First story in a 5-part series looking ahead to ODU's 2021 football season.
By Harry Minium
It didn't hit me until I pulled into the S.B. Ballard Stadium parking lot last month just how much I missed Old Dominion University football.
It was a Friday evening, the lights were on, the air was crisp and the field was covered with ODU players preparing for their last scrimmage of fall practice.
The event was closed to the public, meaning no cheering crowds, fireworks, fog horn, cannon firing or Ice Cream and Cake, nor Jack Ankerson saying "First Down, Monarchs."
But it was such a great feeling to be back in the stadium watching guys tackle and block.
It reminded me of what a touchstone ODU football has become for me. I've heard the same from so many fans.
I know so many of you missed football as much or more than I did and can't wait to get back into the stadium. And given the progress made on vaccines for COVID-19, it looks like we could return to normalcy next fall, with fans again filling all 22,000 seats.
Yes, that's a long way off, and we have to keep our fingers crossed on the vaccines. And it's difficult to predict how good the Monarchs will be 10 months from now.
But that didn't stop me from taking a look at fall practice and a look ahead to next season for all of you who haven't been able to watch the Monarchs practice this fall.
This is the first of five stories to run in the coming days in which I will review this fall, the offense, defense and special teams and then next year's schedule.
Today, I review fall practice, and it was a good one for the Monarchs.
Some quick observations based on my time watching practice and conversations with coaches and players:
* I'm cautiously optimistic. There is good talent on the team and the improvement the Monarchs made in the fall was remarkable. Although players worked hard in September and October, I saw a much better and more confident team scrimmage in late November. The team I saw in September lacked self-confidence, and given last year's 1-11 record, that's understandable. The scrimmage more than a month later, however, was high energy, full of passion and at times, emotions boiled over (and that's not a bad thing).
* ODU is rebuilding. The Monarchs did not recruit well from 2016 through 2018 and there was not enough talent on hand when Ricky Rahne was hired as head coach a year ago. He and his staff partially addressed the talent issue last winter when they signed what 247Sports called the best recruiting class in school history. Rahne hopes to repeat that feat in the December and February signing periods.
* ODU will be very young. Players who practiced this fall did not lose any eligibility, meaning ODU will likely have nearly 40 true freshmen next season. That's almost half the roster of scholarship players. Some will have to play immediately, and several may have to play a lot. That's a part of Rahne's recruiting pitch – he's got immediate playing time to offer.
* Coaches are also rebuilding the team's confidence after 5-7, 4-8 and 1-11 finishes the last three seasons. This staff is the youngest in FBS and has been more demanding of players, on and off the field, than in previous years. Team discipline has been an area of emphasis, as has camaraderie and teamwork.
* ODU faces a difficult schedule – Wake Forest from the ACC, unbeaten Buffalo and Liberty in the non-conference schedule. ODU also faces Hampton and eight Conference USA opponents, including traditional powers Marshall and Florida Atlantic. It will be challenging, but not so difficult that the Monarchs can't win.
An aside: the non-conference schedule gets even stronger in 2021, when the Monarchs host Virginia Tech and Liberty and travel to Virginia and East Carolina.
Rahne said he was pleasantly surprised with what he saw this fall, especially from a team coming off a 1-11 season that went through months of being separated because of the pandemic. Rahne said the team made progress, even when meeting via Zoom during the spring.
But there's no substitute for practice.
ODU began practicing in September, without pads, and soon thereafter the NCAA gave ODU permission to begin blocking and tackling. That experience was invaluable, Rahne said.
"Being able to evaluate our players, being able to watch guys progressing in the offensive and defensive schemes and actually tackle and see what they're doing in live situations, that's so priceless," he said.
"I'm very excited about the spring. We've got all of these players back and we've got more players coming and some people who didn't practice because they were hurt. Having them all will be nice."
Spring practice will begin in early February and the spring game will be held in March. Rahne said he won't even begin to think of naming starters until summer practice begins in August.
Some players jumped out at me during the scrimmage and the names likely won't surprise you. Tailback Ricky Slade, the former 5-star recruit from Northern Virginia who transferred from Penn State, appears as good as advertised. He showed some fantastic moves during a 65-yard TD run.
ODU has good depth at running back, a position where the Monarchs have lacked depth the in recent years, and that's a good thing, because this team will run a lot next season.
At quarterback, Hayden Wolff was the presumptive starter coming out of the 2019 season, but Stone Smartt, the senior from California, looked sharpest to me of all the QBs this fall. Rahne has been pleased with his quarterbacks, saying all four have worked hard to pick up the new offense.
But again, he's a long way off from picking a starter, and don't be surprised if ODU recruits another quarterback.
Cornerback Geronda Hall had a great spring, as did several veteran linemen, including Jeremy Meiser from the defense and Isaac Weaver from the offense. Both lines look good, but lack depth.
ODU elected not to play football this fall for the right reason – to ensure the safety of coaches and players, fans and staff. Many Football Bowl Subdivision schools made the same decision before reneging shortly before the season began.
I'm not passing judgment on decisions made by other schools. Everyone made decisions based on what they thought was right for their athletes and their programs. But I'm glad ODU stuck with its decision, and not just because it helped keep the Monarchs safe.
It was also the right thing because of the circumstances. ODU had a new coaching staff that had barely begun to know the team before everyone was sent home because of the COVID pandemic. There was no spring practice and when fall practice began, ODU had but a few weeks to install a new offense and defense and rebuild a team that was 1-11 in 2019.
College football has been in turmoil since the season began and the recent explosion in COVID cases is creating more. Because of players testing positive, 120 FBS games and counting have been canceled or postponed, and no league had more games canceled than C-USA.
On Saturday, Nov. 28, three of four C-USA games were canceled and for the month of November, only 14 of 27 schedules games were played. Charlotte had eight games canceled and Florida
International has had five cancelations and played shorthanded in all five games.
I suspect that more schools would have elected not to play this season if they knew what awaited them. Middle Tennessee decided to end its season early and the University of Virginia may pass on a bowl game.
Two Florida State games were postponed after teams had already arrived in Tallahassee. UMass decided to play at the last minute and lost all four games by a combined score of 161-12.
Clemson, Alabama and Notre Dame would all disagree, as they all appear headed to the College Football Playoff. But 10 bowl games have been canceled and that will leave some deserving teams on the sidelines.
Temple coach Rod Carey, whose Owls finished 1-6 after their final game was postponed, said he wished his team had not played its final three games. Only five starters played in every game and because of COVID, injuries or players opting out, the Owls took just 45 scholarship players and 16 walk-ons in their final game at Central Florida, which they lost 38-13.
Yes, safety was the only concern for ODU when it canceled football in 2019. But in hindsight, it was also better for ODU players to focus on classwork, learning ODU's new system and coaches and getting better rather than trying to play.
"I think what the University did was smart," ODU cornerback Kaleb Ford-Demint said. "We didn't know what to think at first but then when we saw what was going on around us, we realized that a lot of other teams weren't really playing.
"This was a great fall for us in that we got to know the coaches, they got to know us and we improved on the field. I think we made more improvement than we would have if we'd played."
Rahne said that not playing this fall "allowed me to develop great relationships with these guys that I might not have had the opportunity to do otherwise.
"I think that's going to be a huge plus."
Weaver, the senior who will anchor the offensive line next season, said it was a productive fall.
"We've been looking at this fall as an opportunity instead of an obstacle," he said. "It was an opportunity for us to get better and we've very much taken advantage of that. We've worked very hard and are hungry to get back on the playing field.
"I can't wait to see what this team is going to do the next time we step on the field. It's going to be incredible."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Coming Thursday: A look at ODU's offense.
Minium: ODU's Football Team Benefitted from Practicing this Fall, and There is Reason for Optimism in 2021
