Navy, Air Force carry rivalry off field to Division I football recruiting trenches

There is a select group of talented high school football players that are willing to attend a service academy. As a result, Army, Air Force and Navy tend to battle for the same pool of recruits. Success on the field is a significant advantage.

Air Force held that advantage over Army and Navy big-time for about two decades. The Falcons captured the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy 17 times from 1982 through 2002, beating the Midshipmen 19 of 21 years during that stretch.

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo, who has been with the program a total of 11 seasons, admitted it was difficult for the coaching staff to win head-to-head battles with Air Force for recruits during those days. All head coach Fisher DeBerry and staff had to do was point to results on the field to sway a prospect's mind.

"Before, back when (the Falcons) had their streak going in the 1990s, they basically got who they wanted," Niumatalolo said. "Now that we're winning again, it's starting to become more 50-50."

Former head coach Paul Johnson helped Navy turn the tide by installing the triple-option offense and teaching the players how to win. The Midshipmen probably still had less overall talent than the Falcons when the service academy rivals met at Fed Ex Field in Landover in 2003, but managed to squeak out a 28-25 victory. That one win gave Johnson and his staff some leverage in the recruiting wars and six years later it is Navy that has the advantage based on results.

It is Navy that has captured the coveted Commander-in-Chief's Trophy six consecutive years. It is the Midshipmen who have won 13 straight service academy contests. Johnson famously told a highly-touted quarterback from Ohio named Shaun Carney to go ahead and choose Air Force if he wanted to lose to Navy every year. Carney graduated in 2008 without a single win over the Midshipmen.

"Winning has definitely helped us level the playing field," Niumatalolo said. "I think the last few years we've gotten more of our share (of recruits) than they did."

Standout safety Wyatt Middleton (Norcross, Ga.) was among the current Navy starters that Air Force pursued heavily. Equally surprising is that starting quarterback Ricky Dobbs (Douglasville, Ga.) was not recruited by the Falcons at all.

Clint Sovie, who has been a key contributor at linebacker for three seasons, was recruited equally by both service academies out of The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Fla. He took official visits to Annapolis and Colorado Springs and ultimately chose the Naval Academy because it had a stronger economics program. Ironically, Sovie is no longer an economics major, having switched over to English.

"Also, when I first started learning about the military I decided I wanted to be in the Marines. You can't do that from the Air Force Academy," Sovie said.

Air Force was also hot on the trail of slotback Bobby Doyle, a product of Chardon High in Ohio - a state that has sent a lot of talent to Colorado Springs over the years. Doyle committed to Navy prior to his senior season primarily due to location. "It was a one-hour flight to Maryland as opposed to a four-hour flight to Colorado. I wanted my family to be able to see me play so distance was a big factor," he said.

Doyle was a direct-entry recruit who arrived in Annapolis in 2006 and admitted the fact Navy had won three straight meetings with Air Force at the time certainly didn't hurt. "That was definitely a factor in my decision. I saw that Navy's program was doing good things and on the way up," he said.

Other current Navy players that confirmed being recruited by Air Force were starting guard and offensive team captain Osei Asante (Houston), starting fullback Alexander Teich (Conroe, Texas), backup slotback Mike Stukel (Fleming Island, Fla.), backup defensive end Billy Yarborough (Colubmia, S.C.) and starting cornerback Blake Carter (Stillwater, Okla.).

While Niumatalolo feels Navy has won most of the head-to-head battles with Air Force in recent years, he admitted there are some outstanding prospects that got away to Colorado Springs.

"We know a lot of their kids and they know a lot of our kids. We battle for the same kids. We know they have good players because we tried to recruit a lot of them… just like they tried to recruit a lot of ours," Niumatalolo said.

However, Niumatalolo admitted neither Air Force nor Navy is willing to concede that a top target was lost .

"It's always debatable about how hard Air Force was recruiting a Navy commit and vice versa," Niumatalolo said with a chuckle. "Both schools come back and say 'We really didn't recruit that guy or we were just offering him a walk-on spot.' ''