News and Notes
•    Navy's 738 wins all-time as a program are the 25th most in FBS history.
•    Navy played the longest regular-season schedule in the country in 2023. The Mids played the first college football game of the season on August 26 against Notre Dame at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland and played the final regular-season game of the year against Army.
•    Navy, picked 9th in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll, finished 2023 tied for 5th with a 4-4 record.
•    Navy's 5 wins this year were the most since 2019.
•    Five of Navy's 7 losses came at the hands of a team that played in a bowl game, including 2 teams ranked in the top 25 (#14 Notre Dame and #22 SMU). Navy's only loss to a team with a losing record was Temple.  
•    Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) and Riley Riethman (Jr. / P) were named First-Team All-American Athletic Conference by the league's coaches. Rayuan Lane III (Jr. / S) was named to the third team, while Alex Tecza (So. / FB), Dashaun Peele (Jr / CB) and Will Harbour (Sr / LB) were named honorable mention.
•    The Mids had 5 players named All-East - 3 on defense - Will Harbour (Sr. / LB), Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) and Rayuan Lane III (Jr. / S), 1 on offense - Alex Tecza (So. / FB) and 1 on special teams - Riley Riethman (Jr. / P).
•    Navy had 5 players named Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators - senior safety Eavan Gibbons (Ocean Engineering major, 3.56 GPA), senior wide receiver Jayden Umbarger (Political Science, 3.65), junior fullback Daba Fofana (Applied Physics, 3.69), junior offensive tackle Connor McMahon (Operations Research, 3.51) and junior punter Riley Riethman (Aerospace Engineering, 3.96).
•    Xavier McDonald (Sr. / Striker) was one of 11 FBS players who were selected to the 2023 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team. The Good Works Team was honored on Jan. 1 at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, an annual tradition provided courtesy of Allstate as an additional honor for being selected to the team. The trip spanned 3 days and included a variety of events.
•    Navy was one of two schools (Arizona State, 5) to start 4 or more quarterbacks this fall: Tai Lavatai (Sr.), Blake Horvath (So.), Braxton Woodson (Fr.) and Xavier Arline (Sr.). Navy, Duke, Florida State and Utah were the only 4 schools in the FBS to win a game with 3 different starting quarterbacks (Lavatai vs. Wagner and Charlotte, Horvath vs. North Texas, Arline vs. UAB and ECU).
•    Navy and Penn State were the only schools in the FBS to record 3 shutouts in 2023. The 3 shutouts were the most by a Navy team since 1978 when the Mids shut out 4 opponents. The shutout of East Carolina was the first time the Pirates had been shut out in 26 years (322 games). The Navy defense did not allow a touchdown in 4 of its 12 games this year (UAB scored 6 points on 2 field goals).
•    Navy's defense finished #2 in the the nation in fumbles recovered with 14.
•    Navy's red zone defense finished 3rd in the country, allowing opponents to score just 72 percent of the time.
•    Navy was fourth in the country in turnover margin at +0.92.
•    Navy's 5 interceptions thrown are the 5th fewest in the country.
•    Navy had 9 touchdown drives under 1:00 this year, tied for the 7th most in the country.
•    Luke Pirris (So. / Raider) and Justin Reed (Jr. / DE) tied for 6th in the country in fumble recoveries with 3 apiece.

Five Mids Earn All-East Recognition
•    Navy had 5 football players named to the FBS All-East team by the East Coast Athletic Conference.  Four of the 5 selections will return for the 2024 season.
•    Players from the following FBS schools are eligible for All-East honors - Army, Boston College, UConn, James Madison, UMass, Navy, Rutgers, Penn State, Syracuse and Temple.
•    Navy's 5 selections tied James Madison and Penn State for the most.
•    The Mids had 3 players on defense - Will Harbour (Sr. / LB), Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) and Rayuan Lane III (Jr. / S), 1 on offense - Alex Tecza (So. / FB) and 1 on special teams - Riley Riethman (Jr. / P).

