Morris, Fagot, Nichols rack up awards after Navy’s comeback win over Tulane

After erasing a 24-point deficit to complete the biggest comeback in school history, Navy’s football team has been racking up the accolades following a 27-24 win over Tulane.

On Monday, the Football Writers Association of America named the Midshipmen as its Reveal Suits National Team of the Week. It’s the first time Navy has earned the nod since 2016. Navy beat out Marshall and Miami for the award.

Also on Monday, junior linebacker Diego Fagot was named American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, and sophomore kicker Bijan Nichols was named as the AAC’s co-Special Teams Player of the Week.

Fagot tallied nine tackles – two for losses – a sack and two pass breakups. The native of Fort Lauderdale, Florida anchored a Navy defense that shut-out the Green Wave in the second half. Nichols scored five points in all and connected on the game-winning field goal.

Saturday’s win over Tulane marked the second straight year that the Mids beat the Green Wave on a field goal as time expired. Last year, Nichols hit a 48-yarder in Annapolis for the win. Saturday, he kicked one from 33 yards out that sailed through the uprights in New Orleans.

And finally, senior quarterback Dalen Morris was named NAAA Athlete of the Week presented by Northrop Grumman and was also one of the eight quarterbacks named Manning Award Stars of the Week. Fans can vote on Facebook to select the overall Manning Player of the Week. Voting closes on Thursday at noon EST.

Morris entered the game in the second quarter and helped engineer the historic comeback for the Midshipmen. The senior completed 6-of-11 passes for 139 yards and a touchdown, and had 23 rushing yards on 13 carries. He also caught a seven-yard pass, and completed a pass on a two-point conversion attempt to tie the game up. Morris’ longest pass of the day – a career long of 44 yards – went to Mark Harris and set up a one-yard touchdown run by Nelson Smith.

During a Zoom call Monday, Morris gave credit to his offensive line saying, “The slobs played one heck of a game... They got a lot of hate after the BYU game, and they put the hard hat on.”

The Mids are now 12-12-1 all-time vs. Tulane and Niumatalolo is 5-1 vs. the Green Wave.

Navy is off this week and will head to Colorado Springs for an Oct. 3 meeting with Air Force. The game is the first of the C.I.C. Series this year.