FanHouse BrianHampton

Navy play-by-play man Bob Socci does an all around outstanding job writing his latest article for the Navy gameday program, this time capturing a perfect snapshot of Navy's former starting quarterback Brian Hampton. Hampton, as I'm sure you all know, more or less blew out every ligament and tendon in his knee in the opening minutes against Rutgers four weeks ago, ending a promising senior season and a career marked by hard work and dedication.

I know Kaipo has begun to establish himself as a great quarterback, but one still wonders what the rest of this season would have been like had Brian never been injured against Rutgers. I know many fans say we still would have lost to the now seventh ranked Scarlet Knights, but it would have been interesting to see how the rest of the game would have played out. I for one think Navy would have been competitive, especially since the Mids were only down 10-0 at halftime anyway. In the previous two weeks before that game Brian had really become the leader of this team, and was putting up insane rushing numbers against respectable defenses. His tough running style and on-the-field smarts should have at least kept Navy out of the shutout.

Then there is always the Notre Dame game, which many people thought could be competitive had Hampton been at the helm of Navy's option. Don't get me wrong, Kaipo did a terrific job, but he made several key mistakes (eating a sack on Navy's first possession) which cost Navy points. Would the game have been closer with Hampton? Again, it's hard to tell, but I think most of us would tend to think it would have been. Had he continued playing, Hampton most likely would have rushed for well over 1000 yards, and it is my firm belief that he would have gotten his passing game sorted out. I suppose we should all feel fairly secure about the program with Kaipo likely to be at the helm for the next couple seasons, but I don't think I'll ever get over the player Brian Hampton could have been.

Bad news out of Annapolis today, as Brian Hampton was ruled out for the season with a dislocated knee. Reports out of the Annapolis Capital indicate that Hampton also tore his ACL in his left knee. That means Navy's offense, which was virtually unable to move the ball against Rutgers on Saturday, will fall under the not-quite-capable-yet-still-improving-anyway hands of either Jarod Bryant or Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku Enhada. If you need to read that sentence over again, I will understand.

Kaipo, who was 2-6 for 28 yards and rushed 11 times for only 22 yards, is currently slated as the second string quarterback, although Coach Johnson maintained that the starting job is now up for grabs when Navy plays Notre Dame in two weeks. While Jarod Bryant didn't look too much better in the statistical department (2-10 for 21 yards), it was obvious to fans (at least those around me in section 30) that he looked more comfortable in the pocket then Kaipo. Of course none of this matters if the Navy offensive line fails to account for their blocks, which was precisely the case on Saturday, when Midshipmen quarterbacks were sacked a combined seven times. For now, we can expect Jarod and Kaipo to battle it out for the start against Notre Dame, but I've got a hunch that either wide receiver Troy Goss or safety Joe Taylor (perhaps both) will move back to the quarterback position in the next week. Goss, who was the number two quarterback coming into the season, isn't the most athletic player but knows the in and outs of the option.

Well, that Sucked- It's never fun to watch your team lose 34-0, but to watch your team's starting quarterback go down for the year is just gut-wrenching.What we saw yesterday was a team which was completely dominated and completely demoralized. Give the Rutgers "D" a lot of credit, they flew to the ball-carrier and came off blocks which such speed and tenacity that the option never was able to gain a foothold. By the same token, it should be acknowledge that the focus of this Navy team just wasn't there yesterday, and that "dumb" mistakes (ie. penalties, blocked punts, blown assignments, dropped passes) kept Navy from even making this one close.

Defense Hangs Strong, then Falters- The National Media won't pick up on this, but Navy's defense did an excellent job defending Rutgers' high-powered run game during the first-half of play. Ray Rice and Brian Leonard were held in check, while Rutgers managed just ten points in the half. However the defense wained in the second-half as Navy's offense just couldn't get back on track. Give Teel a lot of credit, he found the open receivers, who were able to split the Navy zones and get into the end-zone.

So Much for My Fullback Theory- Both Adam Ballard and Brian Leonard were used as decoy's for most of the game, or just not used at all. The Navy offense, playing it's worst game in the past four years, didn't even try to establish the fullback dive, while Rutgers quarterback Mike Teel was too busy emulating Phil Simms to give the ball to the All-Universe fullback Brian Leonard. Leonard drew double coverage on most of his pass routes, which allowed the Rutgers receivers to take advantage of the open space in the middle of the field.

As it stands right now, disaster may be an understatement. How else you would label a 34-0 drudging at the hands of Rutgers, I'm really not sure.

Not only did Rutgers dominate the Midshipmen completely, but Starting Quarterback Brian Hampton dislocated his left knee in the first quarter and may be lost for the rest of the season. Hampton's injury, which came about halfway through the first quarter, proved to be the deciding factor in the game, as Navy's offense could never recover its composure. Sophomore Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada was inconsistent and ineffective in relief of Hampton, although Navy's offensive woes ran much deeper then just poor quarterback play.

