By Harry Minium
You feel the energy from the moment you walk onto the Old Dominion University football practice field.
At first, you surmise it's the pent-up desire to play football from players who missed spring practice, most of summer practice and only recently began lacing up the cleats and putting on their helmets this fall.
And in the four practices I saw over nine days, the Monarchs clearly worked hard, as hard as any ODU team I've seen.
But then you realize, that's only a small part of what you're hearing.
It's the emotion from the coaches, the constant yelling, clapping, cajoling, criticizing and encouraging from the youngest coaching staff in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
The zest, idealism and energy from these young guys have revved up the atmosphere at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex to a level I haven't seen in nearly a decade of covering ODU football.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, my first day there, strength and conditioning coach Dwight Galt IV has been yelling so much that he's practically lost his voice. Yet he's screaming as loud as he can, encouraging guys to work hard.
Offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell and defensive coordinator Blake Seiler, both in such good physical condition that they look like they could play today, are reserved compared to some of their counterparts, but are still vocal.
Running backs coach Tony Lucas and cornerbacks coach Leon Wright, who also look like they live in the weight room, are even more reserved. Yet, at times, they also get animated.
But I've never seen anyone like wide receivers coach Mark Dupuis (his last name is French and sounds like "Dupwee"), who came with head coach Ricky Rahne from Penn State.
Dupuis bounces around the field like a wind-up toy. All two hours of each practice.
He never stops moving and rarely stops talking. "How about you finish it and get yourself a touchdown," he yells at a wide receiver who caught a pass, but then stopped running.
"We're starting to look like we're a real ballclub," he said after a few receivers catch passes.
When Isaiah Paige, a freshman from Varina High School just outside of Richmond, drops a pass, Dupuis shows frustration, jumps several feet into the air and orders him to line up and try another.
Meanwhile, a rap song begins to play on the stereo blaring from the end zone, and Dupuis shakes his head and starts to dance from the hips down. Then he does what he does before every practice play from scrimmage, he digs himself into a stance like he was playing again.
He's into every play as if he were lining up against Ohio State.
Need I say that he's a ton of fun to watch?
This time, Paige snags a nice reception over the middle and Dupuis leaps up and praises him. What he said, I'll never know. All the coaches are wearing masks – we are in the middle of a pandemic, after all – and are often difficult to understand.
But whatever he said brought a smile to Paige's face.
Next time, Paige grabs a longer pass, and it's another good catch, and Dupuis is again jumping. He then tells Paige had he caught it in a different manner and made a different move, "you could have had a touchdown."
It was a pattern that would continue throughout the week. Although ODU's next game is 11 months away, the staff is viewing every practice as an opportunity to teach. Every day is a chance to get better, to learn, to get a little stronger, a little faster, a little wiser.
That's what Rahne means when he says "we want to go 1-0 every day."
Drills are occurring all over the practice field and I got dizzy at times as my head whipped around to the five or six stations where players are toiling. Players are always working. There's no such thing as standing around. Time is too valuable to waste.
At this point, linebackers are running agility drills, offensive lineman are being schooled on techniques by coach Kevin Reihner, defensive lineman are hitting a sled under the watchful eyes of coach Andrew Jackson, DBs are trying to defend Paige and the rest of ODU's receivers and coach Jonathan Decoster is schooling the tight ends on blocking techniques.
Assistant defensive coordinator and safeties coach Remington Rebstock is coaching from an unusual position – he's in a golf cart with his knee in a brace and crutches by his side. During the summer, he got caught up with some players in a drill and blew out his ACL. His injury was surgically repaired by orthopedic surgeon Bradley Butkovich.
Being in a golf cart doesn't limit his coaching, as he approaches players after nearly every play with criticism, advice or encouragement.
Coach Kevin Smith is working with the outside linebackers, but soon will begin working with kickers, punters and return teams.
In fact, the focus of practice now is very limited, mostly on conditioning and building football skills in large part because this team has missed so much time.
The Monarchs practice two days a week and then run and lift weights three days a week. They also run a lot in practice, especially in drills in which they dance around cones designed to increase agility.
Rahne hasn't yet installed ODU's offense but says he will do that this fall. ODU plans to practice right up until Thanksgiving break but will not put on pads and begin playing tackle football until spring practice.
By the spring, we should expect to see some new faces on campus. Rahne's first recruiting class, while put together in haste, was ODU's best ever, according to 247Sports. The class of 2021 is filling up and is also expected to be good.
