Navy Football seniors receive their service assignments

On Thursday, November 21st, every Midshipmen in the Class of 2020 at the United States Naval Academy officially received their service assignment. During lunch time, the seniors were told what job they will be doing in either the United States Navy or the United States Marine Corps upon graduation.

Although there are many jobs that require officers within the Navy and Marine Corps, the options for these Midshipmen, at this time, are relatively limited. The vast majority of Midshipmen are only allowed to select what is considered an “Unrestricted Line”, meaning they are fully physically capable of doing any given job and therefore unable to select any of the remaining “Restricted Line” billets. Some Midshipmen, who may be color blind or have a bad knee from years of football, as a couple of examples, may select a job that is a “Restricted Line,” however.

Here are the typical options for the majority of Midshipmen:

• Surface Warfare
• Submarine Warfare
• Navy Pilot
• Naval Flight Officer
• Marine Corps - Ground (Infantry, Artillery, Public Affairs, etc)
• Marine Corps - Aviation (F/A-18 Hornet, C-130, Huey, etc)

Some of the common Restricted Line service assignments include:

• Navy Supply
• Navy Intelligence
• Navy Civil Engineering Corps
• Navy Meteorology and Oceanography
• Navy Medical Corps

Additionally, Midshipmen have the opportunity to select Navy SEALs or Navy EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) to serve in the Naval Special Warfare Community.

Just like every other Midshipmen, the seniors on the Navy Football team found out what they will be doing once their football careers are complete, and here is the list:

Mike Adzima: Marine Corps Ground

Carter Bankston: Marine Corps Ground

Travis Brannan: Navy Pilot

Eric Cal: Medical

Paul Carothers: Marine Corps Ground

Nizaire Cromartie: Surface Warfare

OJ Davis: Surface Warfare

Marcus Edwards: Submarines

David Forney: Cryotologic Warfare

Joe Goff: Marine Corps Ground

Jeremy Griffis: Surface Warfare

Sion Harrington: Marine Corps Pilot

Ford Higgins: Marine Corps Ground

Jude Hydrick: Marine Corps Ground

Walter Little: Information Professional

Tazh Maloy: Marine Corps Ground

Elan Nash: Marine Corps Pilot

Mack Nash: Navy Pilot

Noruwa Obanor: Cryotologic Warfare

J.R. Osborn: Naval Intelligence

Malcolm Perry: Marine Corps Ground

Michael Pifer: Surface Warfare

Tyler Pistorio: Navy Pilot

Jackson Pittman: Surface Warfare

Mason Plante: Marine Corps Ground

Denzel Polk: Surface Warfare

T.J. Salu: Meteorology and Oceanography

Dave Tolentino: Marine Corps Ground

Owen White: Navy Pilot

Kendel Wright: Marine Corps Ground

Aleksei Yaramus: Marine Corps Ground

Niko Yaramus: Submarines

You may have noticed that many of the football players have selected Marine Corps. In fact, of the 32 seniors, 14 of them will be assigned to the Corps as Second Lieutenants upon graduation. There is a heavy Marine Corps influence surrounding the Navy Football program. On the football staff, there are multiple active duty Marines, both enlisted and officer. This also includes former players who are now coaches on staff, including LtCol Green (Ret), wide receivers coach Mick Yokitis, as well as Brian Blick.

While that may not seem like a big deal, with 44% of the players choosing the Marine Corps, it is significant when you compare those numbers with the Naval Academy as a whole, where only 25% of Midshipmen are chosen for the Marines.

Overall, you can see a myriad of assignments this year, with 12 seniors choosing to be Marine Corps ground officers, two choosing Marine Corps Pilot, two choosing to be Submariners in the Navy, four choosing Navy Pilot, one being assigned to be a METOC (Meteorology) officer, six Surface Warfare officers, one Navy Intelligence officer, two Cryptologic Warfare officers, one IP (information professional) officer, and finally Eric Cal who will go to medical school and become a medical officer as outlined in this Capital Gazette article earlier this week.

It’s quite an accomplishment for each and every one of these seniors, as well as all the other Class of 2020 Midshipmen, as they prepare for Senior Day on Saturday against SMU. Navy has not lost a Senior Day since 2002, but will face a significant challenge when the Mustangs of SMU roll into Annapolis for a 3:30 ET contest on CBS Sports Network!

Congrats to all the future Ensigns and Second Lieutenants, and hope everyone has a safe night out in DTA celebrating their future in the Navy and the Corps!