 Abey (No. 9) scrambling in the 2016 Army–Navy Game | |
| No. 9 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback/wide receiver |
| Major | Political science |
| Personal information | |
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Weight | 218 lb (99 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | Navy (2015–2018) |
| Bowl games | |
| High school | Severn (MD) Archbishop Spalding |
| |
Zach Abey is an American football quarterback who attended the United States Naval Academy. He played quarterback and wide receiver for the Navy Midshipmen football team. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Abey entered the 2015 season as the fourth string quarterback, sitting behind Keenan Reynolds, Tago Smith, and Will Worth. He did not make a single in game appearance in 2015.
Abey began the 2016 season sitting behind Smith and Worth, but moved to second string after Smith suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener against Fordham and Worth became the starter. He appeared in the games the team played against East Carolina and SMU, performing mop-up duty during the large Navy wins. During the 2016 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, Worth injured his foot and Abey took over for the rest of the game. The Midshipmen lost 34–10 to the Temple Owls. Abey was the starter for the Army–Navy Game, where the Midshipmen lost 21–17 to their arch rival the Army Black Knights for the first time since 2001. He also started for the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl, where Navy lost 48–45 to Louisiana Tech.
Abey, now a junior, earned the spot of starting quarterback. In his third career start against Florida Atlantic, Abey rushed for 200 yards and passed for 100 yards. This achievement made it the first time in Naval Academy history that a Midshipmen quarterback has done so in a single game. He was named the AAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week. [6]
Through the first five weeks of the 2017 season, Abey ranked fifth among all Division I FBS players with 656 rushing yards. [7] Despite the Midshipmen starting the season 5–0, Abey began showing signs of struggling with reading defenses and pitching the ball on perimeter option players (forcing him to instead run up the middle through the line of scrimmage). In October, he suffered a concussion against UCF and a shoulder injury against Temple. [8] Slotback Malcolm Perry replaced him at quarterback with the exceptions of the Notre Dame (injury to Perry) and Houston (moved back to slotback) games. Perry was eventually named the starter for the Military Bowl against Virginia. With his benching, Abey was considered for a fullback role, though head coach Ken Niumatalolo opted to keep him at quarterback as the backup. [9]
In the Military Bowl, Abey recorded 88 rushing yards as part of a Navy bowl-record 452 total yards on the ground, along with a bowl-high five rushing touchdowns, becoming the first player to score five rushing touchdowns in an FBS bowl game since Kareem Hunt in 2015. He was named the game's Most Valuable Player. [10] [11]
Abey concluded the 2017 season with 1,413 rushing yards, the second highest in school history behind Napoleon McCallum's 1,587 in 1983. [11]
Perry became the permanent starting quarterback for the 2018 season, while Abey was moved to wide receiver. [12] After starting six games at receiver and missing the game against Air Force with a knee injury, Abey became the backup quarterback against Houston behind Garret Lewis when Perry moved to slotback. Abey returned to the starting quarterback role against Cincinnati. [13]
Navy ended the season 3–10.
NCAA career statistics | |||||||||||||||||
Navy Midshipmen | |||||||||||||||||
| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comp | Att | Yards | Avg | Lng | Pct. | TD | Int | QB rating | Att | Yards | Avg | Lng | TD | ||||
| 2015 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | ||
| 2016 | 5 | 20 | 35 | 352 | 10.1 | 64 | 57.1 | 1 | 4 | 128.2 | 70 | 384 | 5.5 | 55 | 6 | ||
| 2017 | 12 | 31 | 72 | 805 | 11.2 | 79 | 43.1 | 7 | 7 | 149.6 | 293 | 1413 | 5.0 | 75 | 19 | ||
| 2018 | 11 | 12 | 28 | 306 | 8.8 | 73 | 42.9 | 1 | 2 | 114.2 | 125 | 306 | 2.4 | 15 | 14 | ||
| NCAA career totals | 29 | 63 | 135 | 1403 | 10.4 | 79 | 46.7 | 9 | 13 | 136.7 | 488 | 2103 | 4.3 | 75 | 39 | ||
After graduating from the Naval Academy in May 2019, Abey was an assistant coach for the Midshipmen through the 2019 season before serving as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. [14] As of 2024 [update] , Abey is a Marine captain.
Roger Thomas Staubach, nicknamed "Roger the Dodger", "Captain America", and "Captain Comeback", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he won the 1963 Heisman Trophy playing for the Midshipmen. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy, including a tour of duty in Vietnam.
Slotback, also called S-back or A-back, is a position in gridiron football. The "slot" is the area between the offensive tackle and the wide receiver. A player who lines up between those two players and behind the line of scrimmage fills that "slot".
The flexbone formation is an offensive formation in American football that includes a quarterback, five offensive linemen, three running backs, and varying numbers of tight ends and wide receivers. The flexbone formation is derived from the wishbone formation and features a quarterback under center with a fullback lined up directly behind the quarterback. There are two smaller running backs called slotbacks aligned behind the line of scrimmage on each side of the offensive line. The slotbacks are sometimes incorrectly referred to as wingbacks. But in order to be a wingback, there must be a guard, tackle and tight end all on one side of the center on the line of scrimmage and then the wingback off the line of scrimmage.
The Navy Midshipmen football team represents the United States Naval Academy in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The Naval Academy completed its final season as an FBS independent school in 2014, and became a single-sport member of the American Athletic Conference beginning in the 2015 season. The team is currently coached by Brian Newberry, who was promoted in 2022, following his stint as the Midshipmen defensive coordinator. Navy has 19 players and three coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame and won the college football national championship in 1926 according to the Boand and Houlgate poll systems. The 1910 team also was undefeated and unscored upon. The mascot is Bill the Goat.
The 2007 Poinsettia Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Navy Midshipmen and the Utah Utes played on December 20, 2007, at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. Utah defeated Navy 35–32 in a game that came down to the final seconds. The third edition of the Poinsettia Bowl was the first of 32 games in the 2007–2008 bowl season and the final game of the 2007 NCAA football season for both teams.
Kenneth Va'a Niumatalolo is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of San Jose State. He was the head coach of the Naval Academy from 2007 to 2022, accumulating the most wins in program history. Niumatalolo played college football at the University of Hawaii. As a quarterback he led Hawaii to their first postseason bowl game in 1989. Niumatalolo is the second person of Polynesian descent to be named head coach of an NCAA Division I FBS college football program and the first ethnic Samoan collegiate head coach on any level. Niumatalolo was inducted into the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame on January 23, 2014.
Ricky Dobbs Jr. is a United States Navy officer, politician and former college football quarterback for the United States Naval Academy currently serving as the District 1 Douglas County, Georgia Commissioner. During the 2009 season he broke the single season college football record for most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback with 27.
The 2004 Emerald Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the New Mexico Lobos and the Navy Midshipmen on December 30, 2004, at SBC Park in San Francisco, United States. The game, which Navy won with a final score of 34–19, was highlighted by a 26-play drive from the Midshipmen that took up almost 15 minutes of game time and set the record for the longest drive in a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football game. The contest was the third time the Emerald Bowl was played and the final game of the 2004 NCAA football season for both teams.
The Navy–Notre Dame football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Navy Midshipmen football team of the United States Naval Academy and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame. It was played annually from 1927 to 2019, which made it the longest uninterrupted intersectional rivalry in college football, the third-longest uninterrupted college football rivalry overall, as well as the second-longest never-interrupted rivalry in Division I college football (FBS). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 game was canceled, ending these lengthy streaks, even though both schools still played a fall season schedule in 2020.
The 2012 Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game held on December 29, 2012, at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California, United States. The 11th edition of the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl began at 1:00 p.m. PST, and was televised on ESPN2. It featured the Arizona State Sun Devils of the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12) and the Navy Midshipmen, who were conference independent. It was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. The game, won by the Sun Devils 62–28, drew 34,172 spectators.
The 2015 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the United States Naval Academy in the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Midshipmen were led by eighth-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo and played their home games at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen competed as a member of the Western Division of the American Athletic Conference, and were first year members of the conference. In their entire football history, this was the first season that Navy did not compete as an Independent. They finished the season 11–2, 7–1 in American Athletic play to finish in a tie for the Western Division title with Houston. However, due to their head-to-head loss to Houston, they did not represent the Western Division in the American Championship. They were invited to the Military Bowl where they defeated Pittsburgh.
Keenan Reynolds is an American former professional football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Navy Midshipmen as a quarterback, earning third-team All-American honors in 2015. He finished his college career with an NCAA Division I record 88 career touchdowns and an FBS record 4,559 rushing yards by a quarterback. Reynolds currently serves in the United States Navy Reserve with the rank of lieutenant.
The 2016 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the United States Naval Academy in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Midshipmen were led by ninth-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo and played their home games at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen competed as a member of the West Division of the American Athletic Conference, and were second year members of the conference. They finished the season 9–5 overall and 7–1 in American Athletic play to be champions of the West Division. They represented the West Division in The American Athletic Championship Game where they lost to Temple. They were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl where they lost to Louisiana Tech.
Will Worth is a former college football quarterback for the Navy Midshipmen. As a senior in 2016, his lone season as a starter, he led Navy to a 9–2 record as he set multiple Navy career and season record.
The 2017 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team was coached by Brian Kelly and played its home games at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. They competed as an independent. They finished the season 10–3, an impressive turnaround from the season before, where the Irish finished with their worst record since 2007. They were invited to the Citrus Bowl where they defeated LSU. The Irish would finish the season with four wins over teams that finished in the top 25 rankings, including winning three of those by over 20 points or more.
The 2017 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the United States Naval Academy in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Midshipmen were led by tenth-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo and played their home games at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Midshipmen competed as a member of the West Division of the American Athletic Conference and were third-year members of the conference. They finished the season 7–6 overall and 4–4 in AAC play to tie for third place in the West Division. They were invited to the Military Bowl, where they defeated Virginia, 49–7.
The 2019 Navy Midshipmen football team represented the United States Naval Academy in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Midshipmen were led by 12th-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo and played their home games at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Navy competed as a member of the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in the West Division.
Malcolm Xiomar Perry is an officer in the United States Navy and a former American football wide receiver. He attended the United States Naval Academy, where he played college football for the Navy Midshipmen from 2016 to 2019.
Bailey Michael Zappe is an American professional football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played his first three seasons of college football for the Houston Baptist Huskies and used his last year of eligibility with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, where he set the FBS season records for passing yards and passing touchdowns. Zappe was selected by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL draft and mostly served as backup until becoming their primary starter near the end of the 2023 season.
Tai Lavatai is a former American football quarterback for the Navy Midshipmen.