Connor McMahon committed to play football at the Naval Academy in 2020.
It was the summer after McMahon’s junior season at Canon-McMillan High in Pennsylvania and Navy football was coming off a spectacular season. The Midshipmen went 11-2, captured the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy and won the Liberty Bowl, all while setting a program record with 4,952 rushing yards.
As an offensive lineman, McMahon was picturing himself as a member of an offense that marched up and down the field at will, while winning double-digit games and beating service academy rivals every season.
McMahon would become part of Navy’s 2021 recruiting class that endured plenty of disappointment during a three-year period. The Midshipmen suffered three straight losing seasons and went 1-5 against service academy rivals Army and Air Force.
There were no bowl games or Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy celebrations. Just way too many losses and a lot of soul-searching. McMahon and classmates saw Ken Niumatalolo, the head coach who had recruited them, fired due to that sustained lack of success.
“It’s definitely sucked the past three years, because I committed in 2019 when Navy was one of the best teams in the country. I was like this is going to be super-exciting to be part of a program that’s going to win games my whole four years,” McMahon said.
Those tough times have made this season’s success all the sweeter for McMahon and his fellow seniors. Navy has compiled a 7-2 overall record and 6-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
McMahon described it as a relief to finally be part of a winning program that can still achieve all of its primary goals. Midway through November, Navy can capture a conference championship and reclaim the coveted Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy
“I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had playing football during my senior year,” McMahon said. “Everyone is so committed to this team and wants to win so badly. It’s a totally different vibe this year and I really love it.”
This Saturday, Navy will host No. 25 Tulane (8-2, 6-0) with a berth in the AAC championship game on the line. It will be senior day in Annapolis and the Midshipmen are in must-win mode. A loss would mean that Tulane would take on first place Army (9-0, 7-0) in the championship game.
“I’m super-excited because I think it’s going to be one of the biggest games in Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in a long time,” McMahon said. “I was thinking this weekend about how awesome it would be to win this game and have that experience of celebrating afterward. It’s going to be a surreal moment when we do that.”
On July 1, 2021, Niumatalolo announced an incoming recruiting class of 65 prospects representing 19 states and the District of Columbia. On Saturday, prior to the noon kickoff of the final home game of the season, Navy football will honor the 23 remaining seniors.
That is a high attrition rate with 42 players leaving the program for various reasons. A large contingent transferred to other schools. JD Bengston, a third-year starter for the Navy rugby team, switched varsity sports at the academy. Marcus Bleazard went on a two-year Mormon mission and is now a sophomore linebacker for Navy as a result. Safety Joe Hutson played in 23 games with one start as a sophomore and junior, but chose not to play football as a senior.
What is most impressive about the remaining 23 seniors is that almost all are contributing in some way. McMahon, defensive captain Colin Ramos and punter Riley Riethman are among 11 senior starters, while seven others are listed second or third on the current depth chart. Fullback Logan Point and wide receiver Turner Stepp are seniors that play on special teams.
Wide receiver Kroy Myers was expected to play a prominent role at wide receiver, but only recently resumed practicing after recovering from a serious knee injury. Tackle Trey Cummings was a starter who sustained a season-ending injury in the second game against Temple.
Brian Newberry was hired as Navy defensive coordinator by Niumatalolo in 2019 then succeeded him as head coach. In just his second season at the helm, Newberry has directed a dramatic turnaround that has Navy football enjoying the type of season it did from 2003 to 2019.
Newberry knows what these seniors have been through because he was with them every step of the way.
“It’s a special group of seniors that has seen a lot of adversity and stayed the course. They want to leave a legacy of their own,” Newberry said. “Senior night is about sending those guys out the right way. Our team loves these seniors. They’ve been outstanding as far as their leadership.”
Seniors lead way
Navy will need its seniors to step up and perform at a high level in order to upset Tulane. Defensive coordinator P.J. Volker, who came to Annapolis in 2019 along with Newberry, has important seniors on all three levels — end Justin Reed, inside linebackers Kyle Jacob and Ramos, safeties Ray Lane and Mbiti Williams as well as cornerback DaShaun Peele.