Ramos, Riethman Named First-Team All-AAC
•    Colin Ramos (Jr. / LB) and Riley Riethman (Jr. / P) were named First-Team All-American Athletic Conference by the league's coaches, while Rayuan Lane III (Jr. / S) was named to the 3rd team and Alex Tecza (So. / FB), Dashaun Peele (Jr / CB) and Will Harbour (Sr / LB) were named honorable mention.
•    Ramos led Navy in tackles with 110, while recording 9 tackles for loss, 4 pass breakups, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He was twice named AAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performances against UAB (12 tackles, a sack, a TFL and a pass breakup) and ECU (10 tackles, 1.5 TFL). Ramos spearheaded a defense that recorded a nation's best (tied) 3 shutouts.  His 110 tackles are the most by a Navy player since Cody Peterson recorded 142 in 2013.
•    Riethman was a tremendous weapon for the Mids, averaging a school-record tying 44.8 yards per punt on his 80 punts. He had a career-long 68-yard punt against Air Force and his 50.8 yard average against SMU was the second-best single-game average in school history. He was named to the Ray Guy Award Great 8 weekly honor roll 3 times in 2023.
•     Lane III consistently made big plays at safety for the Mids, coming up with 66 tackles, 3 tackles for a loss, 0.5 sacks, 4 interceptions, 8 pass break-ups, a fumble recovery and 2 forced fumbles. His 4 interceptions tied with Peele for the team lead and were the 17th most in the country. His 97-yard interception return for a touchdown against UAB was the longest in stadium history, the second-longest in school history and the sixth-longest play in school history.
•    Tecza has had a sensational sophomore campaign, leading the Mids in rushing with 758 yards and 5 touchdowns on 126 carries. He had a career-high 163 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries against Memphis in the AAC opener, including a career-long 75 yard run.
•    Harbour teamed up with Ramos to lead the Navy defense. He finished second on the team in tackles with 84, tied for 3rd in tackles for loss (7.5) and tied for 4th in sacks (3). He had a career-high 11 tackles against USF and Charlotte.
•    Peele showed a nose for the ball on defense, picking off 4 passes in the last 7 games to go along with 5 pass breakups and a fumble recovery. He has 5 interceptions in 16-career games and his 4 interceptions in 2023 were tied with Lane III for the 17th most in the country.

Five Mids Earn Academic All-District Honors
•    The Navy football program had 5 players named Academic All-District by the College Sports Communicators. Navy was the only Service Academy to have at least one player recognized.
•    To be eligible for the award, the student-athlete must be at least a sophomore and have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, while also competing in 90 percent of the institution's games played or start in at least 66 percent of the games.
•    The 5 Navy players that made All-District include senior safety Eavan Gibbons (Ocean Engineering major, 3.56 GPA), senior wide receiver Jayden Umbarger (Political Science, 3.65), junior fullback Daba Fofana (Applied Physics, 3.69), junior offensive tackle Connor McMahon (Operations Research, 3.51) and junior punter Riley Riethman (Aerospace Engineering, 3.96).