The Midshipmen, who came into the game averaging 350.5 yards per game on the ground, rushed for a season low 113 yards on 50 carries. The passing game wasn't much better, as Navy quarterbacks Kaheaku-Enhada and Jarod Bryant went a combined 4-16 for only 48 yards. Navy's offensive line struggled mightily, failing to provide ample protection on pass plays and proved unable to block the linebackers and safeties on option plays. Once again, just as in the UMass and Tulsa games, the play-calling became decidedly conservative, as the Mids put themselves in three-and-out situations again and again on offense.

Random observations, interesting tidbits, and only half-useful insights from Navy's 24-17 win against the Air Force Falcons.

Sack Attack- Never-mind my use of assonance, Navy's defense finally got some major pressure on an opposing quarterback. The Mids sacked Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney five times, and would have had three or four more had Carney not been so elusive in the pocket. David Mahoney, who has had some huge performances against the Falcons in the past, led the way with three sacks, while linebacker Rob Caldwell and defensive end John Chan each notched up a sack.

I Wouldn't Want to Tackle Adam Ballard Either- Navy fullback Adam Ballard, quite possibly the definition of "wrecking ball," had a superb game against the Falcons, rushing for 134 yards on 27 carries. Ballard has a chance to really establish himself as one of the premier fullbacks in all of college football, and looks to be on his way to a Kyle Eckel-like season. Navy is now 6-0 when Ballard runs for over 100 yards.

Three (Hundred) By Land- While it wasn't a 600-yard offensive day, Navy's offense put up a respectable 317 yards. After a slow and sloppy start, the Navy offensive line really started to finish blocks and create lanes all over the field. While their weren't any real big plays for Navy's offense, the Mids did a great job converting first downs and eating up clock. Brian Hampton only had eight yards passing, (a shovel pass to Campbell) but rushed for a strong 105 yards. So I ask you once again, why pass when you can just run for a million yards?

EDGE: Navy

After a hideous performance against Massachusetts two weeks ago, the Navy offense responded in full force with 37 points against Stanford last week. Scoring on eight of ten possessions, the triple option offense rolled to near perfection with Brian Hampton at the helm. With his confidence back, I fully expect Hampton to be able to lead the offense to similar success. The running game had been exceptional to date, and in no small part to an under-appreciated offense line. After last week's performance, look for FB Adam Ballard to establish the inide running game, while Hampton and the slotbacks take advantage of lanes created on the outside. If the Mids can play their game and not get careless with the football, then the offense should be able to put a reasonable amount (24-35) of points on the board.

Not to take anything away from Stanford, but the Tulsa defense should give the Mids a better game. It's an aggressive group led by a tremendous set of linebackers who really fly to the football. The Golden Hurricane defense absolutely stoned the North Texas offense last week, holding the Mean Green to only 89 yard of offense, including only 27 yards on 31 attempts! While it was certainly an impressive performance, the same Tulsa defense yielded 467 yards and 49 points to BYU just the week before. With this inconsistency in mind, it's hard to predict which facet of the Tulsa defense we'll see Saturday. The group of linebackers, led by Nick Bunting and Nelson Coleman, might be the best in CUSA, but will they be enough to stop the Navy Triple Option? As usual, the outcome of this matchup will be determined by the ability of Navy's offense to execute and establish tempo. Look for the Golden Hurricane defense to apply the pressure early, but for a more confident Navy offense to find a way to score.

While it still may be too early to say for sure, it looks as though Navy quarterback Brian Hampton has finally gotten a firm grasp on running Navy's complex triple option offense. In the win against Stanford on Saturday night, Hampton completed 8-11 passes for 75(!) yards. While 75 yards sounds like a horrible performance for most teams, you've got to understand that Hampton was limited to only 6 passing yards in the first two games. What looked to really help the senior quarterback in the passing game were the routs drawn up by Coach Johnson. A lot of the plays called for designed roll-outs in which Hampton would hit a stationary receiver 7-8 yards down-field. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hampton's biggest problem throwing the ball has been his judgment on the amount of touch needed for down-field passes. He tends not to wait for plays to develop and just chucks the ball where he thinks the receiver will be. Anyways, the patterns run by the Navy offense Saturday really helped to settle him down, which is essential if we're to have success later in the season.

Of course passing isn't the only thing Brian improved at. Running the offense still takes center stage, and in that category Brian did a fine job. Anytime your offense scores 8 out of 10 time you're obviously doing something right, and that's exactly what Navy did Saturday. What I noticed in the Stanford game especially was the use of the entire offense. The Mids were able to get out of that "phone booth" mentality I said they needed to divert from, and Hampton really improved his pitches (for the most part, one or two still looked pretty bad.) The only serious mistake Hampton made was a wild toss in the second quarter on the Stanford three yard line. I'm not sure if Hampton just didn't look for Campbell or if he was trying to get pretty, but the ball just seemed to take off into space. Still, Hampton showed great composure coming back for the second half and leading the Mids to scoring drives on the remainder of Navy's possessions.

