Navy Defense Shows Signs Of Stinginess

A board in the Navy football team's locker room lists the preseason priorities for the defense. Number one is for the players to communicate with each other so they are lined up correctly. Number two is leadership.

Less than two weeks remain until Navy's season opener at Temple, and the defense, which has only two starters back, showed signs of progress in both those regards in the second and final preseason scrimmage yesterday morning at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

The first-team defense held the bulk of the first-team offense to no points over the final six possessions. Overall, the defense recovered three fumbles and had three sacks.

"We are behind schedule; I've never had a defense be ahead of schedule, at least not my schedule," said Buddy Green, assistant coach and defensive coordinator. "We had a little leadership once we started making plays. What we need is some leadership when we're not making plays."

The first-team offense opened the scrimmage with a 70-yard drive that culminated in a short touchdown run by senior fullback Adam Ballard. The drive extended to 90 yards because of penalties; Ballard rushed for 79 of those yards.

The unit's second possession ended with a missed 51-yard field goal by junior Matt Harmon.

Ballard and junior Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, the starting quarterback, did not play after the second drive.

And once they left, the defense took over. Senior Matt Humiston, junior Michael Walsh and sophomore Ross Pospisil each recovered a fumble. Sophomore Tony Haberer had 11 tackles, senior Corey Johnson added 10 and sophomore nose tackle Nate Frazier had six. He has 16 tackles in the two scrimmages.

"I thought we got better as the scrimmage went along," Green said. "There were good things and bad things to take away from today and I think we found out who is ready to play between the white lines and who isn't."

Among the reserves on offense, sophomore fullback Kevin Campbell (Robinson) caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from freshman Ricky Dobbs.

More than 3,000 fans attended the scrimmage.

Afterward, the players and coaches attended a barbecue with season ticket holders while the highlight film from the 2006 season played on the stadium's JumboTron. Navy finished 9-4 last year and won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy for the fourth straight year.

"We had a lot of people out here," Johnson said. "Hopefully that's a good sign."

Midshipmen Notes: Freshman slotback Andre Byrd and freshman wide receiver Mario Washington did not play. On Thursday, Johnson said both were waiting to be cleared by the NCAA Clearinghouse. . . . Junior Joey Taylor moved to outside linebacker from safety on Friday and had four tackles. Taylor may play a crucial role. Last year, Navy used its 3-4 defense even against three-wide receiver sets; an outside linebacker covered one of the receivers. If Navy uses that alignment again, Taylor would appear to be a natural given his experience as a defensive back.