The Navy football team is currently scheduled to kick-off its season at home against BYU Sept. 7, but Midshipmen athletic director Chet Gladchuk understands the program is operating on a day-to-day basis even with the health and safety protocols the Naval Academy has put in place for the program.
Gladchuk says the football program has followed advice from those with medical backgrounds to build an environment that minimizes the risk for coronavirus infections at Navy through testing and screening protocols and the like. Still, Gladchuk understands how fragile it all is.
“We’ve got a game Monday night Labor Day weekend — national TV, wonderful setting — but on Sept. 5 or 6 before BYU takes off to come to Annapolis, it could change,” Gladchuk said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 14.
The football program is coming off an 11-2 season. It beat Army for the first time since 2015 and capped off its season by beating Kansas State in the Liberty Bowl. The Midshipmen had gone 3-10 a year prior, but they were able to bounce back in 2019 thanks to a much-improved defense and a breakout season for quarterback Malcolm Perry.
But with Perry in the NFL now with the Miami Dolphins, Navy will be looking to build off its 2019 season with a new signal-caller under center, and the leader in the clubhouse appears to be Dalen Morris. The Midshipmen are currently scheduled to kick off their American Athletic Conference schedule at Tulane Sept. 19. They’ll face Army in Philadelphia Dec. 12.
