As homecomings go, Navy football player Chris Gesell touches all the bases, including jumping with two feet on his metaphorical home plate, San Diego. Aside from using a baseball metaphor for a football game, that’s quite a story and lifetime memory.
Gesell grew up in San Diego before he left for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., his father is a retired Navy pilot, his mother works for the Navy and he is a Midshipmen senior starting right guard coming home to play Notre Dame on Saturday night in a Navy town, one that is home to the largest naval fleet in the world.
“I’ve got 25 tickets so far, but I need to get about 30,” Gesell said in a phone interview. “I have a lot of family and friends coming. I also have my high school coaches and more friends coming. It doesn’t get any better than coming back to play in San Diego against a high-profile team like Notre Dame.”
This is the 92nd edition of the Navy-Notre Dame series, with the 2-5 Midshipmen facing the No. 3-ranked Irish (7-0) at 8 p.m. ET in SDCCU Stadium. Five extra tickets are hard to come, even in a 65,000-seat stadium, with an expected sellout.
When Navy is the home team, it takes the marquee game to NFL or large stadiums since Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium seats only 34,000 fans. But until now the game has never been played west of Chicago, the host site in 1928.
How’s that timing for a San Diego homecoming?
Gesell has had the date circled on his calendar since May, 2015, his senior year at St. Augustine, when Navy announced it was bringing the Notre Dame rivalry to San Diego. He had already committed by then, so the homecoming was a surprise bonus.
He also has an extended family among the 35,000 Navy personnel in San Diego. Some Naval Academy graduates, including former football players, that worked with Gesell’s mother encouraged him to play for the Midshipmen.
His family’s military background made the recruiting pitches from Navy’s coaches easier for him than some football targets without a military background or little knowledge of the academy’s benefits that come with a demanding military-based education.
“I always knew about the academies and grew up watching the Army-Navy Game,” he said. “I had a good background. It’s tough coming here, but you adjust.
“I knew what I was getting into with my dad in the military 28 years. I was always disciplined at home, so it wasn’t too much of an adjustment. I didn’t go to NAPS (the prep school) to get that military exposure, but my roommate (startling linebacker) Hudson Sullivan did. He made it a lot easier for me.
“The tough part was coming all the way across country away from my family for the first time. My teammates helped.”
What Gesell didn’t know during his early years was if he’d play in the San Diego game. Injuries kept him from taking a snap his first three seasons.
But when he was finally healthy for 2018 spring ball, he earned a No. 1 designation on the depth chart. The Notre Dame game is his eighth straight start. He’s packing all his Notre Dame and Army-Navy Game tradition – the latter scheduled for Dec. 8 in Philadelphia – into one season.
“I battled injuries early in my career,” he said. “I had to bide my time and learn from the older guys in front me. I finally got my opportunity, and I’m trying to make the most of it.”
Despite not seeing the field, he was confident he could play if his body would allow him. He said Navy assistant coach Ashley Ingram, who coaches the centers and guards, kept encouraging him he was good enough to play if healthy.
“For me it was about remaining confident,” he said. “It’s tough when you’re down with injuries and can’t play. You’ve got to work on the mental reps; that’s how I learned the playbook. Now I can work against any front. I know everything that is going on. I wanted to show the coaches I can I can do it. They had faith in me and I’ve been able to put it together on Saturdays.”
There is no home plate in SDCUU Stadium since Major League Baseball’s Padres moved downtown to Petco Park in 2004. The NFL’s Chargers also left the stadium in 2017 for Los Angeles.
But it’s still football field that San Diego State uses. The gridiron stripes will allow Gesell a chance to jump across the sideline with two feet. That’s close enough for a homecoming that only needs an upset of Notre Dame for a perfect ending.
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