This is a huge week for Navy Football as they prepare to take on the undefeated Air Force Falcons. Head coach Brian Newberry talked to the media on Monday and here are some of the major takeaways from what he said.
1. QB Situation
Senior QB Tai Lavatai started against Charlotte but left after the first drive due to an injury. Coach Newberry stated that this was the result of reaggravating an injury that originally occurred against North Texas. Braxton Woodson finished the rest of the game.
Newberry refused to answer who would be playing this week against the Falcons, dodging the question all together and simply stating “Don’t feel comfortable talking about what that’s going to look like on Saturday”. He did however say that Lavatai would be healthy enough to compete for the starting role this weekend.
Talking about Woodson’s performance Newberry said “thought [Braxton] made some really big plays, hopefully that game got the nerves out a little bit. I think he’s really talented and the more that he plays the better he’s going to get”. Newberry said there were some things that he wants to see Woodson clean up, but feels that the biggest thing for the Freshman QB is just settling down the nerves moving forward.
2. Last Week’s Game Against Charlotte
Newberry stayed with his theme of stating he was happy with the win but still felt that there was a lot that they need to improve. Newberry said that it was a really physical game but luckily the team came out healthy. He stated they “defended the run really well, didn’t tackle great in the first half, cleaned that up in the second half”. He added “a lot of room for improvement on [the defensive] side of the ball, but we’re playing hard, we’re flying around, and we’re getting better from week to week”.
Newberry said that coming off of the win last week coming into a big game “I’m encouraged. We just gotta find a way to win, it didn’t look exactly like what we wanted it to look like but its a testament to this team that we found a way to win”
3. This Week’s Game Against Air Force
Newberry acknowledged that this is a big game. He said that he couldn’t think of a better way to send their seniors out than with a win in this game. “Outside of Notre Dame they may be the best team we see all year” he stated.
The key to success for this game according to Newberry is which team is going to make the most big plays. He said that with a team like Air Force he knows they’re going to get some big plays and that they are going to have to come out and get more.
Newberry said of Air Force “They’ve won close to 10 games every year since I’ve got here. They’re extremely well coached, their personnel is really good, this years no exception.”
When talking about the Air Force offense he said “They’re always really really good at what they do. They’re simple but their presentation is chaotic at times”.
Newberry also said that Navy has to be more disciplined this week, eliminating the dead-ball penalties and not putting themselves behind schedule. He also stated that they have to win the turnover battle this weekend.
When talking about blocking out the noise and emotion surrounding this game Newberry said “This games obviously very important to us and our players, but it’s our next game and we don’t have to approach it any differently”. He wants this team to lock in and just stay focused on doing their job and executing well coming into this game.
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