Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo announced after practice today that quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada will sit out the season opener against Towson due to a lingering hamstring injury.
Senior Jarod Bryant, who opened the season at slot back, will get the call against Towson. It will be the third career start for Bryant, who led Navy to a victory over Northern Illinois last season and also started the Meineke Car Care Bowl against Boston College in 2006.
Kaheaku-Enhada participated in some non-contact drills on Monday and the coaching staff pushed the senior to see how the hamstring would react. Niumatalolo said he would await a report from Dr. Jeff Fair, the team trainer, before deciding whether Kaheaku-Enhada would participate more extensively in practice on Tuesday.
Apparently, the report was not real encouraging as Kaheaku-Enhada wore shorts and spent most of the practice watching.
"From Friday to Monday, (Kaheaku-Enhada) recovered a lot. You were kind of hoping he would make that jump again, which he didn't. Today is about where he was yesterday," Niumatalolo said.
When asked if time had run out for Kaheaku-Enhada to properly prepare to play in a regular season game, Niumatalolo responded: "Yeah, for this game obviously. We've moved forward as though Jarod was going to be the quarterback. (Kaipo) coming back would have been a bonus."
Bryant, who has been taking all the repetitions with the starting offense since Kaheaku-Enhada strained the hamstring during an intra-squad scrimmage on Aug. 9, was not surprised by the news.
"Since I got back to quarterback, we weren't really sure when (Kaheaku-Enhada) was coming back. So I've been preparing the whole time, in my mind, that I was going to start," Bryant said.
Bryant indicated the initial prognosis for how long it would take Kaheaku-Enhada to fully recover suggested he would not be back in time for the season opener.
"I kind of ... this is an abbreviated post. Read the entire article.

By far the biggest question surrounding Navy football these days involves the status of starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada. The senior from Hawaii has been nursing a hamstring injury for more than two weeks now and remains questionable for Saturday's season opener against Navy.
Of course, no one - not head coach Ken Niumatalolo, team trainer Dr. Jeff Fair or Kaheaku-Enhada himself - give any definitive answers when asked whether the quarterback will be able to go come 3:30 on Saturday afternoon.
Beat reporters from The Capital, Washington Post and Washington Times quizzed Niumatalolo and Kaheaku-Enhada on that topic following Monday's practice and got the typical vague responses.
Kaheaku-Enhada participated in certain segments of practice and pushed the hamstring harder than he has since initially straining it during an intra-squad scrimmage on August 9. However, the real test won't come until Kaheaku-Enhada puts on full pads and goes through live drills.
I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on television, but my guess based on seeing Kaheaku-Enhada jog on the field and run in the sand pit is that he could play in a game if absolutely necessary. My gut feeling is that he will not start against Towson as the coaching and training staff takes an overly cautious approach.
Navy has proven it can win with backup quarterback Jarod Bryant and he's the one who has been taking all the repetitions with the first team for the past two weeks. I just don't see any urgency to rush Kaheaku-Enhada back for this game and risk that he aggravates the hamstring and winds up missing multiple games.
Why not give Kaheaku-Enhada another full week of rest and make sure that hamstring is 100 percent. If Navy doesn't beat Towson, it probably won't be due to the quarterback play.
Of course, if Bryant goes out there on Saturday and is simply awful early on (which I cannot imagine), then perhaps y ... this is an abbreviated post. Read the entire article.

One of the difficult aspects of the print form of the newspaper medium is the fact some stories must be cut to fit the available space. The Capital article about Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo and starting quarterabck Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada was extremely long by normal newspaper standards.
Unfortunately, the story had to be trimmed a bit and one notable quote was removed. Fortunately, this blog provides the opportunity to publish that quote from Coach Niumatalolo about Kaheaku-Enhada.
Here is the passage that preceded the comment from the coach along with the quote:

Kaheaku-Enhada has rushed for 1,341 yards and 22 touchdowns while leading Navy to a 12-7 record as a starter. Along the way, the affable and always-smiling youngster has evolved into a master of the triple-option – reading and running the intricate system better than any quarterback Navy had during the Johnson era.
"Kaipo is by far the best conductor of this offense we've ever had. He's the best at reading the option, the best at facilitator of the ball, the best overall at orchestrating the whole thing," Niumatalolo said. "People don't truly appreciate how good he is at running this offense. He makes difficult things look easy."

We learned yesterday about an exciting new addition to the Navy football gameday experience. Sports information director Scott Strasemeier revealed that, for the first time in history, the Navy football team will walk through a phalanx of fans on the way into Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium prior to home games.
In years past, buses dropped off the players and coaches at the entrance to the tunnel that leads to the locker rooms. That area is totally secured and thus fans did not get a chance to see the players until they were dressed and came onto the field for warmups.
Because of the new "Mid Walk" that has the full endorsement of head coach Ken Niumatalolo, fans will have an opportunity to get up-close and personal with the Navy football players and coaches prior to the game.
While full details are still being worked out, the general plan is that the buses will drop off the players and coaches at the Blue Angel located on the press box side of the stadium. The players will then walk approximately 50 yards into one of the main gates through a small walkway created by thousands of fans.
Coach Niumatalolo extimated that the walk would occur about two hours before the 3:30 p.m. kickoff, but the exact time will be publicized by the Naval Academy athletic department in the near future.
"College football is a unique experience and this is a tradition I'd like our playres to participate in," Niumatalolo said on Wednesday following practice. "With the games being later than years past, our guys will be sitting around the hotel longer doing nothing. I think it will help wake us up and get us in the right frame of mind to have people yelling in our ears."

Veteran broadcaster Pete Medhurst will join the Navy Radio Network as a sideline reporter for football, sports information director Scott Strasemeier confirmed yesterday.
Medhurst will provide periodic updates from the sidelines for all 12 regular season games. He is the first sideline reporter for Navy football and is eager to contribute to an already strong team comprised of play-by-play announcer Bob Socci, color commentator Omar Nelson and analyst John Feinstein.
"This is a great opportunity for me personally and I'm excited to join Bob, Omar and John," Medhurst said. "I believe my presence on the sideline will be a positive addition to the broadcast. I can provide fans with some insight on injuries and strategy and other situations by relating information that can only be picked up down on the field."
As part of his sideline duties, Medhurst will conduct a brief interview with Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo at halftime. Medhurst will ask Niumatalolo two or three questions about the first half as the coach heads into the locker room.
"I think our fans will be very interested to hear the head coach's thoughts on what has transpired during the first half," Medhurst said.
Medhurst, a 1987 graduate of Southern High, has been involved with the Navy Radio Network in various capacities since 1997. He has provided play-by-play for men's lacrosse, served as a backup announcer for men's and women's basketball and hosted the Navy Pregame Show for football.
For the past few seasons, Medhurst has handled play-by-play duties for Navy home football games on CSTV. However, that network - now known as CBS College Sports Network - has reorganized its broadcasting team for the 2008 season and Medhurst was the odd man out. Tom Hart will do play-by-play and Trev Alberts will provide color commentary for the TV broadcasts of all Navy home games.
"That decision was based on the fact Tom Hart is a full-time emp ... this is an abbreviated post. Read the entire article.