Navy Head Coach Brian Newberry Previews Week 2 Matchup Against UAB
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - September 2, 2025
Navy head coach Brian Newberry met with the media in a Zoom call on Monday to talk about the team’s 52-7 season-opening win over VMI and look ahead to Saturday’s visit from UAB in the American Conference opener for both teams. Following is part of what Newberry said on the call.
On playing UAB in conference opener: “Yeah, just getting to play again, you know, getting in a conference play. I think Trent Dilfer does a really nice job at UAB. They have a new defensive coordinator, a lot of new faces on the roster. They went out and got some really good talent and Coach (Dilfer) has done a good job putting his roster together. So I'm excited to dive into this game plan and get to work today and put a good one together. I know our players are fired up to be back at home again.”
On UAB’s offense: “Yeah, well, you tell what they didn't punt and they didn't turn the ball over in the opener. That is about as clean as you can get. Real impressed with the personnel, really, really big up front. I like the quarterback a lot. I think he's a good player. I know Coach Dilfer is high on him. He's got some good running backs back there. He's got some good skill at wide receiver. They're a really talented group. It's gonna look a lot different this week. They're a lot bigger, a lot faster, a lot stronger (than VMI).”
On UAB possibly playing with a chip on its shoulder: “Yeah, absolutely. I know they're hungry and I know they had a really good off season. I know Coach Dilfer feels good about their team, a lot like I do.”
On the UAB defense it the opener: “You look at Alabama State, they're pretty talented on offense, really good quarterback, really good skilled players, pretty good up front. I think you look at that game and I'm sure that they didn't tackle as well as I'm sure they would have liked to. Some first game of the year mistakes and errors like a lot of folks, but I'm sure that's the stuff they're going to get cleaned up just like things that we got to get cleaned up here. They're talented on defense as well. They're big in the middle in the interior D line, they got some length at end and they're athletic and talented in the back seven.”
On UAB running back Jevon Jackson and the UAB running game: “(Jackson has) really good vision, powerful running back, nice combination of power and speed, breaks tackles. I think they've got a couple of good ones back there behind a really big physical offensive line.”
On Jalen Kitna: “He's a really good player. Like the O-line, he's big too. He's 6-5. Saw him at the conference media days and he's a good looking joker. He looks like an NFL quarterback and certainly has a NFL caliber arm. He's a really mature kid. I know coach Dilfer thinks a lot of him as a person. You watch that game and he runs the show. He's got good grasp for what they're doing, he's a smart football player. I think they put a decent amount knot on him. He’s a guy who can execute really well and run their offense.”
On appealing the targeting call on Navy LB MarcAnthony Parker: “It was already denied. Of course we appealed it. I disagree with the call and still don't. To have to miss half of that game and (half of) another game on that play is upsetting. But you know it is what it is, nothing we can do about it. We tried to appeal it. Hate that for MarcAnthony. It certainly wasn't anything malicious on his part and thought that was a clean hit personally. But that's just my take on it.”
On Navy’s offensive line in the opener: “They played well. They did some good things, there's no doubt. There's certainly a lot of room for improvement, a lot of room for growth. First game going in, you don't know really what you're going to see. They showed us some funky looks, I thought our guys handled it well. I thought they handled some in-game adjustments well. I thought they played really hard. So I was pleased with that. Certainly, we have the opportunity to get better. We're still a work in progress, you know, up front. Anytime you can rush for460 yards, that means the offensive line had to do something right. So I thought they played well.”
On UAB defensive coordinator Steve Russ: “Well, he's a heckuva coach. Certainly having been at Air Force, he's familiar, he knows how to defend the option part of things. I know they've had a couple extra days to get ready for us. I'm sure this isn't the first week that they've spent some time on us, I know Coach Dilfer well enough. I know (Russ will) have a good plan put together for us and I have a lot of respect for him as a coach. Certainly his familiarity with the option is a bonus for them.”
On becoming one of the flag bearers of The American: “Well, I don't know about flag bearer, but really excited about a new year, a new season. Like I said, this is a great league, it's fun to compete in. Every week brings its own unique challenges and just looking forward to continuing to get better and trying to maximize our players and be the best version of who we are. It's 1-0 around here every week. It has to be that way and all our focus is on UAB right now.”
On Navy nose tackle Landon Robinson, who had two sacks in the opener: “He played really well. He’s hard to block. They struggled to block him. I'll tell you this the player of the game for us on defense was our front seven. All those guys played really well. You know it takes the whole front seven to hold somebody to 15 yards rushing. I thought we fit things really well, we were physical up front, those guys played with really great technique and fundamentals. I was proud of the way we played up front.”
On the Navy secondary: “There's certainly some things that we got to get cleaned up. The long touchdown pass is on us as coaches. There was some grey in the coverage from the concept that we were playing over there. That was on us. Certainly there were a couple of third downs we didn't execute the coverage like we needed to. You know, good lessons for us to teach off of and certainly things we’ve got to get corrected. I thought we did some good things in the back end. I'm excited about those two corners and getting Bryce Allen back this week. We've got depth of corner. I thought (Giuseppi Cessi) played well. I thought Andrew Duhart played well. But yeah there's certainly some things to clean up back there. We also want to stop run, everything starts with that. But we have to keep things in front of us at the same time.”