Paper: Kevin Eckel kicked off Navy football team
July 27th, 2011 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Kevin Eckel has been dismissed from the Navy football team, according to a report on The (Annapolis) Capitol website.
The younger brother of former Navy fullback Kyle Eckel, Kevin Eckel is entering his third year at the Naval Academy. Also a fullback, Kevin was tied for third on the Navy depth chart after spring practice, according to the Capitol.
During his first two seasons at Navy, Kevin Eckel appeared in only six games during his first two seasons at Navy, primarily on special teams, according to his official bio.
Not mentioned in Eckel’s official bio is the an outstanding football career his older brother had at Navy. Kyle Eckel ranks fourth on Navy’s all-time rushing list, piling up more than 2,900 yards and 25 TDs from 2002-2004. He was part of a group of players who helped reverse Navy’s fortunes in the early part of the decade, turning a losing program into a team that hasn’t missed a bowl game since Eckel’s sophomore season.
But Kyle Eckel’s post-academy career in the Navy did not go well. In the fall of 2006, he was kicked out of the Navy. Eckel has never publicly commented on his discharge. After being dismissed from the service, Eckel began a four-year career as an NFL fullback. In 2009 he signed with the New Orleans Saints after an injury to their starting fullback, and he eventually helped the team to its first Super Bowl victory. Eckel was out of the NFL last year.
Former Navy FB Kyle Eckel manages to get back in the news
February 10th, 2011 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Kyle Eckel didn’t play a down in the NFL this past season, but he’s managing to make news around the league lately, thanks to a Facebook posting about his onetime team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
The former Naval Academy star apparently posted last Sunday or Monday that he’d heard a rumor that Jon Gruden would be replacing Andy Reid as coach of the Eagles. As things occasionally do on the Internet, the hard-to-believe rumor managed to go viral on the Web and was picked up by various media outlets.
The Gruden/Reid rumor turned out to be completely false, of course. ESPN and others shot it down, and the Eagles themselves even released a statement calling it a load of bunk.
Eckel, who graduated from the academy in 2005 and won a Super Bowl ring last year with the New Orleans Saints, went on the radio in Philly earlier this week and said he was just having fun, and that he never expected his post to trigger such a media storm.
Kyle Eckel appears to be out of football shape
November 18th, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Last February, former Navy running back Kyle Eckel won a Super Bowl ring with the New Orleans Saints. By the looks of this YouTube video, he’s still celebrating.
Eckel has not played in the NFL yet this season. He was signed and later waived by the Denver Broncos over the summer and looks to be out of football shape (but in great beer chugging shape) in this undated clip.
I’m not saying that Eckel has let himself go, but if his gut gets any bigger, he might qualify to be an After Action blogger.
Video is NSFW (language).
Former USNA star Eckel signs with Broncos; Ballard might be next
June 8th, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Missed this one while I was on vacation: Our lone service academy alum in the NFL last season, former Naval Academy fullback Kyle Eckel, has signed with the Denver Broncos. Terms of his deal have not been reported.
Eckel, a 2005 USNA grad, is the second former service academy player to sign with the Broncos this offseason. Recent Air Force Academy graduate Ben Garland, a defensive lineman, signed a free-agent deal with the team earlier this offseason.
The Broncos are the fifth different franchise Eckel has played for in his now five-year pro career. Last season Eckel won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints after signing with the team at midseason, then getting cut, then signing again near the end of the year.
Eckel’s top season statistically came in 2007, when rushed for 90 yards and scored two touchdowns for the New England Patriots.
Ballard to the NFL?
Adam Ballard, another standout fullback during his days at the Naval Academy, is looking into signing with a pro team, according to Marine Corps Times. Several sources have said that Ballard is in discussions with the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. Ballard admitted to the Times that he is talking to the NFL, but declined to say which teams.
A 2008 academy graduate, Ballard was administratively discharged from the Marine Corps on May 20 after him and 12 other second lieutenants were caught cheating on the land navigation course at The Basic School at Marine Corps Quantico, Va.
Ballard is still hoping to be reinstated into the Corps, according to Marine Corps Times. He has sent a letter to Juan Garcia, the assistant secretary of the Navy for manpower and reserve affairs, admitting his error and saying the cheating is far more widespread at TBS than officials have acknowledged.
Eckel done in New Orleans?
March 4th, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Former Navy star running back Kyle Eckel won a Super Bowl ring with the New Orleans Saints last month, but it appears the restricted free agent might be done in the Big Easy.
The Saints have not tendered an offer to the fullback, who was signed during the season to replace injured starter Heath Evans. According to Jeff Evans of the Times Picayune, “it looks as though the club is not interested in bringing back” Eckel, who is one of only four restricted free agents not tendered an offer by the Saints. Meanwhile, New Orleans has signed an another free agent fullback for a bargain price, which is probably another sign the team will be moving in a diffferent direction.
The Saints rarely used a fullback during their playoff run, though Eckel did see a good deal of snaps in the team’s playoff victory over Arizona. He was also in on a failed third-and-goal running play (but made a solid block) on the second-quarter drive where the Colts stopped the Saints on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
Kicked out of the Navy in 2006, Eckel has played for four teams since his military commitment abruptly ended — Miami, New England, Philadelphia and New Orleans. His younger brother Kevin is now attending the Naval Academy and playing football.
