Through Ups, Downs, Navy's Thrasher Plays On

Greg Thrasher enjoyed the view of last year's Army-Navy game from a luxury box at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, but he has secured a better location for this year's game. He will be on the field.

Thrasher, a 5-foot-8, 181-pound senior, likely will start at safety when the Midshipmen (7-4) face the Black Knights (3-8) at noon Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. He has 25 tackles this season, including 10 in a 46-44 victory over Notre Dame on Nov. 3; that marked Navy's first win in the series since 1963.

Thrasher missed last season to concentrate on academics. He watched Navy's 26-14 victory over Army in Philadelphia with a friend in a presidential suite at the stadium.

"It was nice and warm," Thrasher said. "They had food and everything, I was getting pampered pretty good. But no question I would have rather been on the field."

Missing last year was one in a series of setbacks for Thrasher. He served a one-game suspension for the season opener this year for a violation of team rules.

As a sophomore in 2005, Thrasher made his first career start at M&T Bank Stadium against Maryland. The Terrapins trailed 20-15 and faced fourth and eight with a little more than a minute left when they completed a screen pass in the backfield.

Thrasher was there to make the tackle for little gain, but he missed. The Terrapins gained 20 yards and scored the winning touchdown one play later.

"I wish I had made the tackle, but I just had to move on," he said.

His move this season to safety, a position he had never played, was precipitated by injuries to several players.

Thrasher had impressed his teammates when he practiced last season despite not being eligible to play.

"Greg is kind of goofy; he is the punch line to a lot of jokes in the locker room," senior fullback Adam Ballard said. "We're both from the same area of Texas, and people say to me, 'That's who you have representing your state?'

"But we respect [what Thrasher did last fall]. He had to go through long, hard practices and not see the fruit of his labors on Saturday. That makes football so much harder."

Had he left before school started last year -- once it was apparent he would not play -- Thrasher would not have owed anything to the academy. (Those who leave after their junior year has begun are made to pay back money.) His high school principal recalled talking to him before his junior year.

"I called him up, and he sounded a little down," said Joe Pouncy, the principal at Newman Smith High in Carrollton, Tex. "We talked a little bit and we hung up the phone and I said one of two things will happen: He'll either quit the academy and come home or he will stick it out.

"And then I caught myself and said: 'He's not going to quit anything. He's going to hang around and stick it out.' And that's exactly what he did."

CBS Weighs TV Contract

The CBS contract to televise the Army-Navy game expires in 2008, but Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk is optimistic the network will renew.

"I think they are very interested in re-upping," Gladchuk said. "Army-Navy remains very much in the heart of the country. Most rivalries are parochial; they're between teams from the same state or neighboring states, or at least the same conference.

"But Army-Navy goes all over the world, especially with what the military is doing these days and the support everyone has for the troops. We think the game is a treasure and that CBS will look long and hard at keeping it."