And Navy torpedoes Army by 1.

A very entertaining 4th quarter, Go Navy!

It was a good, close game. Both teams can be proud.

Just watched the highlights. Great game. Thank God those young men are our side!

Did you guys see Trump do the coin toss?

Navy has tried to recruit better athletes. Those players that get drafted into the NFL and fulfill their obligation after their football career is over. Remember they had Roger Staubach and Joe Bellino in the sixties.
Bellino won the Heisman Trophy.

Yea that was a different time. The Academies do try to recruit better athletes. Those athletes still have to graduate, on time, carrying nearly 20 credits a semester and there are ZERO NADA ZILCH giveaway degrees. Trying to find scholarships athletes that actually can get to the pro level happens, but not on a regular basis.

On any given Army Navy field you most likely have no players that will make it to the pros. And it has been quite awhile since there was any that impacted pro sports at a very high level. Like impactful level. My argument would be David Robinson was the last one of those we have seen.

More importantly, who gives a shit? Don’t go to West Point or USNA if your biggest goal in life is the pros.

quote:

The Academies do try to recruit better athletes. Those athletes still have to graduate, on time, carrying nearly 20 credits a semester and there are ZERO NADA ZILCH giveaway degrees. Trying to find scholarships athletes that actually can get to the pro level happens, but not on a regular basis.

On any given Army Navy field you most likely have no players that will make it to the pros. And it has been quite awhile since there was any that impacted pro sports at a very high level. Like impactful level. My argument would be David Robinson was the last one of those we have seen.

Yep.

But... they do treat the football players differently than other student athletes. Ricky Dobbs was the quarterback at Navy when my daughter was at USNA. He was given a wide berth.

To my knowledge, at least at West Point, those senior linesmen have to meet Army height/weight standards prior to graduation.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
More importantly, who gives a shit? Don’t go to West Point or USNA if your biggest goal in life is the pros.

Not sure it's about goals but, opportunity. If a NFL team is willing to give you at least a try-out or an offer, and the service is willing to find a way to make it work, why not? Allowing players to explore a pro athletic career has been a on/off-again issue for the services as they view it as a PR & recruiting opportunity.

Guys like Robinson and Napoleon McCallum I believe fulfilled their obligations as part of Navy Reserve during the off-season. Army's Alejandro Villanueva got NFL attention while at West Point due to his versatility but, did several deployments in GWOT before starting his NFL career. Recently Navy running backs Keenan Reynolds and Malcolm Perry got drafted and played in the NFL before they returned to the Navy to fulfill their obligations. Then there's the sad case of Navy fullback Kyle Eckel where it was later revealed that he didn't have passing grades requiring additional time at Annapolis. Eckel had an odd series of events being signed by a pro team but the Navy trying to figure out what to do with him, ultimately I remember him having to pay the Navy back tuition costs.

Sure they do that. I guess my point is/was there are very few academy players that warrant pro tryouts. Even if they do it has been awhile since they have been impactful such as a Staubach. I’m not saying it won’t ever happen again but I won’t hold my breath waiting.

If a mid had DivI potential and was highly recruited then going the academy route would be a mistake if the pros were potentially their goal. That’s all.

The combo of academy level academics, time constraints, schedules, and on top of that being a high end pro prospect is a mighty big order.

In the Navy they have to meet standards prior to grad as well. My buddy was an O lineman and weighed a bunch. The day after his last game he started to drop a huge amount of weight. His working blues looked like the Beverly Hillbillies by graduation because they had to be cinched up so much after dropping the football weight. That being said we played a bunch of racquetball to slim him up and I always feared getting squished into a corner because he never became small. lol