NORFOLK, Va. – Saturday’s game will mark the final home game for this year’s 12 seniors of the Old Dominion football squad. These 12 seniors will be honored on the field in a pregame ceremony.
Aquante Thornton –CB - Virginia Beach, Va.
Thornton has played in all 11 games this season at cornerback and on special teams. He has recorded seven tackles so far this season. Thornton had a solid spring that earned him a scholarship. For his career, he has played in 15 games and making eight tackles.
Satchel Ziffer – P/K – Lancaster, Pa./Pasadena CC
Ziffer has appeared in 16 games in his ODU career including 11 games this season. He took over place-kicking duties with five games left in the 2014 season and went a perfect 12-for-12 on extra points and 3-of-5 on field goals, with two of them game-winners with no time left. This year, he has primarily handled the punting duties punting 54 times, for an average of 40 yards per punt. He has dropped 14 punts inside the 20 and eight punts of more than 50 yards, including a career long of 64 twice this year.
Henric Segers – K – Glen Allen, Va./Henrico
Segers has played in 15 career games handling kickoffs and place-kicking duties. He won ODU’s first Conference USA game with a 25-yard field goal with no time on the clock last season at Rice. For his career he is 32-of-33 on extra points and 3-of-5 on field goal attempts. He recorded 10 career touchbacks on kickoffs.
Fellonte Misher – S – Washington, D.C./Coolidge
A three-year starter Saturday will be Misher’s 36th straight start at safety for the Monarchs. He is third on the team and 12th in Conference USA with 84 tackles. He has three interceptions, five pass breakups, two forced fumbles, 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack on the year. Earlier in the year Misher had 14 tackles in the win over Charlotte, which is tied for the third most tackles in school history. He is second in school history with 273 career tackles and interception return yards and third in school history with seven interceptions and tied for third with 14 pass breakups.
Malique Johnson – LB – Glen Burnie, Md./Annapolis Area Christian
Johnson has played in all 11 games so far this season recording 17 tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble. He has 78 tackles in 45 career games with 2.5 sacks. He had 24 tackles and a forced fumble as a true freshman in 2012 in ODU’s CAA Championship winning season.
Joe Pulisic – H – Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee
Saturday will be Pulisic’s 36th career game played for Old Dominion as a punter and holder. Pulisic has seven career punts for a 37-yard average. He has performed flawlessly the last three years as the holder for all extra points and field goals.
Martez Simpson – LB – Madison, Miss./Madison Central/Pearl River
A two-year starter at linebacker Simpson is fourth on the team with 68 tackles, seven tackles for loss and has two sacks. Last week at Southern Missed he recovered a fumble and raced 33 yards for a touchdown. In his two year ODU career Simpson is 10th in school history with 143 career tackles.
Kohl Adams-Hurd – LB – Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs/LA Pierce College
A junior college transfer, Adams-Hurd has battled injuries in his time at Old Dominion but played in six games this season with 12 tackles, half a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.
Reece Schmidt – LB – Simi Valley, Calif./Simi Valley/LA Pierce College
A teammate of Kohl Adams-Hurd at LA Pierce College, Schmidt missed the first five games of the season with an injury but has played in the last six on special teams, recording one tackle and playing on the kickoff return team. He has played in 15 career games with five tackles.
Tyler Burns – OL – Norwalk, Calif./Chino/Cerritos College
The only offensive lineman for ODU to start every game this season, Burns has started 15-straight games at right guard for the Monarchs. He has played in 22 career games and helped running back Ray Lawry become ODU’s first ever 1,000 yard rusher.
Connor Mewbourne – OL – Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial
Mewbourne has played in 43 career games with 30 starts. He has played in all 11 games this season starting nine games, including the last seven in a row at left tackle. He has been a versatile offensive lineman for the Monarch playing games at right guard, right tackle and left tackle the last four seasons. He helped former Monarch Taylor Heinicke pass for more than 14,000 career yards and aid Ray Lawry to ODU’s first ever 1,000 yard rusher and more than 2,000 rushing yards in his career.
Poncho Barnwell – DE – Rochester, N.Y./East Rochester/Nassau CC
Barnwell has 28 tackles and two sacks on the season playing in all 11 games with nine starts. A junior college transfer, Barnwell has played in 23 career games with 20 starts and has notched 62 tackles and 5.5 sacks. He scored a defensive touchdown for the Monarchs last season recovering a fumble in the end zone at Vanderbilt.