Army, Navy players see NFL route despite commitments

• A 2008 Department of Defense directive permits military graduates to pursue NFL in some cases.
• Decisions on players are made by each branch of the military, not the academies.
• Navy FB Eric Kettani was first player to be released from active duty after being granted deal.

"On the fields of friendly strife are sewn the seeds that on other days and other fields will bear the fruits of victory." -- Army General Douglas MacArthur, while superintendent at West Point (1919-1922)

PHILADELPHIA – The players in Saturday's Army-Navy game face five-year military commitments after they graduate. But a select few – after two years in the military – might have an option to try the playing fields of the NFL.

A Department of Defense directive that took effect in 2008 says graduates can apply for early release after two years of active duty to participate in pro sports. If it is granted, they serve in the military reserves and pay back part of their education costs.

"Exceptional personnel with unique talents and abilities may be released … when there is a strong expectation they will provide the Department with significant favorable media exposure likely to enhance national recruiting or public affairs efforts," says the directive.

Decisions on the requests are made by each branch of the military – not the academies.

"It's not West Point's decision. … It's a big Army decision," says Boo Corrigan, athletic director at Army.

Initially, the U.S. Navy put the option on hold, in a directive saying it was inappropriate "as the Nation is at war."

That changed in April. Former Navy fullback Eric Kettani, a 2009 graduate, was notified by the Navy he had been released from active duty after three years. The Capital newspaper of Annapolis, Md., reported that Kettani was granted the option in exchange for seven years of reserve duty and $60,000 in education costs. He is on the practice squad of the Washington Redskins.

"If they are cut, for example in football, and they're no longer part of the team, they've got to go back to active duty," says Chet Gladchuk, Navy athletic director.

Chad Hall, 2008 graduate of Air Force, spent two years stationed at a base in Utah. In 2010 and 2011, he was a wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles. He is now on the practice squad of the San Francisco 49ers.

Collin Mooney, a 2009 graduate of Army, served three years in the military. The fullback was recently promoted from the practice squad to the an roster of the Tennessee Titans.

The Department of Defense directive says, "Personnel will be expected to use their talents in a manner that generates interested for service in the United States Army Forces."

How does it play into the academies' football recruiting? The coaches in Saturday's game say they only discuss the option with recruits if they are asked about it.

"We make sure that our institutional mission statement is absolutely the cornerstone of our recruiting efforts,'' says Army's Rich Ellerson. "We're an Army at war. … So we give it to them straight. … None of that has to do with the NFL."

Navy's Ken Niumatololo: "We won't try to sugar coat anything and tell them come here and you're going to the NFL. If that is a possibility at the end, it may happen. But our selling point is come to one of the greatest leadership institutions in the country, play football at the highest level.''

Bruce Fleming, an English professor at the Naval Academy, has his own take.

In his view, playing major college football at institutions whose primary mission is to produce military officers in an "expensive boondoggle" for taxpayers." He sees the early leave option as a football recruiting tool.

"Giving a guy or two a waiver to play football is a way to encourage good ones come to service academies, i.e., more seriously compete in recruiting against other Div. I schools,'' Fleming says via email. "Calling it 'alternative service' is (bogus). Why not cut them all loose to go to law school or teach school as 'alternative service?' "

The option wasn't there for Navy's Roger Staubach, 1963 Heisman winner. He served his then four-year full military commitment before launching his Hall of Fame career as a quarterback with the Dallas Cowboys.

Billy Hurley III, a Navy golf standout who graduated in 2004, spent five years in the Navy before turning pro.

But there has been some wiggle room.

After basketball star David Robinson, a 1987 Navy graduate, spent two years on active duty, the Secretary of the Navy put him in a reserves training program for civil engineers that allowed him to begin his Hall of Fame career in the NBA.

While on Navy active on a ship in Long Beach, Calif., in 1986, former Navy running back Napoleon McCallum played that season with the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders. His Navy duties kept him away for three seasons after that. He didn't rejoin the Raiders until 1990.

Now, there is a directive for all three academies.

"It's not easy finding those selected individuals out there that have the talent to play Division I football but at the same time have the character and the leadership to be a lieutenant in the Army," says Army senior quarterback Trent Steelman.

Steelman is mainly a runner, not a passer. But he's an athlete. What if he gets offered an NFL tryout at another position?

"I would love it," he says. " … But at the same time, I know what my calling is. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen."