Fourth in a series looking ahead to the 2021 ODU football season.
By Harry Minium
Serving as a special teams coordinator can be akin to being asked to herd cats.
While an offensive or defensive coordinator needs only to determine 11 starters, Old Dominion special teams coach Kevin Smith deals with more like 50 or 60. He not only has the field goal, kickoff and punt teams, but also punt and kickoff return and the field-goal blocking team.
He coaches skilled kickers and punters, snappers, holders, tacklers, blockers and return specialists.
"It requires a lot of organizational skills," said Smith, who worked with head coach Ricky Rahne the last three seasons at Penn State. In addition to working with special teams, he is also coaching outside linebackers.
"Being a special teams coach is unique and one of the things I love about it is having to pick personnel for every position," Smith said. "That requires me to develop relationships with all of the players.
"I've developed strong relationships with all of them."
ODU did not play football this fall, and the coaching staff used 15 practices to work on fundamentals. That meant some of the planning for special teams has been put off until the spring.
A lot of practice time was spent allowing offensive players to tackle and defensive players to block, skills they will need when they play on special teams, and skills they don't often get a chance to work on.
"We looked at the fall as bonus time," Smith said. "We had an opportunity to spend 15 practices to make sure our players were as fundamentally sound as possible.
"Blocking and tackling are the skills that can win or lose football games. When you look at an offensive player, the amount of time he actually gets to tackle is minimal. The same goes for a defensive player blocking.
"Our offensive guys got a chance to tackle this fall probably more than they have ever had in college."
A Lexington, Ohio native, Smith worked with three different special teams coordinators with the Nittany Lions and he says he learned a lot from all three.
In addition, he was the special teams coordinator for two seasons at Lock Haven (Pa.). A former all-state high school player, Smith was a linebacker at Urbana College, where he served a year as a graduate assistant after completing his playing career.
ODU's special teams will borrow a lot from Penn State, but also from Smith's own playbook.
He said his philosophy is to keep the special teams schemes simple enough for players to be able to play fast "but also presents as complex to other teams.
"Playing fast and fundamentally sound are very important, but more important is building a culture in which the players buy-in to play hard. Playing hard is of the upmost importance on special teams."
Nick Rice, a senior from St. Petersburg, Florida, returns at placekicker and he was among the most solid in Conference USA the last two seasons. He made 15 of 20 field goal attempts and all 18
conversion kicks last season. Rice improved his leg strength during the fall and has been consistently making field goals from 50 to 55 yards when kicking off the tee.
The goal this spring is to get him comfortable kicking that far with the ball being snapped while he's being rushed by defenders.
B.R. Hatcher, who has been flawless at long snapper the last two seasons, returns and Smith said that's a huge plus. Hatcher is a junior from Jefferson, South Carolina.
John Morton, a redshirt freshman from Northern Virginia, will be the holder on field goal and conversion attempts.
Although Rice improved on kickoffs last season, he will face competition from Dominik Soos, junior transfer from St. Mary's junior college in California. Soos is one of two international players on ODU's special teams – he hails from Budapest, Hungary, where he learned how to kick playing European football, which is, of course, soccer.
Although Soos was recruited by ODU last spring primarily for his skill on kickoffs, he's proven to be a better field goal kicker than Smith anticipated.
"He's really got a strong leg and is really a smart kid," Smith said.
The second international student is Ethan Duane, a freshman punter from Melbourne, Australia who enrolled at ODU in January, and suffice it to say, had a rough introduction to America.
Duane had a harrowing trip from Australia. A trip that usually takes more than a day took nearly three because of canceled flights. Shortly after arriving at ODU, the University shut down in-person classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"He was basically on campus for a long time his first time in the United States with minimal interaction," Smith said. "The only interaction I could have with him was on Zoom."
Quarterback Hayden Wolff befriended Duane and took him to him to Venice, Fla., where Duane spent several weeks with his family while they both took classes online.
"That was really a nice gesture by Hayden," Smith said. "They've gotten close. He considers the Wolff family to be his American family."
Although Australia generates a lot of college football punters and kickers, Duane had never played American football. On his first day of camp, he punted a ball and turned and told Smith, "that's the first time I've ever kicked with a helmet on."
He had difficulty putting on his pads and had to rely on teammates to show him how.
No one has had to show him how to punt, however.
"He's got a very talented leg," Smith said. "He can average more than 40 yards easily. He's got great placement with his punts. And like most Australian kickers, he can really move."
Most Australian kickers playing American college football first played Australian Rules Football, where players kick on the run.
Duane might have had a rough transition to football had ODU played this fall. ODU did not have spring practice, meaning he would have had just weeks to adjust to essentially a new game.
"We want to be able to get him prepared for all kinds of situations but don't want him to lose any of his confidence," Smith said. "By the time he plays in the fall, he will be fine-tuned and ready to go."
ODU has not settled on punt or kicker returns yet, saving those decisions until the fall. Blake Watson, the 5-foot-9, 190-pound sophomore from Queens, New York, was a standout kickoff returner last season and if the Monarchs played tomorrow, he would be the primary returner.
But other players will be tested this fall, including Kaleb Ford-Dement and true freshman LaMareon Jones from Chesapeake's Indian River High.
Smith said to expect ODU's special teams to be efficient but also aggressive, meaning perhaps expect an on-side kick or a fake punt every so often.
"I'm not afraid to take a chance if we see the opportunity," he said. "But the structure of the package will be built around being simple and sound and allowing our kids to play fundamentally fast."
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu
Coming Monday: A look at ODU's 2021 schedule.
Minium: ODU's Special Teams are Loaded with Veterans and Will Play Hard, Fast and Perhaps Take Some Chances
