Keenan Reynolds will leave Navy football as a record holder both in the school and Football Bowl Subdivision ranks, but he won’t take everything. The program retired Reynolds’ No. 19 jersey.
Reynolds joins Roger Staubach (12), Joe Bellino (27) and Napoleon McCallum (30) as the only Navy players to have their number retired.
A true commander of the triple-option attack, Reynolds eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark on the ground in each of the last three seasons. He ended with a Navy-best 4,559 yards, which ranks 47th on the all-time list.
Most impressively, however, Reynolds shattered Montee Ball’s record of 77 rushing touchdowns and finished with 88. Reynolds’ season-best mark was 31 in 2013, and he notched at least 23 in each of the last two seasons.
Plus, he threw for 4,001 yards and 31 touchdowns while only tossing eight interceptions. Yes, Reynolds only attempted 462 passes in his college career and Navy’s route tree was undeniably small, but the important takeaway is he protected the football.
And when you don’t commit turnovers, you win. Reynolds guided Navy to four consecutive bowl games and registered 32 total victories — the most ever by a quarterback at the school.
Last season, the Midshipmen won 11 games for the first time in program history. As for Reynolds, he earned third-team AP All-American honors and finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting.
That didn’t translate to NFL attention, though.
Reynolds must transition to running back to have a chance at cracking the league, and not receiving an invite to the NFL combine isn’t helping the former Navy standout prove he’s worth a flier in the draft. According to Nate Davis of USA Today, Reynolds is using the snub as motivation.
His NFL future is a question mark, but Reynolds provided an answer for every test at Navy. The proof is in the retired jersey.