The Navy denied a request by a recent academy graduate to delay his service in favor of playing for the NFL.
Cameron Kinley, the 2021 Naval Academy graduating class president and football team captain, hoped to be covered by a Trump-era directive in favor of allowing academy graduates to request a delay in their required years of service to play professional sports.
Kinley had already signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and participated in the team’s rookie minicamp with the Navy’s permission, according to ESPN.
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A spokesperson for acting Navy Secretary Thomas Harker suggested in a statement to the Washington Examiner that the decision not to allow Naval Academy students to delay their commissions this year was a universal one.
“Following discussions with senior Department of Navy leadership and in accordance with existing Department of Defense policy, acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Harker declined to forward requests from recent Naval Academy graduates to the Secretary of Defense, seeking to delay their commissions,” the representative said.
In 2017, the Department of Defense “rescinded its 2016 policy allowing military service academy and ROTC athletes to be recruited directly into professional sports.”
However, the department issued a memorandum at former President Donald Trump’s behest in 2019 that stated cadets or midshipmen could be nominated to delay their service “when the Secretary of the Military Department concerned determines there is a strong expectation that a Military Service Academy cadet or midshipman’s future professional sports employment will provide the DoD with significant favorable media exposure likely to enhance national level recruiting or public affairs missions.”
Kinley expressed “hopes that this situation will soon be overturned” in a statement following the decision.
“I am very aware of the commitment I made to service when I first arrived at the United States Naval Academy,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter on Monday. “I look forward to my career as a naval officer in the information warfare community. However, I am deserving of the opportunity to live out another one of my life-long dreams before fulfilling my service requirement.”
My personal statement regarding the Navy’s denial of my request to delay my service: pic.twitter.com/AsNLEPdF1Z
— Cameron Kinley (@ck3thethrill) June 7, 2021
Other academy graduates have been allowed to delay their service this year, and in 2020, Naval Academy attendee Malcolm Perry was allowed to delay his commissioning to play for the Miami Dolphins.
“Admission to the Naval Academy is an extensive and competitive process,” Harker’s spokesperson added. “The mission of the Naval Academy is to develop young men and women to commission as officers in the Navy or Marine Corps. When students accept admission and continue their education in this program, there is an understanding and acknowledgement that they will upon graduation be commissioned. Every Midshipman attends on the same terms and each has the same responsibility to serve. Exceptions to that commitment to serve have been rightfully rare.”
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Kinley, who is from Memphis, Tennessee, sent a letter to Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s office about the matter after the Navy’s decision was announced. The Washington Examiner reached out to the senator’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.
“It was my hope to show the value of a service academy education, the benefits of the armed forces and how being allowed the opportunity of a professional football career while still being committed to future service was a win-win for all,” Kinley added in his statement.