“It’s a tremendous bunch of seniors, a group that I absolutely love,” Volker said. “We always rely on our seniors and this week is no different. We expect them to prepare the right way and carry the torch all the way up until Saturday.”
Volker called Saturday’s pregame ceremony “a celebration of these seniors and all their hard work on and off the field.”
McMahon is one of six senior offensive linemen, three of whom are starters. Tackles Creedyn Foulger and Michael Whitehouse are key backups who play on the point after touchdown-field goal units.
“I’ve been saying all season this is the closest group we’ve had in the offensive line room during the years I’ve been at Navy,” McMahon said.
Those senior linemen all have tremendous empathy for Cummings, who endured unimaginable tragedy as a plebe when his mother was killed by a stray bullet while sitting on the patio of an Annapolis hotel. Michelle Cummings and her husband Leonard had come to town to celebrate Trey’s induction into the Naval Academy.
For Cummings to suffer a debilitating injury as a senior when he was slated to be a starter seems so unfair. However, there is a chance Cummings could recover in time to dress for Navy’s bowl game.
“We all have so much respect for Trey. You cannot put into words that type of experience. I can tell you there is no way I would have been able to handle something like that,” McMahon said of Cummings losing his mother. “It was really heartbreaking when we saw Trey go down, but he’s had a great attitude and been really engaged this whole season.”
Fullback Daba Fofana and Ramos have the honor and privilege of serving as captains of the Navy football team as voted by their teammates. Neither would have imagined themselves in such a prestigious role while plebes.
Fofana is the son of an immigrant from the Ivory Coast and aspires to serve as doctor in the U.S. Navy. He boasts a 3.57 grade point average while majoring in applied physics. The Georgia native led Navy in rushing as a sophomore with 769 yards and six touchdowns, but has been the backup behind Alex Tecza the last two seasons and gotten fewer touches.
Fofana feels fortunate this year’s senior day features a meaningful game with postseason implications. The previous four senior classes went into their final game with a losing records and their goals shattered.
“It’s a blessing to celebrate this journey with my classmates. It means a lot to see the results of all our hard work and it all coming to a culmination in this game,” Fofana said. “It’s really awesome that we get to play a game of this magnitude on senior day. This senior class has talked about leaving a legacy and I feel like that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Ramos became a starter toward the end of his freshman season and has enjoyed a tremendous career. The New Jersey native has now played in 41 games with 33 starts and amassed 293 total tackles. He was named first team All-American Athletic Conference and received the Tony Rubino Memorial Silver Helmet Award as Navy’s most outstanding player last season.
“As a plebe here you’re just trying to survive at the academy. One day serving as captain was the furthest thing from my mind at that time. To be in this position three years later is kind of hard to believe,” Ramos said.
Senior Day comes with many traditions. On Friday night at the hotel, all the seniors are given an opportunity to speak to the entire team. McMahon has been contemplating what to say and has some ideas, but knows emotion will rule the moment.
“It’s a time when you can open up and say how much the program means to you and what you’ve learned,” he said. “I’ll probably give some words of wisdom to the younger guys because there are going to be some tough times and points when they’re struggling, whether it’s football or academics. It sucks sometimes, but most of the guys will get through it.”
Navy boasts a 19-1 record on senior day minus 2020 when there were no fans in the stands due to the coronavirus pandemic. Winning makes two other traditions even more special. Following the game, all the seniors gather at midfield at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for a group photo. They then run one by one into the home locker room through a tunnel of teammates while being splashed with water.
Lane has been one of the underclassmen cheering each senior as they enter the locker room and cannot believe it’s now his turn.
“This is something that definitely sneaks up on you. It came much faster than I expected. It’s really crazy to already be at this point. It feels like just yesterday I was in plebe summer,” said Lane, a Jessup resident who prepped at Gilman School. “To be here now and know how much I went through, how much the whole senior class has gone through… it’s really awesome. To be side-by-side with people that were able to stay the course like you means a lot.”
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