Newsstand: What Navy plans to do at quarterback vs. Notre Dame in Week 0
The old saying goes, if you have two quarterbacks you don’t have one. But what if you have three? Navy might test what the end of that adage would be against Notre Dame.
“We’ve got three players we can roll out at quarterback and feel pretty comfortable with,” Navy head coach Brian Newberry said Tuesday.
Those three are seniors Tai Lavatai and Xavier Arline and sophomore Blake Horvath. Lavatai and Arline both have experience as starters against the Fighting Irish; the former started in 2021 and the latter started last year.
Lavatai has separated himself as the likely starter despite suffering a torn ACL in the last week of October 10 months ago. Newberry said he looks better than he did before the injury. He’s also got motivation to do better than 9 carries for -7 yards and 0-for-1 passing, which was his stat line before leaving with an injury in a 34-6 loss to the Irish two seasons ago.
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But even if Lavatai is the starter — Newberry said he will not announce before kickoff — he might not be the finisher. Or the middle man. Not because he could get injured again. Look for Navy to use a combination of quarterbacks to operate the triple option on Saturday regardless.
“In this system you got to have depth at quarterback,” Newberry said. “You need to play two, maybe three of them. The reality of them staying healthy all year is slim.”
Notre Dame tweets of the day
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Quote of the day
“I’m not trying to take too much of it in right now. I’m trying to focus on playing at a high level this Saturday against Navy. My parents are pumped. My mom was in tears. It’s a great feeling. Now I have to do my part and play at a high level.”
— Junior offensive lineman Rocco Spindler on making his first career start
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