The yelling, at times, can get frustrating. No matter what sophomore Brady DeMell is doing - whether it's playing center during a one-minute, end-of-game drill, or working at guard against the scout team, or running sprints at the end of practice - one of Navy's coaches is watching him closely and letting him know when he messes up.
"After every single play, you're getting it," DeMell said. "But it's a good thing because if they weren't yelling at me, I probably wouldn't be focusing as much. If they didn't think I could do it, they wouldn't try to help me."
DeMell also understands the sense of urgency. Navy can put experienced players at the tackle and guard positions, but it does not have a center with varsity experience. DeMell is expected to start at center and will make his college debut Saturday at sixth-ranked Ohio State, which has a veteran defensive line. One month later, he and the Midshipmen will face rival Air Force, which runs a 3-4 defense.
This is the second year in a row that Navy has had to prepare a center with little college experience at the position. Last season, Ricky Moore started all 13 games after moving from tackle during the offseason. DeMell, 6 feet 3 and 286 pounds, played center at Mentor High near Cleveland but practiced at guard during his freshman year with the Midshipmen. Navy's coaches moved him to center in the spring because they wanted a bigger player there.
"That is our Air Force move, because they put a guy over the center and we need somebody there that can handle it," coach Ken Niumatalolo said in March, before the start of spring practices. "We moved him in there because he was the one guy that fit the mold of what we want. He has loose hips, he is tough, he can move and he has the mass we are looking for. We felt like we got manhandled a little bit inside against Air Force last year, and that made it tough for us to run inside the box."
Navy's offense struggled against Air Force last season; the Midshipmen won, 33-27, but they scored only one offensive touchdown and gained only 244 total yards, one of their lowest outputs of the season. The Falcons have a veteran nose guard in senior Ben Garland, who is 6-5 and 275 pounds.
"Especially when I first moved to center, all [offensive line coach Ashley Ingram] ever talked about was Air Force," DeMell said. "That's all the film we watched: 'This is why you've got to do this and this, because look what the nose tackle did to Ricky when he didn't get that down.' I'm always getting that brought up to me."
