Va’a Niumatalolo is in his seventh season at Navy and his first assisting Brenten Wimberley with the linebackers. Niumatalolo spent three years assisting Jerrick Hall with the defensive line. He spent his first three years on both sides of the ball as an analyst.
In his sixth year in Annapolis, Navy had one of the best seasons in school history finishing with an 11-2 record and ranked 23rd in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls. It is only the fourth time since 1963 that Navy has ended the season ranked in the AP poll and the first time since 2019.
Navy finished strong in 2025 with a 35-13 win over Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl. It was Navy’s fourth-consecutive bowl win, all against Autonomy 4 teams (Virginia, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Cincinnati).
Navy produced back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time in school history. The 11 wins this year tied the school record (Navy also won 11 games in 2015 and 2019). Navy’s 21 wins over the last 2 years are the most wins in school history over a two-year span, while Navy’s 21-5 record (.808) over the last two years is the eighth-best winning percentage in the FBS and the best among the Non-Autonomy 4.
Navy defeated Army 17-16 to win the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy, which is presented annually to the winner of the football competition among the three major service academies (Navy, Air Force and Army) and is named in honor of the President of the United States. Navy has won the CIC Trophy in back-to-back years and has won it 13 times in the last 23 years.
Navy was also named the winner of the Lambert Trophy, which is awarded to the best team in the East. It is the first time since 2015 and just the second time since 1963 the Mids have won the Lambert Trophy.
Navy finished in a three-way tie for the American Conference regular-season title with North Texas and Tulane, but did not play in the championship game due to Tulane being ranked in the CFP and North Texas beating Navy head-to-head.
Navy defeated #24 USF on Senior Day in Annapolis 41-38. It was Navy’s third win over a ranked opponent in the last two years. Last year, Navy defeated #19 / #22 Army (31-13) and RV / #22 Memphis (56-44).
It is the first time Navy has beaten three ranked opponents over a two-year span since 1957-58 when the Mids beat #5 / #5 Notre Dame (20-6) and #10 / #9 Army (14-0) in 1957 and #8 / #7 Rice (20-7) and #14 / #12 Michigan (20-14) in 1958.
Navy finished 6-0 at home in 2025. It is just the sixth time in school history Navy has gone undefeated at home in years it has played 5 or more home games.
Nose guard Landon Robinson was named a First-Team All-American in 2025 by USA Today, Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press, the Football Writers Association of America and by Phil Steele. He was named a Second-Team All-American by Walter Camp, ESPN and The Sporting News. Robinson is the first Navy player to be named a First-Team All-American in 40 years (Napoleon McCallum in 1985) and the first defensive player in 50 years (Chet Moeller in 1975).
Robinson was named one of seven semifinalists for the Outland Trophy. He was one of only two defensive linemen to be named.
Robinson, who was also named the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year and the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year, recorded 64 tackles, a team-high 8.5 tackles for a loss, a team-high 6.5 sacks and a team-high 7 hurries for the Mids this season.
Pro Football Focus ranks Robinson the eighth-best pass-rushing interior defensive lineman by PFF with a grade of 84.7.
Robinson joined teammate Eli Heidenreich at the East-West Shrine Game giving Navy two players in the game for the first time since 1957. They were among the four game captains selected to represent the East.
Robinson was also named the ECAC Defensive Player of the Year and the American Conference Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2024, Niumatalolo 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 was named First-Team All-AAC by the league head coaches. Justin Reed was named to the second team.
In its 10 wins in 2024, Navy outscored the opposition 104-7 in points off turnovers.
In 2023, the Mids tied Penn State for the most shutouts in the country with three. The three shutouts are the most by a Navy team since 1978 when George Welsh’s stop troops recorded four shutouts. Navy also held a potent UAB attack out of the end zone in its 31-6 win over the Blazers, giving up just two 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 the country in stop rate (71.3%).
A big part of Navy’s success on defense was the stout defensive line of Justin Reed, Donald Berniard Jr., Landon Robinson and Clay Cromwell. Reed finished tied for sixth in the nation in fumble recoveries with three, while Berniard Jr. started 42-consecutive games at nose guard, the most by any nose guard in the country and the second most among all defensive linemen.
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).
Niumatalolo came to Navy from the University of Hawai’i where he served as the offensive intern in 2018 and as a graduate assistant working with the offensive line in 2019.
In his two years at Hawai’i, the Warriors compiled an 18-11 record and participated in two bowl games, winning the SoFi Hawai’i Bowl in 2019 over his alma mater, BYU.
Niumatalolo is a 2018 graduate of Brigham Young University where he played four years on the football team and appeared in 19 games.
Niumatalolo, who graduated from Broadneck High School in Arnold, and his wife, Kenzie, have three daughters, Aussie, Jada and Ivory and a son, Mako. He is the son of former Navy head football coach Ken Niumatalolo.