Veterans in the Super Bowl
February 5th, 2010 | Football | Posted by Phil Creed
Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier won four Super Bowls in the 1970s after being seriously wounded in Vietnam in 1969. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)
While discussing former sailor Kyle Eckel’s return appearance to the Super Bowl, a co-worker asked me: How many guys who’ve played in the Super Bowl have also served in the military?
All I could think of the top of my head were legendary Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach, Rocky Bleier, the Steelers running back who returned to play after being wounded in Vietnam, Chad Hennings, the Cowboys defensive lineman who flew A-1os in the Air Force, and Paul Hornung, the Green Bay Packers Hall of Famer who almost missed the 1961 NFL championship game because of his duty in the Army Reserve.
After doing some research, here’s the list of Super Bowl vets I came up with so far. It’s probably woefully incomplete, so let me know who I’m missing:
Eckel still mum about getting booted from the Navy
February 3rd, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Kyle Eckel runs over an Air Force player during a 2003 game. ( Navy photo / JO1 Mark Faram)
Is it time for Kyle Eckel to come clean?
Yesterday at Super Bowl Media Day, CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel caught up with the New Orleans Saints fullback and former Naval Academy star. Doyel asked Eckel the obvious question: Why aren’t you still in the Navy?
Eckel, of course, was kicked out of the Navy in 2006 after less than two years on active duty. The Navy wouldn’t tell us why back then, and Doyel had no luck getting info from them either. When previously interviewed, Eckel himself has never offered any real insight into the issue.
Here’s what Eckel had to say to Doyel yesterday:
Again, I asked. It happened Tuesday when I got him alone at Super Bowl Media Day.
“No,” Eckel said — politely — when I asked him to tell me about his exit from the Navy. “No?” I said back to Eckel. “That’s it? ‘No’?”
“Right,” he told me — polite as can be. “No.”
The closest a reporter has come to getting to the bottom of Eckel’s record might be the Boston Globe’s Bob Hohler in his 2007 piece “Troubled Waters.” In it, Hohler outlines the trouble Eckel came across during his days at the Academy and after he graduated.
Judging by the comments on this blog and Doyel’s column, certain active-duty and former service members clearly loathe Eckel. Some folks don’t think this blog should even mention his NFL accomplishments, and a lot of folks aren’t happy to see him having a good time as a radio intern and playing in another Super Bowl.
Perseverance pays off for former Navy star
January 26th, 2010 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
New Orleans Saints running back Kyle Eckel stretches out during practice Jan. 21. For the second time in his NFL career, Eckel is heading to the Super Bowl. (Bill Haber / Staff)
Why is this man smiling?
Because he’s going to the Super Bowl. Again.
Former Navy running back Kyle Eckel punched his ticket to Miami along with the rest of his Saints’ teammates Sunday as New Orleans won a 31-28 overtime thriller over the Minnesota Vikings to win the NFC title.
WSJ: College Football’s Longest Drive
December 30th, 2009 | Football Marine Corps Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Navy quarterback Aaron Polanco jumps over a New Mexico player in the fourth quarter of Navy's 34-19 win in the 2004 Emerald Bowl. Polanco scored on runs of 14, 1 and 27 yards and completed a 61-yard touchdown pass in the win. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
There’s a great read in today’s Wall Street Journal about Navy’s 2004 Emerald Bowl win over New Mexico.
Yes, the 2004 Emerald Bowl. In the Wall Street Journal. Why, you wonder, would the Wall Street Journal (the Wall Street Journal!) devote space to a bowl game from five years ago? A bowl game of little consequence played before a crowd of less than 29,000?
Here’s why: This game contained the longest drive in college football history. Navy held the ball for 14 minutes and 26 seconds as they drove 26 plays over the course of the end of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter. The Mids didn’t even finish the drive with a touchdown; Geoff Blumenfeld booted a 22-yard field goal to put Navy ahead 34-19 with a little over two minutes left in the game. The amazing drive sealed the win for Navy, the first bowl victory for Navy since 1996.
For Navy fans, the drive has long been the stuff of legend, one of the many memorable moments of the remarkable turnaround the Navy football program has experienced this decade. And historically, there’s really nothing to match what Navy did that day. No NFL drives in the last 15 years have matched the length of Navy’s, and the Mids’ drive was the first to appear in the NCAA record book under the heading “Longest Drive in a Game,” according WSJ.
The article includes quotes from former players now serving as officers, including quarterback Aaron Polanco, who is a Marine Corps captain deployed to Afghanistan.
Read the whole thing here.
Eckel back with the Saints
December 22nd, 2009 | Football Navy | Posted by Phil Creed
Kyle Eckel runs over an Air Force player during a 2003 game. ( Navy photo / JO1 Mark Faram)
NFL.com is reporting that the New Orleans Saints have re-signed former Navy star Kyle Eckel.
Eckel was cut by the Saints a few weeks ago after being signed at midseason. He played sparingly in his first stint with the team, appearing in five games and carrying the ball two times for six yards.
The fullback graduated from the Naval Academy in 2004 and is in his fourth year in the NFL. He is the only service academy graduate currently on the roster of an NFL team.
The Saints are 13-1 after losing their first game of the season to the Dallas Cowboys on Saturday.