Minium: ODU May Have Signed its Best Football Recruiting Class Ever, and Monarchs are Still Recruiting

By Harry Minium
 
Because it's difficult to project how players will develop, it takes several seasons before you can truly judge a college football recruiting class.
 
But by every rating available, the class of 18 players signed by first-year coach Ricky Rahne and his staff on Wednesday will make Old Dominion University a better team next season.
 
This class stands out by two measures: other schools who recruited ODU signees and recruiting rankings.
 
Five players turned down offers from Power 5 schools, including Syracuse, Pitt, Maryland, Duke, Arizona State and North Carolina, to sign with the Monarchs, and that's always a good sign.
 
"We're not going to win every battle against Power 5 schools," running backs coach Tony Lucas said. "But we've got to win a few every year to build a championship program."
 
Most of the rest of the recruits turned down ODU's peers, including schools such as Appalachian State, Liberty, Coastal Carolina, Marshall, Buffalo, Army, North Texas and Florida International.
 
And the 247Sports recruiting service ranks it as the best recruiting class in ODU history.
 
ODU's previous top class was signed by Rahne's staff last December and January. That was a mix of players recruited by Rahne and coach Bobby Wilder's staff, but some of the best commitments came after Wilder left. And that ranking did not include standout Penn State transfer Ricky Slade.
 
Recruiting is likely the most important part of rebuilding for ODU after the Monarchs won just 10 of 36 games from 2017-2019. The reason for that record, including a 1-11 mark in 2019, was simply that ODU didn't have enough talent.
 
While recruiting ratings are far from an exact science, 247Sports ranked ODU's recruiting classes 13th-best in the 14-team Conference USA from 2017 through 2019.
 
ODU's newest class is ranked seventh in C-USA and is likely to move up.
 
As I said, the Monarchs are rebuilding, and that will take time. But Rahne has made an awesome start.
 
More than half of the 85 scholarship players on ODU's roster in 2021 will be Rahne recruits, and although nearly all will be true freshman, they bring more talent, speed and length than previous recruiting classes. Fourteen of the 25 best players ever to sign with ODU are on the roster now, according to 247Sports.

ODU will be one of the nation's youngest teams next season, although that is in part because of an NCAA eligibiliity ruling made because of the pandemic. The Monarchs have ten seniors, 19 juniors, 17 sophomores and 44 freshmen on their roster, including 25 true freshmen. The current class will boost the number of freshmen to 66. All players, regardless of whether they played or not this season, do not lose eligibility this season, the NCAA ruled months ago.
 
As with most mid-major programs, ODU's depth issues have been most apparent on the offensive and defensive lines. This class will help ODU make strides in building that depth, as the Monarchs signed four offensive and four defensive linemen, all with good size and impressive high school resumes.
 
Rahne went for size and speed more than weight, and this class will make ODU taller, as 13 stand 6-foot-2 or taller.
 
Nor is recruiting over. ODU can sign players through Friday, and is still in the hunt for a couple of prospects, and has another signing day in early January.
 
Rahne recruited locally and regionally, signing 18 players from Maryland (six), Virginia (five), Pennsylvania (four) and North Carolina (three).
 
Rahne's staff recruited within a 5- or 6-hour drive of Norfolk, and that was by design.
 
"I'm really excited about this class," Rahne said. "I really believe in my heart that we can build championship football teams recruiting from this region.


 
"We're excited to get this much talent into the program. I couldn't' be more thankful to the 2021 class for sticking together through some trying times. They believe in a championship vision we have here at Old Dominion.  You've got to have a championship mentality before you have a championship reality, and I think that these guys give us that.
 
"I'm excited we were able to do such a great job from getting kids out of Virginia. Hopefully, recruiting kids from the region will help us build a sense of pride and also give fans at S.B. Ballard Stadium players they can relate to and cheer for and feel good about their success."
 
ODU signed two local players – offensive lineman Stephen Dubose (6-foot-3, 280 pounds) from Indian River High and defensive end Denzel Lowry (6-2, 283) from Landstown High, both ranked among the top 50 players in Hampton Roads by Larry Rubama of The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press.
 
ODU has traditionally recruited poorly in Hampton Roads, but then Rahne's staff garnered a commitment last season from Indian River cornerback LaMareon James, the highest-rated player ever to sign with the Monarchs.
 
Lucas is responsible for recruiting the 757 area and said the ODU coaching staff has built good relationships with local coaches.
 
"The fact that we made a dedicated effort to recruit locally has gone a long way to help our relationships," he said. "We're not going to take every kid and every kid's not going to come here. But we want to show them local kids are important to us."
 
Lowry comes from a Landstown program, led by veteran coach Tommy Reamon, with a rich recruiting history. He turned down Appalachian State, Coastal Carolina, Liberty and FIU to come to ODU.
 
Dubose had offers from Georgia Tech, East Carolina, Marshall and James Madison. Although it's difficult for freshman offensive linemen to make the transition to playing right away, I think Dubose has the talent and drive to earn playing time next season.


