Navy football arrives in Ireland, gets right to work ahead of Notre Dame game: ‘This is a business trip’
DUBLIN — Navy football’s traveling party arrived in Dublin at 8 a.m. Thursday and four hours later was on a practice field outside of Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
Coach Brian Newberry said the Midshipmen have followed their normal practice routine this week despite traveling across the Atlantic Ocean. Navy practiced on academy grounds a bit earlier than usual on Wednesday afternoon, then boarded buses destined for Dulles International Airport.
The 2023 college football season begins Saturday with the Aer Lingus Classic between Navy and Notre Dame. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. locally and 2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
Aer Lingus, the flag airline carrier of Ireland, is the title sponsor and provided courtesy charter flights for both teams to travel to Dublin. After landing, the Navy traveling party took buses to The Clayton Hotel in Dublin City Centre, Navy’s headquarters and also where players’ parents and other supporters are staying, .
Navy coaches and players had time to check in and take a short nap before eating brunch and reboarding the buses for the short drive over to Aviva Stadium.
“It was a smooth flight and I think our guys got some good rest on the plane,” Newberry said. “You’re always concerned about the sleep, the jet lag. Good thing about our guys is that they’re not used to getting much sleep, so maybe that’s an advantage for us.”
Senior defensive end Jacob Busic, a Westminster High graduate, said the six-hour flight was no ordeal. Busic said he slept a lot and watched the movie “Interstellar” for the first time, “which was pretty awesome.”
Navy went through about a one-hour walk-through Thursday at Aviva Stadium, then Newberry and the four captains participated in a news conference. On hand were mostly a combination of reporters covering Notre Dame and those from Irish media outlets, so there were numerous questions about Navy being a 20-point underdog.
“That’s one thing I love about coaching at the Naval Academy. We usually are [the underdogs]. Our kids have a chip on their shoulders and so do I. I like being the underdog,” Newberry said.
Newberry made it clear that Navy is using the underdog role as motivation and brings a positive mindset to the matchup.
“Our kids didn’t come over just to compete. They came over here with the expectation to win a game. That’s the way we prepare and our kids believe they can win,” he said. “We know there are certain things we have to do great in order to give ourselves a chance to win. We’re not going over hopeful, we’re going with expectations.”
Newberry acknowledged the significant difference in talent between the two programs. Notre Dame recruits at the highest level and annually sends a dozen or more players to the NFL.
“We know we’re not going to look like Notre Dame when we walk onto the field Saturday, but there are certain things you can’t measure that our players do have. We talk about the intangibles all the time,” Newberry said. “We’re going to play harder than anybody in the country. We’re going to be more disciplined than anyone in the country. Those are the things that are going to give us an edge.”
Newberry and the rest of the Navy coaching staff have harped on the importance of players doing their “one-11.” If each individual player focuses on their assignments and executes, Navy can be successful even against a superior opponent such as Notre Dame.
“We want our players to understand that they don’t need to do anything miraculous. They don’t have to do anything outside of themselves. They just need to be the best version of themselves on Saturday,” Newberry said. “Sometimes you get into a big game like this and you try to do too much. When that happens, you get out of place. We can’t have any of that.”
This is the first time any of the Navy football players have been to Ireland, but they won’t see much of Dublin, much less the country. A team dinner at Merry Ploughboys, a famous Dublin pub, was held Thursday night. That dinner of Irish cuisine was followed by an Irish entertainment experience with dancers and local musicians.
For the most part, the Navy football team will be sequestered at The Clayton. All team meals and meetings are being held in private banquet rooms there and the players are being told to get as much rest as possible.
Senior captain Lirion Murtezi didn’t care about sightseeing or getting to experience the Irish culture more up close and personal.
“We’re not here to have fun,” Murtezi said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a really cool experience to play here in Dublin. It’s awesome for the people of Ireland to be able to come see the game of football. At the end of the day it’s a business trip and we’re here to win a game.”
Navy will conduct a more intense practice Friday morning, which is a change brought about by Newberry. Previously, the Midshipmen went through a walk-through before the game, but Newberry now wants a more rigorous workout 24 hours before doing battle.
Last season, Nebraska played Northwestern in the inaugural Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Newberry said the Navy support staff made contact with their counterparts at both schools to get ideas on how to handle logistics and travel itinerary for a trip to Dublin.
“A lot of research went into that. I feel like the plan we rolled out was a good one and everything has been really smooth so far,” Newberry said. “You want the players to enjoy this trip. You want them to enjoy the venue and the pageantry of everything that’s going on and the opportunity to play Notre Dame. At the same time, you’ve got to drown out the distractions and the noise.”
Offensive coordinator Grant Chesnut revealed earlier this month that Navy would play two quarterbacks in the opener. Chesnut said he “had no problem” announcing publicly that both senior Tai Lavatai and sophomore Blake Horvath would see the field Saturday.
