P.J. Volker is in his seventh year at the Naval Academy coaching the linebackers and his third as the Mids’ defensive coordinator.
In his second year as the defensive coordinator at Navy, Volker helped lead the Mids to a 10-3 record, wins over Air Force and Army to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy and a victory over Oklahoma to win the Armed Forces Bowl. The 10 wins marked just the sixth time in school history Navy has won 10 or more games in a season.
The win over Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl was the first time Navy has defeated a team from the SEC in a bowl game since 1954 (1955 Sugar Bowl) when the Mids beat Ole Miss 21-0. It was the first win against an SEC team overall since Navy defeated Vanderbilt in 2004.
Navy finished the regular season with a complete domination of Service Academy rival #19 Army, knocking off the Black Knights 31-13 in the 125th playing of the Army-Navy Game presented by USAA. With wins over Air Force and Army, the Mids won the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is presented annually to the winner of the football competition among the 3 major service academies (Navy, Air Force and Army) and is named in honor of the President of the United States.
Navy won the two Service Academy games in 2024 by a combined 45 points, which ties the 2019 Navy team for the biggest combined CIC blowouts by any of the three Service Academies since 2007 when Navy beat Air Force and Army by a combined 46 points.
Navy’s win over Army gave Navy victories over two ranked opponents for the first time since 1958, when the Mids defeated #8 / #7 Rice 20-7 and #14 / #12 Michigan 20-14. Navy defeated #24 (Coaches) Memphis 56-44 on Sept. 21, 2024.
Navy was predicted to finish 11th in the 2024 American Athletic Conference preseason poll and ended the year tied for third with Memphis (Navy beat Memphis head-to-head) with a 6-2 mark.
Landon Robinson (Jr. / NG), Colin Ramos (Sr. / LB) and Rayuan Lane III (Sr. / S) were named First-Team All-AAC by the league head coaches. Justin Reed (Sr. / DE) and Dashaun Peele (Sr. / CB) were named to the second team.
In its 10 wins in 2024, Navy outscored the opposition 104-7 in points off turnovers.
Lane III made his 43rd-consecutive start at safety for the Mids in the win over Oklahoma, which was the longest active streak for a safety in the FBS and second longest by a player in the secondary. Sporting News named him to its Midseason First-Team All-America Team, while he was also named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. College Football Network named Lane III the National Special Teams Player of the Year, a First-Team All-American on Special Teams and a Third-Team All-American on defense. He played in the prestigious Senior Bowl and was invited to the NFL Combine.
Peele became the 1st player in school history to return two interceptions for a touchdown in the same game in the Mids’ win over Charlotte. It was the third time in 2024 that Navy returned an interception for a touchdown, as Lane had an 86-yard interception return for a touchdown with 23 seconds left in the game against Memphis that clinched the victory for the Mids. Peele’s five interceptions were tied for the fourth most in the FBS. He was named an Honorable Mention All-American by College Football Network.
Colin Ramos (Sr. / LB) received Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy National Player of the Week, the Lott Impact Trophy Player of the Week and AAC Defensive Player of the Week accolades after posting a career-high 20 tackles, Navy’s only sack, Navy’s only 2 tackles for loss and broke up a pass in the end zone that kept Memphis off the scoreboard in the Mids’ 56-44 victory over No. 23 Memphis. The 20 tackles tied for the second-most by any player in the FBS in 2024.
Ramos led Navy in tackles in 2024 with 129 after recording 110 in 2023. The last Navy player to record back-to-back 100-tackle seasons for Navy was Ross Pospisil in 2008 and ‘09. His 129 tackles are the most by a Navy player since 2013 when Cody Peterson recorded 142.
Fellow linebacker Kyle Jacob also had a terrific year with 100 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss and 3 interceptions.
Volker had a fantastic first year as the Mids’ defensive coordinator, as Navy tied Penn State for the most shutouts in the country with 3. The 3 shutouts are the most by a Navy team since 1978 when George Welsh’s stop troops recorded 4 shutouts. Navy also held a potent UAB attack out of the end zone in its 31-6 win over the Blazers, giving up just 2 field goals.