Heck, even Coach Johnson had some nice things to say about Hampton's play, albeit well after his stern "pep talk" to Hampton after the quarterback blew a timeout in the first half.

Yeah it was encouraging. He played better. He got better. The kid has been a starter for three games. Everybody wanted to anoint him before the season as the next coming. There is a big difference, I'm telling you right now that I've coached 27 years and there's a huge difference between standing over on the sidelines as the back-up quarterback and just going in when called on and being the starter and thinking about it all week and the night before the game and all that pressure, some kids handle it better than others.

Thanks Coach, and yes, you are right as usual. All of us fans are really guilty of this, me included. How many of us said that Brian was going to be great this year? How many of us projected a 1000 yard rushing and 1000 yard passing season? How many of us thought the "system" could just plug and chug? If it ain't all of us, it's pretty darn close. The expectation level for this team, and especially the QB position, has been raised so high that after the slightest mistake we all jump on the backup bandwagon. Don't believe me? You don't need to look any further then last year, when after falling apart in the second half against Maryland, there were many a call for Hampton to replace Lamar Owens. Is it good? I'm not sure. Is it bad? I don't know either, but if you want to talk expectations be sure to tune back later when I take a closer look at Coach Johnson's conversation with Peter Schmuck.

While Hampton ran like an Abrams Tank all night long (149 yards), he obviously struggled on some of his pass attempts in Saturday's win. His two completions for six yards on six attempts doesn't look so hot, but even more worrisome were the three long, sure-fire touchdown passes he overthrew. Keeping in mind this was only the first game though, and that a little rust, nerves, or even the wind may have had something to do with it, I don't think it's time to start worrying. Coincidentally, Coach Johnson highlighted that point in his post-game press conference.

[Brian] did some good things and some things that we can build on, but the thing about it is that Brian is a talented kid and he can throw the ball we just need to get him to relax...When you haven't played a lot and you go back and they are running wide open it might be a little easier to throw it if they were covered. It's something that I know he's very capable of doing and we will get better at that. We will get better at throwing. We will have to get better.

I believe it will be better. The three balls Hampton overthrew weren't that bad. The one to Campbell was a tough throw to make- especially to someone who's only 5'6. Likewise the pass to Washington was just a few inches off, and probably would have been caught had Tomlinson or Barnes been in. Brain throws a good looking ball, and I'm sure with the first game under his belt he'll be able to make the throws when he needs to. As long as the run game continues to develop and we're able to have success on the ground, the passing game should take care of itself.

May I, for starters, say that I am a complete idiot. A week ago I was drawing up worst-case scenario plans and hollering about how the Navy offense had lost it's way. After an anemic finish against Tulsa, I was (along with many of you) beginning to lose confidence in the ability of Brian Hampton to lead the team to the goals they had set for the season. While maybe not putting these concerns fully to rest, yesterday's offensive onslaught against a good UConn defense certainly makes things look better.

The 41-17 performance was easily the most complete game Navy has played all season. Starting with a a strong defensive showing which forced a three-and-out followed by a quick strike, 77-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Campbell, the Midshipmen dominated this game from the get go. The offense was absolutely electrifying, led by strong performances by Quarterback Brian Hampton and slotback Reggie Campbell. Hampton showed his athleticism and toughness all game, running for 182 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 141 yards and a touchdown to complete the day. His management of the offense was nearly flawless, making the necessary reads and pitches to allow for the rest of the offense to execute brilliantly. Once again, Reggie Campbell was a focal point of the offense, rushing for 101 yards on five attempts, including a career high 68-yard scamper in which he outran the entire UConn secondary. Adam Ballard, who was used mostly as a decoy in the early stages of the game, had three rushes for 88 yards, with 81 of those coming off a mad dash in the second quarter. He later suffered a stinger which left his hands numb and was replaced by Matt Hall, who looked effective with 38 yards on eight carries. By the end of the game, the Mids raked up a total of 464 rushing yards, a season high.

The impressive thing was that all of this came up against what had been the Nation's fourth best defense against the run. The first play from scrimmage was a brilliant play call, in which Johnson had Hampton make a "dummy check" for a pitch to the slotback. Picking up on this, the UConn safety, along with most of the defense, jumped to the right side of the field, while Hampton made a reverse pivot to find the streaking Campbell. The 5'6 slotback made a great move to allude the two defenders in open field, and picked up a nice block from Jason Tomlinson to get to the outside. The funny thing is, the UConn defenders were looking for the play.

"We told our team to be alert for the play-action pass on the very first play," said eighth year UConn Coach Randy Edsall. Big East Defensive Player of the Week Danny Lansanah agreed, saying that "you knew it was coming."

The play set the tone for the game, and kept the UConn defense honest enough to allow the Midshipmen running game to get under it's feat. Despite a multitude of dumb holding penalties, the Midshipmen offense just kept chugging away, which is testament to the winning mindset these players have developed. With the win, the Midshipmen improve to 2-0 against BCS conference teams this year, and to 4-1 overall.