Each practice begins with stretches and then two players – one from the defense and on from the offense -- are called in by Rahne to do a tug-of-war. There are three tugs-of-war every day. In one practice, the defense wins every time, meaning the offense must do pushups.
Every day ends with wind sprints and every player, from the O line to safeties, have minimum times they must meet or run again. Miss it, and your entire unit runs again.
Some players are so gassed that they bend over, grunting. Galt tells them to get their heads up, because you draw more air into your lungs that way. Eventually, they do.
This is the time in practice when you are reminded what a demanding sport football can be and how pain is a part of the game.
From my little time on the field, I could not draw a lot of hard, fast conclusions on individual players.
The afternoon practice on Thursday, Oct. 1, was the fourth I saw and only the team's tenth.
Nonetheless, I'll draw a few initial conclusions:
* Quarterback Hayden Wolff, the redshirt freshman who played well in three games last season, was extremely accurate. Mind you, he had no rush on him and didn't throw much on the run. But it's still impressive when he hits a receiver right on target 60 yards down the field, or when he throws 13 passes in a row, as he did one day, that couldn't have been thrown better.
* QB Stone Smartt, a rising senior and junior college transfer from Sacramento, is also looking good. At times he excelled last season and at times didn't. He's worked hard, is in great shape and is throwing with confidence. Both he and Wolff will benefit from working out a full year under Campbell, who coaches the quarterbacks.
A plus for Smartt: every time his group did wind sprints, he finished first.
* Keion White, the 6-foot-4, 267-pound defensive end, appears to be in magnificent shape and also appears to be growing a little into a role as a leader. While doing drills, when he saw younger players make mistakes, he pulled them aside and told him what they'd done wrong.
He is the most talented player on ODU's roster and must grow as a leader, both with his work ethic and self-confidence. So many players look up to him.
*Jeremy Meiser, the senior defensive tackle from Cincinnati, also looks impressive. Meiser played, but sparingly, as a freshman, and it was a shame that he missed a chance to redshirt.
Not to worry. He's getting that year off from playing this fall and will use it to get more seasoned, stronger and better. I would expect big things from the senior in 2021.
* And then there is Ricky Slade, the awesomely talented transfer running back from Penn State. Running backs weren't being tackled, so I didn't see him break any big moves off a handoff. But when he caught passes, I did see the moves that made him a 4-star recruit in high school.
* Rahne was a standout quarterback at Cornell and although he recently turned 40, he can still heave the ball pretty well. Coaches line up in mock scrimmages, which means no blocking or tackling, with the players, as receivers, defensive backs, linemen, etc.
While ODU's quarterbacks are on the other side of the field throwing to receivers, Rahne steps in and does the run-pass option. A few passes look like dying quails, but most are sharp and on target. He chides assistant coaches after they drop passes he flicked right into their arms.
Yes, he's still got it.
Because ODU opted not to play football this fall in order to protect the safety of its players during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCAA is prohibiting the Monarchs from playing tackle football until the New Year.
Safety is clearly a priority. The players are wearing small shoulder guards, even though they aren't hitting, and their helmets are padded and COVID-compliant. Players have plastic over their face masks and a COVID mask built into the plastic that covers their noses and mouths.
From the neck up, they look like astronauts.
When I ask Rahne if he's begun to figure out who will play and who won't, the answer comes out quickly.
"No, No," he said. "I think the entire fall will be a constant shuffling of guys.
"But you can't really make judgements on how guys might do on the field until they've got pads on and are truly hitting. We're a long way from that."
It has been a difficult spring, summer and early fall for everyone involved with the ODU football program.
There had been great anticipation about the 2020 season. Wake Forest and the University of Virginia from the ACC were to visit Norfolk and ODU hired away Rahne from Penn State, where he was offensive coordinator.
COVID-19 changed everything, of course. In March, four months after Rahne was hired, and only days before his first spring practice was to begin, ODU students were told to stay home (they were on spring break). Classes were put online and football players did not begin returning to campus until July.
ODU had a few weeks of voluntary workouts, and then four practices – actually three a day for four days, because COVID-19 regulations forbid a gathering of more than 50 people at one time – before the University announced it would not play fall sports.
Players were given some time off to get off to a good academic start before practice resumed about two weeks ago.
While the emotion and energy from the coaches is off the charts, the players are largely quiet during my first three practices. They are busting their rear ends running sprints, hitting sleds, dancing around cones and catching passes, but it's clear, this team has a long way to go to develop a personality and some leadership.
Rahne likes to say there are no excuses, but let's cut these kids a break. They are living in the worst pandemic we've faced in a century and are watching most other FBS schools play on Saturdays. The game they love, and with which so many players identify, was taken from them for a long time.
They haven't had enough time together to jell.
"When we learned we would not be playing, we were all hurting, coaches and players alike," Rahne said. "They needed some time to get over it and they have.
"I think they're glad to be back on the practice field, back to be doing the thing they love to do even if we're not tackling yet. They know that's coming."
Under the circumstances, I like what I saw from the Monarchs. This team has decent size and speed. The work ethic is great.
It may be a good thing that the next game is 11 months away. You've got a young team, a brand new coaching staff and a program that won just 10 of its last 36 games and was 1-11 in 2019.
The more time, the better.
After Tuesday's afternoon practice last week, Rahne was upbeat.
"I saw some good things today," he said. "I like the energy especially the way you're running. Everyone is competing and no one is complaining."
The players are practicing twice a week and lifting weights and running three days a week. It's a grind, but nothing like the grind will be once they begin playing.
"Let's really burn it out tomorrow and have a great weekend," he said before adding that assistant coaches need to see their grade sheets.
"Your education is important to me, so it had better be important to you," he added.
When we head to his office, he says he realizes what his players are going through is difficult.
"In general, I'm happy with the progress the players have made in the very short time we've had together," he said. "It's just going to take time.
"We've talked about the quote from Abraham Lincoln. He said, if you give me six hours to chop down a tree, then I'll spend the first four sharpening the ax. We just got more time to sharpen the ax and that's how the kids have to look at it."
I asked him about his comments after the first day's practice, in which he told players who had run a lot of reps at certain positions to view that as an opportunity and not punishment.
"We've got to view things as an opportunity and not an obstacle and right now there are some guys out there and they're kind of defeated."
He said building a culture of winning, that personality I wrote about earlier, is going to take time.
"I expected that at this point and we've just got to continue to battle through that," he said.
"We've got to find creative ways to build our own leadership. We had so much time away. Some of that comes from confidence and some from their lack of conditioning. We're working hard. But we've got to get our players to bring their own energy."
Nine days after I saw my first practice, much progress is apparent. It's Thursday, Oct. 1, and many of the players are being vocal. Coaches are reminding experienced players to talk to their teammates but many don't have to.
"Go, go, go, go, go," Wolff yells at wide receivers as they line up for a drill. "Quit walking and run up to the line."
"Let's go guys, pick it up," I hear senior linebacker Anthony Resek say seconds later from across the field.
The grind is even harder. It's 80 degrees outside and because this practice will only be an hour long, they're being pushed hard. At one point, Rahne loses his cool.
"Everyone on the field," he bellows loud enough to hear inside Webb Center. "Up downs, now."
An aside here: Rahne's conversational voice is pleasant, even soothing. His practice voice is quite different. He sounds much like actors James Earl Jones or James Spader – his voice is loud, deep and commanding. Every head turns in his direction.
He was upset with the execution and mistakes and wanted to impress on his players that they need to focus.
An up down is an unpleasant drill in which you run in place and every time the whistle blows, you hit the ground, then pop back up and run in place. The whistle blows eight times before practice resumes.
On this day the defensive backs play better today than I've seen, with cornerback LaMareon James, the freshman from Indian River High School who is one of the highest-rated players ODU has ever recruited, returning an interception for a touchdown and linebacker Ryan Henry returning a fumble for a TD.
They are mobbed by teammates.
The team's personality is beginning to form perhaps even faster than Rahne dared dream.
Practice ends with encouragement as well as criticism.
"Overall, I liked what I saw today," he said. "I thought we had a good practice. You were flying around."
But then he added that the execution left a lot to be desired.
"You never know what play might win a game," he said. "It could be a play in the second quarter.
"There are no excuses. You have to play every play like that's the one that might win the game.
"Work hard tomorrow, and then have a great weekend. Have a good time but stay healthy and be smart."
The players are spread all over the field, social distancing. Helmets are off but masks are on.
As Rahne concludes his remarks, they clap and cheer in unison before heading to individual coaches for final words.
As coaches leave the field, several dozen players remain behind, throwing and catching passes or running drills, some on their own. Some are running sprints.
This is volunteer time, not required and not expected.
Let's put that in perspective. A goodly number of players are so juiced that they are remaining after practice to put in extra work 337 days before the Monarchs are scheduled to play their next game, Sept. 4, 2021, at Wake Forest.
And that, Monarch fans, is a very good sign for the future.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Got An Inside Look at ODU Football Practice and Was Impressed by the Energy of Monarchs' Young Coaches
