Navy Midshipmen Football Team Will Have Massive Continuity Edge Next Season

The 2024 college football season was one of the best in Navy Midshipmen program history.

In his second year at the helm, Brian Newberry led his squad to 10 victories, snapping a streak of four consecutive losing campaigns. Ranked as high as No. 24 in the county, it was the first time since 2019 they were in the top 25 as well.

It was only the sixth time that Navy reached double-digit wins in a single year, with the most previous also coming in 2019. That year was the last time the Midshipmen won a bowl game as well.

To cap off the 2024 season, Navy defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl. It was an exciting 21-20 victory that went right down to the wire as the Midshipmen stopped a two-point attempt to hold on for the win.

That followed up a victory against their bitter rivals, the Army West Point Black Knights in the annual Army-Navy Game, which led to them taking home the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy.

Replicating that level of success will certainly be a challenge in 2025 for Newberry and his staff, but they will have an edge over most of the teams in the country in one important aspect; continuity.

Navy has 63% of hits production in 2024 returning to the team in 2025 according to Bill Connelly of ESPN.

That puts them at No. 34 out of the 136 FBS teams in college football, tied with the Michigan State Spartans, UTSA Roadrunners, Boston College Eagles, Penn State Nittany Lions and Alabama Crimson Tide.

The only American Athletic Conference team with more returning production is the South Florida Bulls, who are No. 14 with 67%.

Where that continuity is going to shine is on the offensive side of the ball, where the Midshipmen have 73% of their production returning, which is No. 12 in the country.

Leading the way once again next fall will be quarterback Blake Horvath, who was dominant when healthy in 2024.

He threw for 1,353 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions. His production on the ground was stellar, adding 1,246 rushing yards on 175 attempts for 17 touchdowns. The 7.1 yards per attempt he averaged led the AAC.

Not only is Horvavth back, but the team’s second leading rusher, fullback Alex Tezca, is returning as well. He gained 576 yards on 125 carries with eight scores.

The team’s third leading rushing, slotback Eli Heidenreich, returns too.

He gained 444 yards on 65 carries with three touchdowns. Heidenreich was the team’s leading receiver as well with 39 receptions for 671 yards and six more scores.

Where Newberry and his staff will have their work cut out for them is on the defensive side of the ball.

Only 52% of their production will be returning, which is in the bottom half of the sport at No. 78.