bad taste in everyone's mouth. Nobody wants to leave here that way," Umbarger said. "We are investing our time and hard work in the weight room, on the field, in the film room and in the classroom. This is the hardest I've ever practiced. No one thinks of it as sacrifice."