Green’s settling into a familiar new role
Mids cornerbacks coach held that same position 3 seasons ago
“I never left the program. I was always here and coaching them along the way. Therefore, the transition back to me was not as steep as it could have been with someone else.”
— Robert Green, Navy cornerbacks coach
When Michael McMorris and Jamal Glenn were plebes, they had Robert Green as their cornerbacks coach.
Navy football employed two different cornerbacks coaches in 2019 and 2020.
Now as seniors at the academy, Glenn and McMorris have been reunited with their first collegiate position coach.
After spending two seasons as a defensive assistant, Green has been reassigned to oversee the cornerbacks and could not be happier about that turn of events.
“I was super excited and beyond ecstatic about the opportunity to have my own room back again,” said Green, who believes his continued presence on staff makes the adjustment to having a new coach easier for the players.
“I never left the program. I was always here and coaching them along the way. Therefore, the transition back to me was not as steep as it could have been with someone else.”
Green willingly stepped aside when Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo hired his best friend Brian Norwood as cornerbacks coach for the 2019 season. Norwood mentored that position group when he was previously an assistant at Navy from 1995-99.
Green was a three-year letterman as a cornerback for Navy from 1994-1996 and therefore played for Norwood, who would become a defensive coordinator at Power Five conference schools Baylor and Kansas State after spending seven seasons at Penn State. The Hawaii native, who was a boyhood buddy of Niumatalolo, left Navy to become assistant head coach and passing game coordinator at UCLA.
“In the defensive back room of college football, Coach Norwood is royalty,” said Green, adding he benefited as a coach from working alongside Norwood.
Niumatalolo replaced Norwood with James Adams, who came highly recommended by Navy defensive coordinator Brian Newberry. Adams departed the program after just one year to become an assistant at Purdue under defensive coordinator Brad Lambert.
In need of a new cornerbacks coach for the third time in three years, Niumatalolo chose to reinstate Green and hire Joe Coniglio as a general defensive assistant. Glenn, who has solidified himself as the starter at field corner, feels blessed to have been taught by Norwood, Adams and Green.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have three great cornerbacks coaches in my time here,” he said. “They definitely have some differences, but some of the philosophy and the
way they approach day-to-day things are somewhat the same.”
Green was on the defensive practice field to observe how Norwood and Adams coached, and also participated in meetings among the defensive staff. He understands the defensive system installed by Newberry and is merely a different voice preaching the same concepts.
“Transitioning to Coach Green was not that big of a change, really,” said Glenn, a Laurel native who was recruited by Green. “He knows the defense extremely well and helps us understand how we fit.”
Green, entering his seventh season as an assistant, is famous for being active and vocal on the practice field. He loves chasing the cornerbacks around while barking instructions, yelling encouragement or correcting mistakes.
“Coach Green brings a lot of juice and I love that about him,” Glenn said. “He will always bring that energy.”
Green, who was a Marine Corps officer for two decades, retired in 2017 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The 47-year-old Atlanta native recently said: “I haven’t had a bad day since the eighth grade, when a guy stole my girlfriend.
“I’m an old man, but I’m still a young coach in terms of number of years having coached. I always try to bring some energy to the table because I know energy is contagious.”
Green feels good about the cornerbacks unit he inherited with the two seniors, McMorris and Glenn, providing steady leadership. McMorris became a starter toward the end of his freshman season and has been a reliable presence at boundary corner ever since.
The Georgia native has played in 32 games with 23 starts and amassed 105 tackles and 16 pass breakups in his career. Although undersized at 5-foot-9 and 173 pounds, McMorris has consistently held his own against taller, stronger receivers.
“Michael may be one of the best players on our team and one of the best cornerbacks in the conference,” Green said. “He brings a ton of experience and a ton of knowledge. If you look at his body of work and really diagnose it, I don’t think many teams have completed balls on him.”
Green said McMorris is the fastest player on the Navy football team and boasts a 40-inch vertical leap. Some NFL scouts have expressed interest in McMorris, whom Green described as “quick as a cat” and a “legit pro prospect.”
“We trust matching Michael up with the best receivers in the conference,” Green said.
Glenn made two starts late in the season in place of McMorris, who missed the Memphis and Tulsa games with an injury. He played in a total of 10 games with most of the action coming on special teams as a member of the punt, punt return and kickoff coverage units.
The 5-11, 181-pound product of the Maret School in D.C. acquitted himself well while totaling 14 tackles, a pass breakup and forced fumble. After serving on the scout team for two seasons, Glenn was ready to perform in a more prominent role.
“I think that’s just a testament to how our cornerback room operates,” he said. “Even throughout all the coaching changes, we have always embraced the next-man-up mantra. Even if you are third or fourth on the depth chart, we are always prepared and ready to play.”
While acknowledging it took time to adjust to the speed and intensity of playing cornerback in games, Glenn helped ease the learning curve by spending significant time in the film room. As a New England Patriots fan, his favorite player is four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
Like Gilmore, the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, Glenn likes to bring an intelligent approach to the position.
“I pride myself on trying to be a smart player — using what I learn from film study and applying it to games,” he said. “I like to watch film and put myself in position to succeed — just knowing down and distance, knowing what routes teams run out of certain formations.”
Glenn worked hard with the Navy football strength and conditioning staff to become more explosive and also put considerable effort into improving his footwork. Green said Glenn is “no longer a role player” and instead an important starter the coaching staff is “counting on big-time.”
Green fell in love with Glenn during the recruiting process after learning he rode three buses and a commuter train before walking a mile to get from his home in Laurel to the Maret School.
“What attracted us to Jamal is that he’s a kid who is a grinder and a worker,” Green said. “He’s made himself into a Division I cornerback by simply working hard every day.
“When he got his shot last season, he made the most of it. [He has] awesome character.”
McMorris sustained a minor hamstring injury midway through August training camp and has been held out for precautionary reasons. He is expected to be in the starting lineup for the Sept. 4 opener against Marshall.
Newberry and Green have seen enough of McMorris to know what he can do and have therefore chosen to give the practice repetitions to less experienced players.
Junior Ebissa Sambo has been working with the first unit as the boundary corner and has separated himself from the other contenders.
Another Laurel resident who helped Reservoir High capture the first region championship in program history, Sambo played in seven of 10 games last season as a member of the punt return unit.
Green said Sambo is the next man up and is excited about his potential. Glenn said his Prince George’s County neighbor has been “very, very impressive during this camp.”
Senior Caleb Clear, who started three of the nine games he played last season, opened preseason camp as the backup at field corner but was forced to retire due to injuries. Green said freshman Mbiti Williams, a Georgia native who spent the 2019-2020 school year at the Naval Academy Prep School, is pushing hard for the backup job behind Glenn.
Sophomore Dre Grace (Port St. Lucie, Florida) and Romaine Robinson (Salisbury Mills, New York) are third on the depth chart.