The Navy football team was initially scheduled to practice this afternoon, but head coach Ken Niumatalolo switched the workout to the early hours of this morning in order to give the players a head start on getting out of town and going home for the holidays.

    Navy practiced from 5-6:30 this morning at the Wesley Brown Field House and it was a spirited session. Players were lining up to run wind sprints at the end as usual when Niumatalolo called defensive end Billy Yarbrough out to the 25-yard line. Niumatalolo announced that if Yarbrough could throw the football through the makeshift yellow uprights that are sewn onto a tarpaulin hanging from the ceiling at the facility the entire team would not have to run sprints.

     Yarbrough, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior, reared back and tossed a perfect spiral right down the middle - sending all the other players into a wild frenzy. Wide receiver Mario Washington also threw a pass that hit between the uprights and the whole place erupted with players coming together in a tight circle while jumping up and down, chest-bumping and slapping one another on the helmets.

     It was an uplifting way for the players to complete their final practice in Annapolis this season. Navy will reconvene in Houston on Saturday for the first of four practices prior to Thursday afternoon's Texas Bowl.