Navy teammates Eli Heidenreich, Alex Tecza make history together with Steelers
By Brian Hradsky
Former Navy football standouts Eli Heidenreich and Alex Tecza added another remarkable chapter to their shared football story Thursday night, appearing together for the Pittsburgh Steelers in a 28-27 preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills.
The moment carried significance well beyond a normal preseason game. Heidenreich and Tecza, both second lieutenants in the United States Marine Corps, are believed to be just the fourth pair of Naval Academy graduates to appear for the same NFL team in the same game. They are also the second pair of former Navy teammates to do it and the first pair of Marine Corps officers who graduated from the Naval Academy to accomplish the feat.
Heidenreich finds the end zone
Heidenreich made the biggest statistical impact of the two former Midshipmen.
The Steelers used the rookie throughout the backfield, and he finished with nine carries for 35 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown run. He also returned two kickoffs for 47 yards.
The touchdown gave Heidenreich his strongest performance of the preseason. He had previously carried nine times for 21 yards against Green Bay and twice for nine yards against the New York Jets, finishing the preseason with 20 rushing attempts for 65 yards and one touchdown.
Heidenreich’s touchdown celebration also drew attention from the Naval Academy. After scoring, he delivered a salute, a moment Naval Academy Superintendent Lt. Gen. Mike Borgschulte praised as representative of the Navy and Marine Corps values the two players carried with them into professional football.
Tecza gets his opportunity
Tecza’s path to the game was considerably different.
The former Navy running back originally participated in Pittsburgh’s rookie minicamp alongside Heidenreich in May, but the Steelers did not initially bring him back for training camp. That changed late in August when Pittsburgh called Tecza and brought him in just days before the preseason finale.
He joined the team Sunday, began practicing Monday and suited up Thursday against Buffalo.
Tecza contributed on special teams, creating the historic moment when he and Heidenreich took the field for the same NFL team.
The opportunity followed an outstanding Navy career in which Tecza made 33 starts and rushed for 2,236 yards and 23 touchdowns. He added 41 receptions for 451 yards and three scores, while earning second-team all-conference honors as a senior.
From childhood teammates to the NFL
The story becomes even more unusual because Heidenreich and Tecza were teammates long before arriving in Annapolis.
The Pittsburgh-area natives were childhood friends and high school teammates before becoming key pieces of Navy’s offense. Their careers repeatedly intersected, and both made their first collegiate starts at Memphis in 2023.
At Navy, either Heidenreich or Tecza scored a touchdown in 28 of their 36 career games together. They both scored in the same game nine times, including their final appearance together in the Liberty Bowl against Cincinnati.
Heidenreich finished his Navy career with 23 total touchdowns, while Tecza scored 26.
Remarkably, each had also scored exactly 29 touchdowns while they were high school teammates.
Now their football journey has taken them from high school, to the Naval Academy, to the Marine Corps and onto the same NFL field.
Heidenreich’s Navy career opened NFL door
Heidenreich entered the league with a stronger roster foothold after Pittsburgh selected him in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft.
At Navy, he became the program’s all-time leader in career touchdown receptions with 16 and receiving yards with 1,994.
His versatility became one of his biggest selling points heading into the draft. Heidenreich could run the ball, catch passes, return kicks and contribute on special teams, giving Pittsburgh multiple ways to use him.
That versatility was visible against Buffalo.
Even though the Steelers lost by one point, Heidenreich showed that he could handle offensive touches while also contributing in the return game.
Part of a small group in Navy history
Only a handful of Naval Academy graduates have shared an NFL field as teammates.
Tyree Barnes and Eric Kettani, both members of Navy’s Class of 2009, became the first former Navy teammates believed to have appeared together for the same NFL team when they played for the New England Patriots during the 2011 preseason.
Kettani later appeared with Joe Cardona for New England in 2015, while Cardona and Diego Fagot played together for the Patriots during the 2023 preseason.
Heidenreich and Tecza now join that group.
Their distinction as the first pair of Marine Corps officers from the Naval Academy to accomplish it makes the achievement even more unique.
Navy’s NFL presence continues growing
Heidenreich and Tecza were part of a notable group of Naval Academy graduates in NFL camps this summer.
Second Lt. Landon Robinson was with the Cincinnati Bengals, while Second Lt. Rayuan Lane was with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Longtime NFL long snapper Joe Cardona, who recently retired from the Navy as a lieutenant commander, was with the Los Angeles Rams.
For a service academy where graduates also have military obligations, having multiple players simultaneously pursuing NFL careers is a significant accomplishment.
It also reinforces the level of talent Navy football has produced in recent seasons.
MSB Take
This is much bigger than a preseason stat line.
Heidenreich scoring a touchdown was impressive. Tecza getting onto an NFL field only days after being called back by Pittsburgh was impressive too.
But the real story is how unlikely the entire journey was.
These two were childhood teammates. They became teammates again at Navy. They graduated from the Naval Academy, became Marine Corps officers and then somehow ended up wearing the same Pittsburgh Steelers uniform.
That does not happen often.
For Navy football, it is another example of how the program has developed players capable of competing at the professional level while simultaneously preparing them for service.
Heidenreich’s performance also matters from a football standpoint. A seventh-round pick trying to secure his place in the NFL needs to contribute in multiple phases, and nine carries for 35 yards, a touchdown and 47 kick-return yards is exactly the kind of preseason production that helps.
Tecza’s opportunity may have been shorter, but simply earning an NFL uniform after initially not making Pittsburgh’s training-camp roster says plenty about his persistence.
Whatever happens next with their professional careers, Heidenreich and Tecza already created a piece of Naval Academy football history together.
Considering how many times their football paths have crossed, it almost feels fitting that they did it side by side one more time.
