Mids nose guard reaching milestone
Donald ‘Biscuit’ Berniard set to join elite company by playing in 4th rivalry game
Navy nose guard Donald Berniard Jr. is about to join an elite club.
On Saturday, Berniard will become one of only a handful of Midshipmen in the history of the historic rivalry to start in four ArmyNavy games.
Berniard, whose nickname since birth has been “Biscuit,” said he will be relying on that experience to keep him grounded this weekend.
“It’s important to not make the game too big for what it is. I will be sure to take a few extra moments to keep my emotions in check and try to just treat it like any other game,” he said. “I’ve played in this game three times before so it’s not going to be anything new to me.”
Priority number one for Berniard will be plugging gaps and taking on blockers so Navy’s linebackers can pursue and try to keep Army’s rushing attack in check. It’s a role that doesn’t come with gaudy statistics or a lot of headlines, but according to Navy defensive line coach Jerrick Hall, it’s one that Berniard has embraced.
“On the defensive line, great gap integrity comes down to the person you are. If you are a man of integrity, those things carry over onto the field,” Hall said. “Just to have Biscuit in there … he has become a coach on the field.
He’s able to come to the sideline and tell me exactly what’s happening.”
Both Hall and Berniard agree the ArmyNavy Game is almost always won or lost in the trenches, so how well Navy’s defensive line plays will have a huge impact on the outcome. Even though Army started the season throwing the ball a lot more than years past, they have gone back to their bread-and-butter
rushing attack in recent games, including a 365-yard effort in their last contest against Coastal Carolina.
Berniard believes their approach will continue Saturday.
“They are a service academy. They want to run the ball. I don’t know if their identity has ever shifted to trying to be a passing team. Their quarterback is a really good player, and we have to stop his charge,” Berniard said. “We have to find a way to slow their offensive line down. Whoever has the better offensive line and defensive line will win the game.”
That’s a huge responsibility, especially for a 6-foot nose guard who has been described as undersized for the position since his freshman year of high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“I remember going through the recruiting process with Donald. He’s not a 6-1 or 6-2 guy. If he was, a lot more teams would have been all over him. I think a lot of schools couldn’t get past that,” said Guy Mahaffey, Berniard’s high school coach at University Laboratory.
“He is the perfect example of big things coming in small packages. He spent the last four years playing among giants. You are talking about 600 pounds of pressure on almost every snap. He’s not as big as those guys, but he has the heart of a champion,” Hall said.
Undeterred by his height, Navy eventually came calling and offered Berniard an opportunity at the Naval Academy Prep School. One year later, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and with six games to go in the shortened 2020 season, the Midshipmen had found a new nose guard.
“I remember when we pulled him up from the scout team. We had some injuries, and he was starting his first game against East Carolina. We got on the plane and all the other players were asleep and I looked over and [Biscuit] is studying his playbook,” Hall said. “That was one of the first times I knew he was going to be special.”
Berniard has started every game since and amassed 100 tackles, including 9 ½ for loss, and three sacks. Biscuit’s best games have typically come on the biggest stage as almost one-third of his tackles (28) have come against Army and Air Force.
One would think that being a successful nose guard at the Division I level would require a demeanor consistent with a professional wrestler, but that’s just not the case with Berniard.
“When I first met Donald, he was super quiet. He was very serious. You could tell he had watched and studied a lot of football, but he was a hard student to get to know,” Mahaffey said.
Hall has watched Berniard steadily open up and show some personality during his time at the academy.
“The first thing that you will notice about Biscuit is his smile. He’s not loud. He’s not obnoxious. He just has this smile that brightens up a room and he is very humble when he speaks,” Hall said.
Mahaffey has also seen that smile from afar on television or videos posted to the Navy athletics website.
“The interviews he has done are what cracked me up the most. You can see the maturity in him,” he said. “He has gone from this stoic kid who you didn’t know if he was really enjoying himself to one that you can tell is having a lot of fun.”
Berniard’s even-keeled approach has helped him overcome many challenges throughout his Naval Academy career. In addition to the pandemic, Hall said Biscuit had to overcome a tough start academically, which could have meant the end of his playing career.
Berniard has also had a front-row seat to the changing landscape of college football, which he admitted has stacked the deck against the Midshipmen in numerous ways. On the field, new blocking rules have hindered Navy’s potent option attack. Off the field, the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) has altered the game.
“You can’t find a program like us anywhere [now]. We build a program from recruits,” Berniard said. “Now, it’s all about what kind of NIL deal can you get. How much can [a player] make. It’s definitely made it more challenging for [Navy].”
None of that matters for Berniard now and it won’t matter this Saturday. What matters above all else is winning the most important game of the season.
“Being able to sing second is second to none,” he said. “It has been a blessing to play here and if we beat Army, it would just be the icing on the cake … and the cherry on top.”
Regardless of the outcome, Biscuit is on track to graduate in May and be commissioned as a surface warfare officer. He hopes to be assigned to an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer based out of Mayport, Florida, or Norfolk, Virginia.
One thing Berniard is not sure about is whether he will follow in the footsteps of some former teammates and drop some of his football-playing weight in the coming months.
“I have seen some of the former [Navy] defensive linemen since they graduated and those guys look good. When I first met them, they were pretty tubby,” he joked. “So, I am definitely considering that.”