Relentless, tough, scrappy and unselfish.
These are some of the adjectives Navy football players and coaches used to describe senior snipe Brandon Chatman.
At 5-foot-9 and 174 pounds, Chatman is typically one of the smallest players on the field. However, he certainly doesn’t play like it.
The Fort Lauderdale native is a dynamic playmaker with the ball in his hands. Yet, Chatman’s touches vary each game and can be limited. Through 11 games, Chatman has 54 carries for 406 yards and three touchdowns, plus 16 catches for 158 yards.
“He embodies everything that our program is all about. Just from a work ethic standpoint, from being a competitor, being a fighter, unselfish,” Navy football coach Brian Newberry said. “He’s a guy that if Eli Heidenreich isn’t on our football team, or Alex Tezca, he might be a featured guy in our offense.
Even without the ball in hands, Chatman leaves his imprint on games.
“Really, he does whatever we ask him to,” Tecza said. “We ask him to go block these 240-pound linebackers and he doesn’t flinch. It’s unbelievable.”
The senior takes an equal amount of pride delivering crucial blocks as he does in scoring touchdowns. Chatman’s mom, Tianni Brown, always told him, “You either hit or get hit and taking a hit hurts a lot more.”
“It comes down to the mentality,” Chatman said. “The way I look at it is the fight’s not over until I win, and so I’m going to keep coming back. I’m going to keep swinging until I knock them down and then I’m still going.”
In a time where everyone wants the ball in their hands, Chatman’s sacrifice speaks to his high character. Navy snipes coach David Cole preaches being special with the ball in your hands, but also the immense value in being elite without it.
Chatman epitomizes that mantra for a Mids rushing attack that ranks as the nation’s best, averaging 298.4 yards per game. His mother and his youth football coaches instilled in him from an early age that what matters isn’t how many opportunities you get, but how you capitalize on them.
Against South Florida last season, Chatman met 6-foot-3, 230-pound standout Bulls linebacker Jhalyn Shuler on the edge. Chatman got knocked on his back but did his part to help spring Heidenreich for a 60-yard touchdown.
“At the end of the day, just play football, get the job done,” Chatman said. “It doesn’t have to be a pancake block. You don’t have to run them over, but as long as you get in the way and do your job and somebody makes a play, it’s going to work out.”
‘I want to be around that kid’
Chatman’s relentless mindset and ability to overcome adversity are a byproduct of his upbringing and reflective of the consistent doubts he faced because of his size. As a single mother, Brown raised Chatman and his two younger brothers on her own.
With Brown often working to provide for her sons, Chatman stepped up and assisted in any capacity he could. While his friends were hanging out and enjoying teenage life, Chatman helped care for his younger brothers.
In high school, Chatman made another sacrifice, moving into the garage so his bedroom could be rented out. He navigated the challenge of balancing familial responsibilities with school and football. Chatman’s homework was always completed before arriving home, sometimes with three practices after school.
“He was always there to do whatever I needed to try to take some of the load off of me as a mom because he knew that I was trying to do the best that I could do for him,” Brown said. “Even now to this day, he never wants to ask for anything.”
From age 6 to 12, Chatman played defensive line, using his size to navigate through small areas. He then played cornerback before transitioning to wide receiver as a freshman in high school.
Coming out of high school, Chatman didn’t have any Division I offers and was prepared to play at Warner University, an NAIA school in Lake Wales, Florida. However, three days before signing day, a spot opened at the Naval Academy after a recruit didn’t achieve the test scores they needed.
He contacted the coach at Warner and notified him of the decision to attend Navy. However, on that call Chatman vouched for his childhood best friend, Evens Valcourt, who ended up taking his spot at Warner.
Chatman spent the 2021-22 year at the Naval Academy Prep School before arriving in Annapolis as a plebe. He didn’t earn any playing time that year but still made an impact, voted by teammates as the junior varsity player of the year.
He started four games as a sophomore, then coaching staff changes hit before his junior year. Cole joined the staff as his new position coach and Drew Cronic took over as offensive coordinator. He instantly made a positive impression.
“This guy knocked on the door with a big old bright smile, full of energy, introduced himself and told me he was a slot back,” Cole recalled. “It was like, ‘I want to be around that kid.’ I didn’t know anything about his football at that point in time. I just knew he had an electric aura about him.”
Even in tough times, Chatman’s smile remains, a coping mechanism and a trait that he shares with his mom. That was always an adjustment for Chatman’s coaches who took time to understand why he smiled even when being yelled at. He earned the nickname “smiley” freshman year of high school.
Chatman’s excitement for others was returned 10-fold with an electric reaction on his first career touchdown in last year’s season-opening 49-21 win over Bucknell.
The snipe took a screen pass from Horvath 42 yards for a score in what Horvath lamented as “the most Brandon Chatman run of all time.” Chatman broke six tackles and tip-toed the sideline, displaying tremendous contact balance and shiftiness.
Chatman started all 13 games last season. He totaled 48 carries for 250 yards and three touchdowns on the ground as well as 18 receptions for 257 yards and four touchdowns through the air.
‘I’m never going to quit’
While Chatman’s shown flashes of brilliance throughout his career, the senior snipe delivered a breakout performance Oct. 25 in a 42-32 win over Florida Atlantic
The Mids coaches and teammates always knew he was capable, it was merely a matter of opportunity. He finished with a career-high 141 rushing yards on 10 carries, plus five catches for 43 yards.
Postgame, Newberry highlighted Chatman as “pound for pound, probably the toughest kid on our football team.”
“Every time I step on the field, I’m big on affirmations,” Chatman said. “I tell myself, ‘I’m going to be the best version of myself.’ We get to doing those hard workouts and you’re hurting and you want to quit. You just push yourself a little bit more. You tell yourself, ‘One more play, one more rep.’
“Then you get there, you push your limit, and you ultimately get better. The only way you’ll see me losing is if I’m passing out, falling out or something like that. I’m never going to quit.”
Heading into his final Army-Navy game, Chatman is eager for the smashmouth football that awaits Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium. The senior said the Black Knights need to want it more than him because he’s ready to go “hit somebody in their mouth.”
During America’s Game, you can count on No. 24 in Navy offense’s to never back down from a challenge.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing him shine,” Brown said. “It’s really bittersweet because he loves the game so much. It means a lot for him to actually make it through the academy. I’m just lucky to be his mom.”
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