The three things most likely to be remembered about Jeremy Navarre's career at Maryland.
1. Starting, basically, from the day he arrived. He came a semester earlier and got the nod in the opener in September.
2. Blocking a potentially game-tying field goal in the final minute against Florida State in 2006.
3. Causing coaches to gush about his dominance during camp in 2008.
The first two aren't bad ways to be recalled. There's probably a little cynicism to the third, since Maryland fans have come to expect players who are seemingly unblockable in the preseason to be a function of either stagnant offensive line growth (2008) or flat-out offensive line struggles (2009).
The interesting thing about Navarre's senior season was that it was quite good. He played two-thirds of the season at defensive tackle and made 70 stops despite drawing constant double-teams. That was no surprise; opponents astutely figured out he was the one highly experienced lineman on the roster in '08 and planned accordingly.
It was also among the top five totals by a tackle during the Ralph Friedgen years.
93: Randy Starks, 2002
81: Charles Hill, 2001
74: Randy Starks, 2003
70: Jeremy Navarre, 2008
63: Dre Moore, 2007
Of course, Navarre wound up back at his customary end spot by the conclusion of that season, and it speaks to the underlying question of his career. Friedgen and Dave Sollazzo both indicated Navarre was more suited to play tackle because of his strength and technique, but he was also undersized (if a man who weighed 285 pounds his senior season can ever be truly undersized) to play that far in. But tackle played to his skills better than end, where Navarre spent most of his career.
It's safe to wonder what sort of career Navarre would have enjoyed if he could have played end with Starks disrupting things inside, or if he'd played tackle with Shawne Merriman causing problems elsewhere. He was a smart enough player to exploit favorable matchups, but between Maryland's generally conservative scheme and the absence of a defensive line superstar throughout his time in College Park, we won't ever know just how much he could have done under those conditions.
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