Drew Cronic Named Offensive Coordinator
•    Head football coach Brian Newberry announced on Jan. 10 that Drew Cronic has joined the staff as offensive coordinator.  Cronic comes to Navy from Mercer, where he put together a 28-17 (.622) record over the last four years, including a 22-10 (.688) mark in the rugged Southern Conference.
•    "I couldn't be more excited to welcome Drew and his family to Navy," said Newberry. "Coach Cronic is an outstanding person and one of the most well respected, creative and innovative coaches in the business.  He's had great success as an offensive coordinator and as a head coach everywhere he's been. He cares deeply about his players and has had a significant impact on the lives of the young men he's coached. I am thrilled to have him on our staff and to lead our offensive unit."
•    "It's an honor and a privilege to join Coach Newberry's staff at the premier Service Academy in the country," said Cronic. "My family and I are excited about the opportunity to work with the future leaders of our country and the great coaching staff that Coach Newberry has assembled. I am looking forward to the challenge of winning the Commander-In-Chief's Trophy and competing for the American Athletic Conference Championship."
•    A native of Sharpsburg, Ga., Cronic is considered one of the more innovative offensive minds across all levels of college football. Driven by the motto "Raise the Bar," he has been a head coach for a combined eight years at three different schools and has compiled a career record of 75-23 (.765) while also handling offensive coordinator duties that featured variations of the option offense.
• Cronic led Mercer to an historic 9-4 record in 2023, including a 6-2 mark in the Southern Conference. The 9 wins are the most against Div. I opponents in the 50-year history of the program, while the team earned an FCS playoff berth for the first time in school history. The 6-2 conference mark tied Cronic's 2021 team for the most Southern Conference wins in school history.
•    The Bears defeated Gardner-Webb 17-7 in the first round of the FCS playoffs before falling to eventual National Champion South Dakota State in the second round. Mercer finished the year ranked No. 20 in the AFCA Coaches Poll, one of three Southern Conference teams that were ranked in the final poll.
•    In 2022, Mercer (7-4, 5-3 SoCon) reached its highest AFCA FCS Coaches Poll ranking in school history at No. 11 thanks to its most explosive and potent offense in program history, as the Bears averaged 38.2 points per game.
•    In 2021, Mercer finished 7-3 and 6-2 in the conference, losing to East Tennessee State 38-35 in the final regular-season game of the year that determined the Southern Conference champion. Mercer finished the season ranked No. 21 in the STATS Perform Poll while averaging 31.7 points per game.
•    Cronic's first season at Mercer was supposed to be in the fall of 2020, but was pushed to the spring of 2021 due to COVID. Cronic led the Bears to their best Southern Conference season since joining the conference with five league wins, including three over ranked foes. Cronic's squad defeated No. 9 Chattanooga (35-28), No. 17 Furman (26-14) and No. 20 East Tennessee State (21-13) over three-consecutive weeks.
•    Cronic engineered one of the most impressive turnarounds in college football at Lenoir-Rhyne, taking a team that went 3-8 the year before he got there to a 25-3 record over his two seasons at the helm (12-2 in 2018 and 13-1 in 2019).
•    Cronic was named the AFCA National Coach of the Year in 2018, as he led the Bears to the sixth-best turnaround in Division II history and past the first round of the Div. II playoffs for just the second time in school history.
•    Cronic was the offensive coordinator at Furman in 2017, as his offense led the Paladins to the second round of the FCS playoffs, averaging 34 points per game.
•    Before his stint at Furman, Cronic coached at Reinhardt from 2012-16 and was instrumental in the startup of the program. For the first-three seasons, he served as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator before being named the head coach prior to the 2015 campaign.
•    Cronic directed Reinhardt to a nine-win season in 2015 before a record-breaking year in 2016, as the Eagles went 13-1, won the Mid-South Conference Championship and advanced to the NAIA National Quarterfinals. Reinhardt averaged 51.1 points per contest and totaled 550.6 yards of offense per game, ranking first in the nation in both categories.
•    The Eagles led the nation in rushing offense (360.0 ypg) and rushing touchdowns (71), while having the nation's second-highest passing efficiency (178.0) to go along with 25 touchdown passes.
•    Cronic was twice named the Mid-South Conference West Division Coach of the Year and the AFCA NAIA Region I Coach of the Year.
•    Cronic's first stint at Furman lasted nine years (2002-10) as he served in several coaching roles including wide receivers, running backs, tight ends and recruiting coordinator. During his time there, the Paladins won a Southern Conference title in 2004 and put together an 11-3 season in 2005, which ended with a trip to the national semifinals.
•    In 1999, Cronic began his coaching career after graduate school at James Madison where he served three seasons as receivers coach and assistant recruiting coordinator. The Dukes won the Atlantic 10 Championship in his first year and earned a bid to the FCS Playoffs.
•    Cronic played quarterback for his father, Danny Cronic, at East Coweta High School before playing collegiately at Georgia. As a Bulldog, Cronic played wide receiver and was a member of the special teams, lettering twice and participating in the 1995 Peach Bowl and 1997 Outback Bowl.
•    Cronic received his bachelor's degree in mathematics education from Georgia in 1998 before earning his master's degree in educational leadership in 1999 from West Georgia.
•    Cronic and his wife, Amelia, have three sons, Noah, Elijah and Isaiah.

Seniors Receive Service Assignments
•    The 24 seniors on the Navy football team received their service assignments on Nov. 16.
•    Navy's seniors will graduate on May 24 and be commissioned Ensigns in the Navy or 2nd Lieutenants in the Marine Corps. Graduates serve a minimum of 5 years in the Navy or Marine Corps, while pilots serve 8 years upon earning their wings.  

Xavier Arline: QB / Marine Corps Ground
Donald Berniard Jr.: NG / Surface Warfare
Chaisen Buckner: LB / Marine Corps Ground
Willie Collins V: CB / Surface Warfare
Khalil Crawford: FB / Marine Corps Ground
Clay Cromwell: DT / Marine Corps Ground
Eavan Gibbons: Striker / Navy Pilot
Sam Glover: OT / Surface Warfare
Will Harbour: LB / Navy Pilot
Daniel Jones: SB / Marine Corps Ground
Akalea Kapono: TE / Information Professional
Tai Lavatai: QB / Surface Warfare
Xavier McDonald: Striker / Navy Pilot
John Meagher: WR / Navy Pilot
Marcus Moore: FS / Surface Warfare
Lirion Murtezi: C / Supply Corps
Colin O'Connor: WR / Marine Corps Ground
Joshua Pena: OG / Surface Warfare (Nuclear)
Mike Petrof: OT / Surface Warfare
Kai Puailoa-Rojas: SB / Marine Corps Ground
Jayden Umbarger: WR / Marine Corps Ground
Evan Warren: K / Navy Pilot
Camari Williams: WR / Surface Warfare
Cole Williams: LS / Marine Corps Ground