As is often said here, each nomination is like having another lottery ticket. If USNA wants to offer him an appointment, they now have an additional source to charge it to.
The SAs encourage applicants to apply for all noms for which they are eligible, precisely to gain flexibility, so for candidates they really want for this cycle, they have plural places to charge the appointment. They only have a handful of discretionary Supe’s noms, and the unicorn that is the VP nom, to use with great care. They will only pick so many from the national pool, per the applicable rules. There are caps on the appointments chargeable to service-related authorities.
If an LOA is in hand, and just one nom, yes, that is the minimalist combo.
It only takes one nom plus being 3Q to be in play for an appointment. Having more noms increases the number of playing fields an applicant can compete on.
