If you want to find what really makes Blake Horvath tick, you have to dig a little.

On the surface, there is no one who projects as more wholesome or polite. When Horvath wears his dress uniform, his shoes are polished to a mirror shine. His mother has become famous on the roster for dropping off baked goods for the team when she visits from Ohio.

With a 3.69 GPA, including a 4.0 during his junior year, he’s a candidate for the so-called “academic Heisman” — the award they give you for good grades.

Horvath seems less like the guy who wants to grind you into the turf — and more like the guy who wants to ask to date your daughter.

But, when he talks about the right topic, glimpses emerge of the chip on his shoulder beneath his pleasant facade. When he remembered how he got just one other FBS offer — at wide receiver — Horvath’s nostrils flared a bit, as if steam was about to pour out of them.

“All those schools that told me that I couldn’t play quarterback — you know, it’s interesting,“ he said, with a mischievous inflection. ”It’s funny. I wonder what they’d say now."

That is the real Horvath, the one who is on the cusp of leading Navy to back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since ... ever.

The squeaky-clean image is camouflage for a determined competitor who has a chance to go down as one of the all-time greats under center in Naval Academy history. With a win on Saturday, Horvath can make history for his program and show the country how far he has helped lead the Midshipmen.

“I don’t know if there’s a better fit anywhere in the country for what we do offensively than Blake,” coach Brian Newberry said. “He has the ‘it’ factor. He elevates the guys around him. They have a certain confidence in him when he’s on the field.”

It’s conceivable that Horvath never would have played quarterback for Navy.

When he came to the academy — a decision he made somewhat independently of football — the Midshipmen had in mind that the 6-foot-2 athlete would be better suited as a safety. He had set school records at Hilliard Darby High but primarily as a rusher. He attempted only 65 passes as the senior quarterback, a huge reason schools didn’t pick up on his passing potential.

“I think it was just that I didn’t throw enough so schools didn’t think I could do it,” Horvath said. “I was like, ‘OK, you know, whatever you guys say, but I know what I can do.’”

Navy gave him a shot to throw, and while Horvath’s legs do a ton of work in the offense, so does his arm.

He’s one of just three players in school history to be top 10 in rushing yards and passing yards, and his career 165.1 quarterback rating is higher than any other service academy player with at least 150 attempts. This year, he broke a school record for total offense against Air Force, piling up 339 yards passing and 130 rushing in a 34-31 victory when Navy needed him to deliver on his passes.

Keenan Reynolds, Navy’s all-time passing touchdowns leader who now does its color commentary, sees a similar fire in Horvath to his own. Old slights would motivate him to demolish teams that overlooked his talent.

“When you play against these schools and you torch them, you think, ‘Yeah, I bet you wish got me — me and your quarterback don’t even belong on the same field,’” Reynolds said. “He’ll never say that. But I’ll talk trash for Blake.”

When Horvath’s class arrived, Navy had seen better days. His first season was a 4-8 campaign that ended with longtime coach Ken Niumatalolo getting fired. Newberry’s first season was a 5-7 slog that saw Navy finish with one of the worst offenses in the country. Horvath won the starting role midseason of his sophomore year, but he was knocked out with injury in his first game as the starter.

But in 2024 Navy surged and Horvath was at the forefront. One of his first big games was a 56-44 win over Memphis in which he accounted for 403 yards of total offense and six touchdowns. One of the game’s pivotal plays was a 90-yard touchdown run right up the gut, as Horvath outran all of Memphis’ defensive backs in the fourth quarter.

“Memphis is a very physical team, so Blake was getting tackled all game,” recalled Landon Robinson, Horvath’s fellow senior captain. “Then being able to break that run all the way down the field — I was like, ‘Man, this guy’s good. He’s fast.’ I think that’s when things started to click for him.”

Although he’s only really been a starter for two seasons, Horvath has made the most of them. He’s the first Navy quarterback to throw for 1,000 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons (the first college quarterback to do that since Lamar Jackson in 2016 and 2017).

In games when he’s started, the Midshipmen are 19-3.

Although Horvath said he’s honored to see his name rising in the record book along with those of Reynolds, Roger Staubach and Malcolm Perry, it’s the win column that motivates him. The Midshipmen suffered losses at Notre Dame (Horvath missed the game with an injury) and North Texas, and they needed to win at Memphis for even an outside shot at the American Conference championship game.

Horvath said Navy’s offense heard rumblings out of Memphis that the Tigers had adjusted to the Midshipmen’s Wing-T scheme and would be more prepared in a rematch. Even though Navy ended up not making the conference championship, a 28-17 Thanksgiving win, which Horvath sealed with a rushing touchdown, was especially sweet.

“We went back to our base, base stuff [in the offense] and still beat them,” Horvath said. “So all these teams, you know, all the people who said, ‘Oh, they’re going to get figured out after a year,’ well, like, now what? Right? Like, it didn’t seem like you all figured it out.”

It takes prodding to get Horvath to preen this much — he largely is deferential to his coaches and teammates. Offensive coordinator Drew Cronic has played a huge role in the turnaround in the last two yeras, and Horvath knows he wouldn’t have set so many passing marks without teammate Eli Heidenreich, who is Navy’s all-time leader in receiving yards.

But, assuming the Midshipmen close the season with wins in Saturday’s Army-Navy game and in the Liberty Bowl against Cincinnati (a school just 120 miles from Horvath’s hometown), this era of Navy football is arguably its best ever. Reynolds thinks Horvath has done enough to establish himself as one of the Midshipmen’s greats.

“It’s his poise — he’s really unflappable,” Reynolds said. “He can make the big play with his legs. He can make the big play with his arm. For about four or five years before he got there, we were really struggling on offense without much of an identity. But Blake brought some revival to Navy football over the last couple of years.”

The legacy, in some sense, depends on the finish. Even as their Navy tenures come to a close for Horvath and the seniors and they’ve reflected on how far they’ve come, there’s much to play for, starting with knocking off Army once again.

“We knew what we didn’t want this program to look like anymore, and it fueled us,” Horvath said. “Knowing that we have two more games left, it’s surreal at this moment. But I know the guys are excited. I know I’m excited.”