I Call Him the "White Lamar Jackson"
The last service academy player to win the Heisman was Navy's Roger Staubach. Could history repeat itself in '25? Probably not, but Navy's Blake Horvath is going to give it the good old college try.
Dave, Sherby doesn't think the Navy hang people from yardarms anymore.
- Lt. Kafee, A Few Good Men (1992)
The 2024 college football season was a strange one for many different reasons. It’s not all that surprising, given the amount of structural change that went into effect that offseason.
However, one of the strangest dynamics of the 2024 season didn’t really have anything to do with the structural changes in CFB. That phenomenon was the productivity of service academy players. These players are rarely productive CFF assets for several reasons; one of those is that they don’t typically see the touch volume to be consistent producers.
Perhaps ironically, the last great service academy player that I can remember before 2024 was another Navy player—2019’s option QB Malcom Perry—who ran for a jaw-dropping 2017(!) yards that season.
The amount of carries it took Perry to achieve this feat? 295. It’s not a coincidence that when you look at the most productive players at the end of each season, the overlap with the highest touch players is significant.
This brings me back to 2024. Army’s QB Bryson Daily handled the rock an unusually plump 310 times, and Navy’s QB Blake Horvath, aka “White Lamar” carried it 176 times. Both QBs surpassed 1000 yards rushing. Oh, and both players hit 1000 yards passing too.
Daily finished as QB2 in PPG by four point passing TD standards, and Horvath finished the year averaging over 27 PPG, which is sort of the soft threshold I like to think of for a ‘really good’ CFF QB season.
There were other players at service academies that had notable years as well, but the two QBs were by far the most prolific and eye-catching. Unfortunately, many of those players—including Daily—move on to new beginnings, but Horvath remains with the Midshipmen. So does the staff that oversaw the offence Horvath operated during his stellar 2024 season.
And, if you look at the Midshipmen’s schedule, it’s not exactly a murderer’s row again in 2025. Notre Dame on Nov. 8th is the only game in the ‘avoid’ category for me. Their OOC opponents to start the year include VMI and Air Force, and the rest of their schedule includes the likes of UNT, USF, FAU etc. just like last year.
If Horvath simply repeats what he did last season, that would be a success in my mind. However, there’s reason to believe he can elevate to another level in 2025.
Coaching & System
QB1 PPG AVERAGE — HC: 18.6 — OC: 27.21 (four point passing)
Head coach Brian Newberry is entering his third season as the head coach of the Naval Academy. He was promoted internally from the defensive coordinator, and his coaching background is entirely conducted on the defensive side of the ball.
His OC, Drew Cronic, just concluded his first year with the Midshipmen. By all accounts, his debut season was a success. Prior to joining Newberry’s staff, he was the head coach of the FCS program Mercer from 2020-2023. He was also the head coach of Lenoir-Rhyne from 2018 to 2019, and before that the OC of Furman.
Cronic actually played WR at the University of Georgia during the same time current Bulldog head coach Kirby Smart played. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll make his way onto the staff…
For now, he calls plays for the Midshipmen, which is good news for us because Horvath thrived in his system in 2024.
Horvath scored multiple rushing TDs in a game five times in 2024, and as can be seen in Table 1. averaged just under 100 yards rushing per game. I don’t have to tell experienced CFFers just how lucrative this rushing production can be for the QB position.
In his last year at Mercer, Cronic’s QB1 rushed for 12 TDs on only 125 carries. His 2022 QB1 wasn’t as prolific on the ground, but he did report 32 passing TDs to eight INTs. You can look through the Mercer stats for yourself here.
Cronic and Newberry (unsurprisingly) average a very run-heavy offensive scheme. The Midshipmen ran about 75 run plays for every 25 passes last year (75/25 run/pass split). The team moves at a pace that you’d expect for a service academy, averaging around 29 seconds per play, and about 60 plays per game, which is on the very slow end of the FBS spectrum.
Navy’s most frequent run plays in 2024 were: QB sneak, reverse, FB dive, option, jet sweep, and triple option. You’ll notice that three out of those six plays involve the QB; this is a service academy, after all.
Having a second year to work with Horvath and the offence feels like a good thing to me. It’s actually pretty remarkable how good the offence was with Horvath in the first year of Cronic’s tenure. Year two, in theory, should be even better.
Additionally, Horvath’s primary wingman, Eli ‘Code Red’ Heidenreich (as far as I know) is slated to return as well. Ditto for RB Alex Tecza. That is to say, the environment around Horvath is essentially untouched from 2024.
Blake “The Truth” Horvath (6’2, 195)
2024 STATS: 80 (139) - 1353 - 13 (passing) + 176 - 1254 - 17 (rushing) (27.2 PPG)2
Fun fact: Lamar Jackson was listed as 6’3, 200 pounds at Louisville.
Last season was Horvath’s third year out of high school, and his first as Navy’s starting QB. He did not participate in any games in 2022, and only appeared in four in 2023. From that lens, it’s not clear to me if he technically has three seasons of eligibility left, or two. Either way, this is a player who can stick around for a while if he wants to.
It won’t surprise readers to know that Horvath was an unranked recruit in his class. The 6’2 signal caller originally hails from Ohio, and has no other listed offers on 247 besides Navy, which seems odd and probably inaccurate.
One of the most impressive performances of 2024 for me included Navy’s victory over Oklahoma. I know the old adage goes that OU probably wasn’t optimally engaged in the bowl game etc. etc. but Horvath and the offence still had an impressive showing.
In fact, it was so impressive that rumour has it that the performance prompted a call from SEC commish, Greg Sankey, after the game. Sankey reportedly told Horvath something along the lines of “All you did was weaken a country today, White Lamar. That's all you did. You put people's lives in danger. Sweet dreams, son.”
To which Horvath rightfully replied: “Don't call me son. I average over 27 PPG in four point passing TD formats as an option QB in the United States Navy, and your conference lost you son of a bitch.”
Horvath, in his f*****y white uniform and with his Harvard mouth, accounted for two rushing scores on 155 yards, plus 92 yards passing on 7/12 completions. Unlike his counterpart Bryson Daily this season, Horvath showed himself to be a capable passer, and not just a runner disguised as a QB.
Dailey ultimately ended up being more productive in 2024 because Army leaned on him more (Navy had other pieces around Horvath), but I feel more encouraged by a player who can actually perform both tasks of the QB position well, and Horvath can do that. Horvath’s season highs in passing were 225 yards vs. UAB, and three scores vs. UNCC.
Outside of a rough four game stretch between Oct. 26 and Nov. 16, Horvath was—as the kids say “The Truth”—in 2024. I believe that he picked up an injury vs. ND on Oct. 26, as his next three performances vs. relatively weak teams were uncharacteristically poor. He barely played vs. Tulane, only attempting one pass and carrying the ball five times.
The good news is that the ND game in 2025 isn’t until November, so Horvath aka “White Lamar” aka “The Truth” should support strong CFF production for drafters in the first two months of the season.
So, you want the truth? Are you sure can you handle it? Well, I never thought I’d say this, but I like Horvath—the Navy QB—as a high round selection in CFF drafts. He was very productive last season and he enters 2025 with the same ingredients around him.
The offensive scheme basically mandates that Horvath’s floor is going to be solid due to the rushing usage. His passing ability combined with that rushing usage—not to mention a weak schedule—gives him a high ceiling in 2025. ◾
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Sample 2018-2024 excluding 2020.
Four point passing TD scoring.