Navy’s defense finished second in the nation in fumble recoveries (14), third in red zone defense (allowed opponents to score just 72% of the time), fourth in turnover margin (+0.92) and 19th in stop rate (71.3%).
Junior linebacker Colin Ramos was named First-Team All-American Athletic Conference, while junior safety Rayuan Lane III was named to the third team.
Junior cornerback Dashaun Peele and senior linebacker Will Harbour were both named Honorable Mention All-Conference. Harbour, Ramos and Lane III were also named All-East.
Ramos led Navy in tackles with 110, while recording 9 tackles for a 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). His 110 tackles are the most by a Navy player since Cody Peterson recorded 142 in 2013.
Harbour 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.
Navy finished with a 5-7 record and a 4-4 mark in the American Athletic Conference in 2023. The Mids, picked ninth in the preseason poll by the league’s coaches, finished tied for fifth in the AAC.
The five wins were the most by a Navy team since 2019, while five of Navy’s seven losses came at the hands of a team that played in a bowl game including two teams that finished in the top 25 (Notre Dame at #14 and SMU at #22).
Navy finished third in the nation against the run in 2022 (88.9 yards per game), which is even more impressive when you consider it was the only defense ranked in the top 25 that faced three of the top-10 rushing offenses in the country (#1 Air Force, #2 Army and #9 UCF). Navy also finished third nationally in fewest first downs allowed (187), 23rd in sacks (2.8 per game), 22nd in fumbles recovered (11) and 32nd in total defense (339.0 yards per game).
Sophomore linebacker Colin Ramos finished second on the team in tackles with 79, while recording 8.5 tackles for a loss, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
In 2021, the Navy defense acquitted itself well by finishing 32nd in the nation in rushing defense, 34th in total defense and 34th in red zone defense. Senior linebacker Diego Fagot was distinguished with All-American honors, First-Team All-American Athletic Conference and was named All-East. Fagot 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. Fagot was named Second Team All-American Athletic Conference.
In 2019, Newberry’s first year on the job, Navy made massive improvements on the defensive side of the football.
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).
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 three plays or less in 36 percent of its drives, which was the 10th-best average in the country. The Navy defense gave up just 15.2 first downs per game, which was tied for third best in the country. Fagot was named First-Team American Athletic Conference.
The defensive staff, led by then-coordinator Brian Newberry, installed a “Get 6” culture within the Navy defense that really 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, the Mids were 8-0 when they managed to “Get 6.”
Prior to his arrival in Annapolis, Volker served two seasons on the Kennesaw State defensive staff and was instrumental in the development of All-American Bryson Armstrong, who led the Big South in sacks (11), while ranked second in tackles (114) and tackles for a loss (12.5) in 2017.
As the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator for Trent Miles’ program at Georgia State, Volker coached six All-Sun Belt Conference selections over four seasons (2013-16). In addition, he coached Joseph Peterson, the program’s all-time leader in tackles and a three-time all-conference selection.
In 2015, as the Panthers reached their first bowl game in school history, the team was led by the nation’s most improved defense.
Volker spent three years (2010-12) with Miles as linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Indiana State, helping the Sycamores post three-straight winning seasons. While there, seven Indiana State linebackers were named to the all-conference team, including three-time selection Aaron Archie, who was the program’s all-time leading tackler.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Volker was a three-year letterwinner and two-time all-conference selection at the College of Mount St. Joseph (Ohio). The 2005 graduate was honored with the school’s Future Five Award, which honors alumni who have graduated within the last 20 years that have excelled in their profession and provided service to their communities.
He began his coaching career as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Thiel College.
From there, he joined the staff at Thomas More College in Kentucky, where he coached the linebackers and served as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
He is married to the former Amanda Naseef, and the couple has two daughters, Rosie and Ella.
