Navy Reserve Lt. j.g. Joe Cardona will be staying put at his day job. The 2015 Naval Academy graduate has signed a four-year contract to remain the New England Patriots long snapper, per ESPN’s Mike Reiss and other reports. Drafted in the fifth round by the Pats in 2015, Cardona’s been the team’s long snapper ever since, making two Super Bowl appearances. He spoke to Military Times about his first title, where he ended up a spectator for one of the greatest sports comebacks ever: After snapping for Steven Gostkowski’s successful 33-yard field goal with less than 10 minutes left…
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Former Navy quarterback Keenan Reynolds — who scored the most rushing touchdowns in top-tier college football history and went 4-0 as a starter for the Mids against Army — reportedly will continue his pursuit of an NFL career by way of Seattle. Per multiple reports, Reynolds will attempt to catch on with the Seahawks as a wideout and a kick returner. The Baltimore Ravens drafted him in the sixth round in 2016, but he didn’t make the roster and spent the last two seasons on practice squads with the Ravens and Washington Redskins. Reynolds went straight from Annapolis into the…
Two months before the 2015 college football season kicks off, the Navy Midshipmen announced plans for their 2016 meeting with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: The game will head south to EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Navy athletics officials and representatives of the Jacksonville Sports Council revealed the site of the Nov. 5, 2016, contest at a Wednesday news conference at the stadium. The council is accepting ticket requests; prices start at $60. It’s a long trek from Annapolis, but the contest serves as a home game of sorts for sailors stationed at Naval Station Mayport, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Georgia, and…
Aside from the typical midseason TV-directed time changes (more on them later), the 2014 service academy slate is just about set. And as sweltering summer temperatures signal the beginning of full-pad practices and traditional preseason speculation, here’s a few things for the more-than-casual academy football fan to take notice of: 1. A normal Saturday slate. Aside from a trio of games in late November, including two on the day after Thanksgiving, every service academy game will be played during a time typically reserved for college football. Last year, Air Force alone played four non-Saturday games. 2. Mids going big time:…
March-ons are complete (check back soon for more photos). Cadets and mids are in their respective corners. The predicted “wintry mix” hasn’t shown up, replaced instead by on-again, off-again light snow. The hype is over. Well, almost — here’s the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Jon Greenert, offering his perspective from Philadelphia. OK, now the hype is over. Three quick hits as Army and Navy fans settle in: 1. In case of pass, break glass: The Mids and Black Knights finished near the top of major-college football when it comes to the ground game thanks to their use of run-heavy triple…
Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s resume already glows: Five bowl appearances, first service academy head coach to win the Commander in Chief’s Trophy in his first two seasons, on pace to shatter Navy’s all-time win record, and the caretaker of the longest win streak over Army in the program’s history. Still, he’ll need to find room to add a line or two: The Hawaii-born Niumatalolo will join six other standouts as members of the first class of the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame. The class was announced Wednesday — about a month after finalists for the class were announced and…
After the Naval Academy rescheduled a soccer game this week and the Air Force Academy announced it wouldn’t travel to Annapolis for this weekend’s big Navy-Air Force football game, it looked like the government shutdown had completely cast its shadow over service academy athletics. However, the Naval Academy announced late Wednesday that the game against Air Force and would go on. At the time, it was the only athletic contest that remained on Navy’s shutdown-shortened schedule, but the school announced Friday that some games were back on the docket. Even the women’s soccer game at American University, which had been…
The Big East has had better Decembers. First, Big Ten-bound Rutgers sued the conference in an attempt to avoid paying its exit fee. Then, the “Catholic 7” — the conference’s legacy basketball programs — broke ranks. And just before the ball dropped on 2013, Boise State announced its football program would remain in the Mountain West Conference; the Broncos join Texas Christian on the list of football programs with a national presence to bail on the conference before playing a single game. What does this mean for Navy football, which is scheduled to join the Big East in 2015 and…
Sooner or later, fans of Navy football will know who to root against when it comes to conference play. The latest shuffle: The Louisville Cardinals will leave the Big East and join the Atlantic Coast Conference, according to an ESPN report, replacing Maryland, which will bolt for the Big Ten in 2014. This leaves the Big East with 13 football programs for 2015, Navy’s inaugural season: The Mids; current members Cincinnati, Connecticut, South Florida and Temple; previous expansion announcements Boise State, Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, San Diego State and Southern Methodist; and recent additions East Carolina and Tulane. For those…
With wins last weekend, both the Navy Midshipmen and the Air Force Falcons improved to 5-3 on the season, one win away from bowl eligibility. Navy has no teams above .500 remaining on its schedule and hosts 2-6 Florida Atlantic this Saturday; Air Force visits 1-6 Army on Saturday and has a date with Hawaii (1-6) in Colorado Springs on Nov. 16. Coaches and players can’t take wins for granted, but bowl projections have to. And if some of the most well-known postseason guessers — CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm, college football wizard Phil Steele and ESPN projectors Mark Schlabach and Brad…