However, Newberry hinted in comments this week and again during Wednesday’s media session that Lavatai would likely get the start. Lavatai is by far the most experienced quarterback on the roster with 19 career starts under his belt. Meanwhile, Horvath has never made a varsity appearance, having served on the scout team and played in junior varsity games as a plebe.
While joking that “you will have to wait until the first snap” to find out who the starter is, Newberry signaled that he and Chesnut will go with experience and veteran leadership from the outset.
“We have three players at quarterback that we feel comfortable with. I think Tai has separated himself of late,” Newberry said.
Newberry heaped praise on Lavatai for attacking rehabilitation following surgery to repair a torn ACL suffered in the Temple game last season. Lavatai gained significant weight while hobbling around on crutches in the month after the surgery, but worked hard to get back down to 220 pounds.
Newberry has marveled at the fact Lavatai is moving better in terms of speed and quickness now than he was prior to suffering the knee injury.
“Tai is trimmed up and is in great shape. He has a great grasp of what we’re doing offensively,” Newberry said. “He’s a calm, cool, collected quarterback. He knows the system, runs the offense, makes good decisions and gets the ball where it needs to be. He’s a guy I trust to make good decisions.”
Newberry said Horvath brings an added dimension athletically to the quarterback position, also can execute the new offensive system and throws the ball well. Quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper said during preseason camp that Navy is installing a special package for senior Xavier Arline, who has played in 21 games with starts.
Jasper said Arline could also see action at slotback and Newberry seemed to confirm that Thursday.
“We’re going to ask Arline to do some different things other than play quarterback. He’s a dynamic athlete with great ball skills, so we’ve got to get him on the field,” Newberry said. “Xavier Arline has played a lot of big snaps for this football team and done a lot of good things.”
Senior Evan Warren won the preseason battle with sophomore Nathan Kirkwood to be the starting placekicker. Warren, another Westminster graduate, served as Navy’s kickoff specialist as a sophomore and junior.
Warren was given an opportunity to seize the placekicker job at the start of last season after senior four-year starter Bijan Nichols suffered a preseason injury that forced him to miss almost two months.
However, Warren missed his first collegiate field goal attempt, a 45-yarder, during the opener against Delaware. Senior Daniel Davies wound up winning the job and kicked in eight games before Nichols returned.
“I feel like we have two really good kickers. Nate has done a great job as well. It came down to Evan’s consistency throughout spring and fall camp. He’s kicked three field goals over 50 yards in critical situations in practice, so he has some range,” Newberry said.
Newberry also feels good about punter Riley Riethman, who enters this season as the Navy record-holder with a career average of 43.2 yards. The 5-foot-10, 191-pound junior averaged 43.8 yards per punt last season, which tied for third-best figure in program history.
Newberry said Riethman, who had 13 punts of 50 yards or more and 11 downed inside the 20-yard line in 2022, could be huge in the field position battle against Notre Dame and moving forward.
“Riley can flip the field for sure. He has an NFL type of leg and is a really good athlete back there. He’s had a very consistent camp,” Newberry said.
Aviva Stadium was built on the same site as an historic stadium that served Ireland and its various sports teams for centuries.
It was previously known as Lansdowne Road Stadium and was owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union. It was primarily used for rugby union and football association matches, although other traditional Irish sports such as hurling were sometimes played there.
The stadium took its name from the adjacent street on which it is situated, Lansdowne Road. It is located in the Ballsbridge neighborhood in the city’s Dublin 4 area.
The Lansdowne Road Stadium was the brainchild of Henry Dunlop, organizer of the first All-Ireland Athletic Championships. Dunlop, a decorated race walker, founded the Irish Champions Athletic Club in 1871.
Dunlop then founded the Lansdowne Football Club in 1872 and that is the same year the new stadium opened. That club has played rugby union ever since and has been one of the most successful in all of Ireland. It was later joined by Wanderers Football Club as one of two long-term tenants of Lansdowne Stadium.
While rugby was the primary sport played on the grounds, soccer eventually found its way there. The first international soccer match held at the venue took place between Ireland and England on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1900.
Lansdowne Stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for Aviva Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility that was a joint venture of the Irish Rugby Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland. Constructed at a cost of 140 million Euro, Aviva Stadium opened on May 14, 2010. Aviva Group Ireland, the Irish arm of a British insurance firm, signed a 10-year deal for naming rights, which was recently extended.
Aviva Stadium’s chief tenants are the Irish rugby union team and the Republic of Ireland football team. It is the first and only UEFA Category 4 Stadium in the country and in 2011 hosted the Europa League final. It also hosted the inaugural Nations Cup as well as all regular home matches of the national rugby team, national football team and some Leinster Rugby.
In 2012, Navy and Notre Dame played the first American college football game at Aviva Stadium. Billed as the Emerald Isle Classic, the Sept. 1 contest was the season opener for both schools with the Fighting Irish routing the Midshipmen, 50-10.
Saturday’s Navy-Notre Dame game in the second Aer Lingus College Football Classic will be the fourth NCAA contest held at the facility.
