Former West Point players say Army-Navy game is special, but you have to play in it to understand it

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) -- Officers Luke Langdon and Quinten Parker were Army football teammates for four years – graduating from West Point in 2019.

Today, they are classmates at the Captains Career Course on Fort Moore.

They know what Saturday’s Army-Navy game means.

They have been in it.

“I watched the game growing up in high school," Parker said. "It’s the only game on TV that day."

It didn't prepare the Utah native and West Point tight end for what he walked into.

"But I didn’t understand the magnitude of it, especially being there playing in the game, everything that goes into that game," he said. "There’s a lot. So, it’s big.”

Langdon was a backup quarterback from California.

“Once you enter that tunnel, you just kind of zone out," he said. "And all you hear is the rumbling of the crowd. And the roars of the Apaches overhead. And the coaches leading you on the field. There is nothing like it.”

Parker and Langdon went 3-1 in their career against Navy and part of a squad that snapped a 14-game Midshipmen winning streak in 2016.

But they know this opponent and game is special. Because it’s like looking in a mirror.

“It’s a wild concept," Langdon said. "Because when we go out on the field, all we are thinking about is destroying the other person on the other side of the ball. But at the end of the day this game has so much history, and there is so much honor. It’s a game of honor, right? We honor those in the past, in the present and what’s going to happen in the future. And at the end of the day, that’s your brother in a different branch.”

Parker said it is a game of respect..

"On the field, we are enemies, and we are going to give it to our last drop to beat each other," he said. "And to know that they put in the same effort that I put in all season for that game, just builds that trust moving forward in our military careers. They have that work ethic and that drive that I can rely on. And they can rely on from us.”

The uniforms both teams wear are as symbolic as the game itself. This year, Army will wear uniforms honoring the 3rd Infantry Division. Parker and Langdon said the uniforms Army wore in their time at West Point were special.

And it's not hard to pick a favorite.

“The Big Red 1 uniforms were pretty slick," said Parker, will be in Foxborough, Mass., Saturday for the game.

Langdon loved the 10th Mountain Division jerseys that West Point wore in 2017.

"The all-white in the snow game," he said. "We had an advantage with that being camouflaged. And being on the ground, you know being hard to find. I think that helped us in the victory there.”

But there’s one thing they do agree on.

“Go Army. Beat Navy.”