By Harry Minium
Ricky and Jennifer Rahne were dining in the Gasthaus Schwanen restaurant in Buhl, Germany, located between the Rhine Valley and Black Forest, during the midst of their dream vacation last March.
The Rahne family, including sons Ryder and Jake, traditionally vacation together, often going to Major League Baseball games during the summer. But this was to be a special getaway.
Just four months earlier, Rahne was hired as Old Dominion University's head football coach. He came from Penn State, where he was offensive coordinator, and quickly put together a staff and signed his first recruiting class. The week in Germany was supposed to be a relaxing chance to recharge and, as he said, "spend some quality time with my wife."
But just as Rahne began digging into his schnitzel, he received a phone call from ODU with a buzz-killer of a message. Get back here pronto. The coronavirus is spreading, and the United States is about to close its airports to travelers from foreign countries.
They scrambled to get back to Norfolk, and life has been a scramble ever since.
On Tuesday, almost a year to the day since that phone call, ODU begins its first spring practice in two years.
Spring practice was canceled last year because of COVID-19, as was the 2020 season. Rahne managed about a month of practice in the fall, which was invaluable. But the 15 workouts over the next five weeks will be critical to developing Rahne's first team.
"We were able, for the lack of a better term, have a trial run in the fall, but everyone in our program is looking forward to practice this spring," he said.
It has been a difficult and, in many ways, a tumultuous year for ODU's coaches, staff and players.
The players were sent home last spring and continued to take classes online. They did not return to campus until mid summer. They had just begun summer camp when they learned that ODU had cancelled all fall sports.
"Our kids have been awesome," Rahne said. "They've worked hard and had a positive attitude. I can't say enough about them."
Rahne has made a great start in turning ODU's program around. He signed the two best classes of freshmen since ODU began playing football, according to the 247Sports recruiting service.
However, it will take time for Rahne and his staff to truly rebuild the program. The Monarchs were 1-11 in 2019 and haven't had a winning record since 2016.
ODU may have the nation's youngest team, and if not the youngest, doubtless one of the most inexperienced.
The roster of 88 players includes 43 freshmen or redshirt freshmen, 18 sophomores or redshirt sophomores, 19 juniors or redshirt juniors and eight seniors.
Put another way, that's 27 upperclassmen and 62 underclassmen.
And the Monarchs will face a challenging schedule, including the opener on Friday, Sept. 3, at Wake Forest.
ODU lost some key players in the last year to the transfer portal, which has become to college football what free agency is to baseball. Players have been transferring helter-skelter since the NCAA ruled that players who transfer do not lose a year of eligibility.
Rahne added some immediate help in late January when he recruited five transfers from other Football Bowl Subdivision schools.
The most prominent transfer was quarterback D.J. Mack, the Norview High alumnus who led Central Florida to victory in the 2018 American Athletic Conference championship game. Mack, the MVP of that title game, is the fifth quarterback on ODU's roster.
Hayden Wolff, the 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman from Venice, Fla., and Stone Smartt, the 6-3 senior from Sacramento, California, are the top returnees.
Competition at quarterback will be the most watched of the spring and summer. As with any college football team, the key to winning is having the right guy taking snaps.
Wide receiver Trey Blount (Georgia), defensive end Deeve Harris (Minnesota), offensive lineman Tyran Hunt (Maryland) and safety Robert Kennedy (East Carolina) also transferred to ODU and will work out with their new teammates for the first time on Tuesday.
Rahne said he and his coaches continue to scout for more transfers and that he hopes to announce additional newcomers when the spring semester ends.
"We're still evaluating and may bring in a few more guys in," Rahne said. "This spring practice will be great for us to see where we might need to create more depth and more competition.
"We've evaluating things all the time. We won't be done building this team until summer camp."
Getting the five FBS transfers and five true freshman who enrolled in January familiar with ODU's system is a priority.
But the reality, Rahne said, is that "everybody on our team can use the reps. It's just as important for the guys who've been here for years as it is to the newcomers, because they're all getting used to our system.
"It will be great to just get everyone out there and start working."
Minium: A Very Young ODU Football Team Looking Forward to First Spring Practice Since 2019