 
So will Jordan Bly, a wide receiver from Charlotte, and if that name sounds familiar, it should. He's the son of former University of North Carolina and NFL star Dre Bly, who starred at Western Branch High in Chesapeake. Dre coaches at UNC, which recruited, but did not offer, his son.
 
Bly had offers from Charlotte, where his older brother pays, as well as Pitt and FIU. Lucas said he still has family in town, and that made ODU a perfect fit for him. Bly was a first-team all-conference pick as a junior with 39 receptions for 501 yards and seven touchdowns. Like 14 other ODU signees, he did not play football this fall.
 
Bly will enroll at ODU early in January and that will give him a head start, including a month of winter workouts, spring practice, then spring voluntary workouts. Most other freshmen won't arrive until summer practice begins.
 
ODU needs depth at defensive back and this class could provide a ton of immediate help. Three defensive backs are also enrolling early – Jalen MaCcain, a cornerback from Bowie, Maryland, ODU's best recruit, according to 247Sports; Jahaad Scales, a safety from suburban Winston-Salem who also turned down Charlotte; and Tahj El, a safety from Charlotte and Bly's teammate at Myers Park High School, who also rejected an offer from the 49ers.
 
Claiming three players from western North Carolina was a big step for ODU.
 
Another player who almost surely will compete for immediate playing time is linebacker Jason Henderson from Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, a small city on the New York-Pennsylvania border midway in between Scranton, Pennsylvania and New York City.


 
Rahne recruited that area while he coached at Penn State and knew Henderson well before he came to ODU. That relationship paid off in a big way as Henderson turned down several schools closer to home, including Syracuse, Temple, UConn, Army and Buffalo.
 
Henderson has a great athletic resume. One of 13 three-star recruits signed by ODU, he holds the Delaware Valley High School record with 529 tackles. Starting on both offense and defense, he rushed 80 times for 762 yards and ten touchdowns. An all-state football pick, he also was fifth in the Pennsylvania wrestling state tournament as a junior.
 
Running back Jon-Luke Peake from Philadelphia will also enroll early. He turned down offers from Coastal Carolina and Army, and has great potential, but comes at a position where ODU is deep.
 
ODU landed two others from the Philly area: Daniel Ogundipe (6-5, 265), an offensive tackle from the suburb of Upper Darby who had an offer from Arizona State; and Khian'Dre Harris, a cornerback from the suburb of Fairless who played at Conwell Egan Catholic High.
 
Chris Adams (6-5, 270), an offensive tackle from Hagerstown, Maryland, turned down offers from Buffalo, Duke and JMU. Running back Tariq Sims, who turned down Liberty, is from Loudon County in Northern Virginia and one of half a dozen players signed from the Washington-Baltimore area.
 
Others signing from that region include one tight end in Curtis Nixon II (6-5, 227), from Waldorf, Md.; offensive lineman Skylar Grant (6-3, 295) from Fredericksburg; Wayne Matthews III (6-2, 219), from Largo, Maryland and McCain's teammate at Charles Herbert Flowers High School; and defensive end Taevion Clarke (6-3, 204) from Dr. Henry A. Wise High School in Baltimore.
 
Kris Trinidad (6-5, 210) from Lloyd C. Bird High in the Richmond suburb of Chester, was a late commit to ODU. He was also recruited as a basketball player but in the end, chose to play football.


 
Academically, ODU's last recruiting class was the best ODU ever signed and this one is comparable not only in academics, but also in having an old-school work ethic.
 
"The thing I like about this class is that we got guys who really love the game of football, have great leadership ability and have a tough mentality," Rahne said.
 
"We need that mentality, that toughness on our team. That's something we've got throughout our team that's now on campus and in this recruiting class."
 
ODU recruited well during a pandemic, and that was no easy fete. The NCAA shut down college recruiting in March and the dead period lasts through mid-April at least. That means none of the players ODU recruited could visit campus, nor could coaches visit the players.
 
In many instances, players and coaches have never met face to face, nor have players ever been on ODU's campus.
 
ODU made use of virtual tours and Zoom meetings and often just outworked other schools.
 
"We were able to sell relationships with the kids," Rahne said. "Our coaches did a really, really good job of developing relationships with kids, which was critical during a pandemic.
 
"But I think the kids were also able to see an opportunity. They will be able to compete for playing time early. And we've got some coaches who are really, really good teachers. When they got on a Zoom meeting and told kids, 'here's how I can help you get better,' that made a big impact."


 
Recruiting didn't end Wednesday. Rahne said ODU still has scholarships available and that he and his coaches are evaluating players in the transfer portal as well as in junior colleges and high schools. Recruiting the transfer portal has become a must-do for college football programs because of the huge increase in players seeking to transfer.
 
Expect ODU to add some players between now and early February.
 
"We're going to continue to look at our roster and make sure we're giving ourselves the best chance to succeed," Rahne said.
 
"If a guy can help us and fits our program and the mentality we're trying to build, we're going to go after him."
 
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu