Zach Abey

Abey entered the 2015 season as the fourth string quarterback, sitting behind Keenan Reynolds, Tago Smith, and Will Worth. He did not make a single in game appearance in 2015.

File:Army-Navy Game 2016 - Navy Photo 15.jpg

Abey began the 2016 season sitting behind Smith and Worth, but moved to second string after Smith suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener against Fordham and Worth became the starter. He appeared in the games the team played against East Carolina and SMU, performing mop-up duty during the large Navy wins. During the 2016 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, Worth injured his foot and Abey took over for the rest of the game. The Midshipmen lost 34–10 to the Temple Owls. Abey was the starter for the Army–Navy Game, where the Midshipmen lost 21–17 to their arch rival the Army Black Knights for the first time since 2001. He also started for the 2016 Armed Forces Bowl, where Navy lost 48–45 to Louisiana Tech.

Abey, now a junior, earned the spot of starting quarterback. In his third career start against Florida Atlantic, Abey rushed for 200 yards and passed for 100 yards. This achievement made it the first time in Naval Academy history that a Midshipmen quarterback has done so in a single game. He was named the AAC Co-Offensive Player of the Week.{{Cite web|url=http://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/15083|title = Week 1 Football Players of the Week}}

Through the first five weeks of the 2017 season, Abey ranked fifth among all Division I FBS players with 656 rushing yards.{{cite web|title=FBS (I-A) Player Rushing Statistics - 2017|work=ESPN.com|access-date=October 1, 2017|url=http://www.espn.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/rushing/sort/rushingYards/year/2017/group/80}} Despite the Midshipmen starting the season 5–0, Abey began showing signs of struggling with reading defenses and pitching the ball on perimeter option players (forcing him to instead run up the middle through the line of scrimmage). In October, he suffered a concussion against UCF and a shoulder injury against Temple.{{cite web|url=https://www.pressboxonline.com/2017/11/10/zach-abey-questionable-as-navy-looks-to-rebound-against-smu|title=Zach Abey Questionable As Navy Looks To Rebound Against SMU|work=PressBox|date=November 10, 2017|access-date=December 28, 2017}} Slotback Malcolm Perry replaced him at quarterback with the exceptions of the Notre Dame (injury to Perry) and Houston (moved back to slotback) games. Perry was eventually named the starter for the Military Bowl against Virginia. With his benching, Abey was considered for a fullback role, though head coach Ken Niumatalolo opted to keep him at quarterback as the backup.{{cite news|last=Wagner|first=Bill|url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-malcolm-takes-the-helm-20171226-story.html|title=Malcolm takes the helm: Perry era at Navy begins with Thursday's Military Bowl|newspaper=Capital Gazette|date=December 26, 2017|access-date=December 28, 2017}}

In the Military Bowl, Abey recorded 88 rushing yards as part of a Navy bowl-record 452 total yards on the ground, along with a bowl-high five rushing touchdowns, becoming the first player to score five rushing touchdowns in an FBS bowl game since Kareem Hunt in 2015. He was named the game's Most Valuable Player.{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2017/12/28/abeys-5-tds-help-navy-beat-virginia-49-7-in-military-bowl/108979868/|title=Zach Abey's 5 TDs help Navy beat Virginia 49-7 in Military Bowl|newspaper=USA Today|date=December 28, 2017|access-date=December 28, 2017}}{{cite news|last=Wagner|first=Bill|url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-military-bowl-gamer-20171212-story.html|title=Quarterback tandem of Abey, Perry leads Navy to 49-7 rout of Virginia in Military Bowl|newspaper=Capital Gazette|date=December 28, 2017|access-date=December 28, 2017}}

Abey concluded the 2017 season with 1,413 rushing yards, the second highest in school history behind Napoleon McCallum's 1,587 in 1983.

Perry became the permanent starting quarterback for the 2018 season, while Abey was moved to wide receiver.{{cite news|last=Wagner|first=Bill|url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-abey-changes-positions-20180430-story.html|title=Navy moves former starting quarterback Zach Abey to wide receiver|newspaper=Capital Gazette|date=April 30, 2018|access-date=May 2, 2018}} After starting six games at receiver and missing the game against Air Force with a knee injury, Abey became the backup quarterback against Houston behind Garret Lewis when Perry moved to slotback. Abey returned to the starting quarterback role against Cincinnati.{{cite news|last=Wagner|first=Bill|url=https://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/navy_sports/ac-cs-navy-notebook-20181106-story.html|title=Abey happy to be back at the helm of Navy offense|newspaper=Capital Gazette|date=November 7, 2018|access-date=June 19, 2019}}

Navy ended the season 3–10.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in May 2019, Abey was an assistant coach for the Midshipmen through the 2019 season before serving as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps.{{cite news|last1=Pacella|first1=Rachael|last2=Mann|first2=Alex|url=https://www.capitalgazette.com/news/naval_academy/commissioning_week/ac-cn-usna-graduation-20190524-story.html|title=Naval Academy superintendent says Class of 2019 has record graduation rate, number of students heading to grad school|newspaper=Capital Gazette|date=May 24, 2019|access-date=June 19, 2019}} {{as of|2024}}, Abey is a Marine captain.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://navysports.com/sports/football/roster/zach-abey/1148 Navy Midshipmen bio]

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Category:20th-century births

Category:Living people

Category:American football quarterbacks

Category:Navy Midshipmen football players

Category:Place of birth missing (living people)

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)