Teich offers new assets to Navy backfield

The Navy offense was slogging through a recent practice on a hot, humid Annapolis morning, but all it took was one play to kindle the unit’s spirit.

During one of the few moments the Midshipmen’s offense and defense have practiced full contact early in camp, Alexander Teich burst through the line and ran over a defender on his way to a first down. It was a win for the offense during the one-play-at-a-time drill. Teich leapt off the ground and greeted his teammates with a resounding “let’s go!”

“We haven’t had any fire really on the offensive end in a while, so getting a first down… I was kind of fired up already,” he explained. “[On Monday] the defense was trash-talking us, and they were really fired up, so I was trying to bring a little bit of that to the offensive side.”

Navy’s coaching staff is hoping Teich, a 6-foot, 212-pound (and gaining) sophomore fullback, will be able to repeat that feat all season. The Mids have led the nation in rushing four straight seasons, and an established fullback has been at the heart of their triple-option attack each year.

Last year it was Eric Kettani, who rushed for 982 yards on a team-high 190 carries and is ninth on Navy’s career rushing list with 2,091 yards. Overlapping with Kettani was Adam Ballard, who is eighth with 2,125. And before them was Kyle Eckel, who is fourth with 2,906 yards.

But this year the Mids have no such luxury. Teich is the front-runner to be Navy’s starting fullback, having won the job during spring practice over junior Vince Murray and senior Kevin Campbell. But Teich and Campbell combined for just 29 carries last season, and Murray spent the year correcting a fumbling problem.

As fall camp has progressed, there is little doubt Teich will be the featured back of the group. A converted running back, Teich is smaller than his predecessors, but he also brings a new level of speed and elusiveness. And as 2008 ACC player of the year Jonathan Dwyer proved last season for former Mids coach Paul Johnson in his first year at Georgia Tech, it doesn’t take a bruiser to thrive at the B-back position in the triple option.

“Alex brings something unique that we haven’t had at the position,” fullbacks coach Mike Judge said. “Some of the things that he’s able to do - making cuts off of different linebackers - things that he sees are just a little bit different from the rest of the guys. I think Alex has done a great job of taking notes in the classroom and applying it to what he’s done on the field.”

Teich has worked tirelessly over the summer to round out his repertoire. He woke up at 5 a.m. three days a week to work on the exchange with quarterback Ricky Dobbs, and he hit the weight room to improve his durability and blocking.

He also had the luxury of being tutored by Kettani last year, who as a senior had three years of varsity experience at the position.

“I picked up a ton from Kettani,” Teich said. “He taught me to learn what everybody’s doing on offense - that way you can make reads before they happen. I worked real hard in the offseason trying to learn the offense fully and understand what’s going on.”

And thus he has seized control of the starting position, though the Mids will employ a rotation this year. That is Judge’s preferred method; he admitted Navy overworked Kettani early last season and that down the stretch “he probably could have played better if we had paced him.”

“We’re only going to be as good as these fullbacks on the back end,” Judge said. “So we gotta make sure that our best fullbacks are out there, ready to roll.”