Navy quarterback Blake Horvath having a historic season - ESPN

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — On a hot, sunny, September morning, hundreds of Midshipmen, dressed in their matching fatigues for a «tactical Thursday,» crisscrossed Navy's campus to get to their next class, identical black backpacks hanging from their shoulders.

Midstride, a Midshipman peered out from under the brim of his required hat to say good morning with a huge grin.

«That's our quarterback,» Navy fullback Daba Fofana told a nearby visitor.

Listed at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds, junior Blake Horvath easily blends in with his classmates on the Yard during school hours — his 3.53 GPA as an operations research major included. When it comes to Navy quarterbacks, though, Horvath stands alone as the best dual-purpose quarterback the program has seen — and probably the only one in the country who wasn't a household name entering this season but has aligned himself statistically with some of the best in the sport.

The highest a Navy quarterback has ever finished in QBR — which ESPN has been tracking since 2004 — is sixth, by Malcolm Perry in 2019. Horvath entered this week ranked No. 3 in total QBR but for about a month was No. 1 — a spot that in years past has been reserved for the likes of Jayden Daniels (2023), Ohio State's C.J. Stroud (2021), Alabama's Mac Jones (2020), LSU's Joe Burrow (2019) and Oklahoma's Kyler Murray (2018).

Just a few first-round NFL draft picks.

«And there's Blake!» said Navy quarterbacks coach Ivin Jasper with a smile.

Not bad for an unassuming Ohio kid who was recruited by a few Division II schools and Mid-American schools Toledo, Ball State and Miami (Ohio) — as a wide receiver and safety.

«People do not understand,» Jasper said. «Blake is really sneaky athletic. You see some high school film where he's going off