Quick Takeaways From Brian Newberry’s Weekly Press Conference

Brian Newberry talked to the media again this week as he detailed Navy’s loss to SMU this past weekend and looked ahead to the Army game in two weeks. Here are a few of the key takeaways.

Injury Updates and QB Situation

Coming off a game where someone went down with an injury on seemingly every play early on, this was going to be the number one question. With Army on the horizon, Navy can’t afford to be missing as many guys as they were this past weekend. Newberry stated that he believes most of the guys with the exception of one (he didn’t say who) should be back and ready to go for the Army game.

One of the biggest takeaways is that Newberry said quarterback Xavier Arline, who got injured on Saturday, should be back and healthy for the Army game. He also surprisingly said that Tai Lavatai, who started the season at quarterback, should be back and healthy for the Army game as well.

That leaves a three way competition between Arline, Lavatai, and freshman Braxton Woodson on who will start against Army. All three have started games this season. Coach Newberry said that they’re going to be evaluating all three of those guys over the next two weeks and go with whoever gives them the best chance to win. He also added in that they may end up using more than one guy next Saturday.

Schedule this Week

Coach Newberry was asked about the plan for this week and how the team is going to use the bye week to prepare for Army. He said the team won’t practice on Monday of this week, but will have a normal practice schedule the rest of the week with a walkthrough on Friday. He also said that they plan to use next week as a normal game-week and stick with their traditional game-week schedule.

On What Went Wrong Against SMU

Newberry was asked multiple times about what happened in the game on Saturday. The biggest key that he said is guys tried to do a little too much and play outside of themselves. He talked about the importance of players just staying disciplined, sticking to their assignments, and trusting their teammates. He stated that the game against SMU “may be a blessing in disguise, a lesson to our guys that you can’t press in a big game like that”.

He added in that he wants to use this as another learning experience while not being too hard on his guys heading into the Army game. He said that the team “can’t let that game beat us twice”.

On the Opportunity to Coach in an Army-Navy Game

Newberry was asked about the excitement leading up to the Army game. He talked about how special the rivalry is, saying “I’m just really excited about playing this game. There’s no game like this in college football that i’ve ever been a part of”.

Newberry also stated that he wasn’t concerned about keeping Army from winning the CIC trophy, and that the game alone was enough motivation for his team.