By Harry Minium
Saturday morning, four weeks before Old Dominion University plays its first home football game, there was revelry in the tailgate lots adjacent to S.B. Ballard Stadium for the first time in almost two years.
There was no tailgating, just hundreds of runners toasting brews and downing bagels while listening to a post-race concert after the Big Blue 5-K Run.
Saturday afternoon, the football team scrimmaged in the stadium, and while it was closed to the public, I can tell you that ODU's defense looked good.
I mean, really good.
Saturday night, new ODU President Brian O. Hemphill, PhD., held the last stop of his week-long Monarch Nation Tour around the state at the Priority Automotive Club in the stadium, where he spoke to hundreds of Monarch alumni.
It was good so see so much life back in the stadium, which hosts its first football game in 650 days on Sept. 11 when the Monarchs meet Hampton University at 7 p.m.
First, let's focus on the scrimmage: Defensive coordinator Blake Seiler promised an unpredictable and aggressive defense, and he has appeared to deliver.
This is a very well-coached, disciplined defense that plays with a lot of confidence. The defensive line is a little undersized and there are depth issues. But the D looked game ready.
Ricky Rahne speaking to crowd before the race.
The Monarchs play very hard and even after a bad play or a bad series, never let down. This is still the preseason, but there's a lot of room for optimism here.
Seiler was once the defensive coordinator at Kansas State, so you would expect no less from him.
Many players stepped up defensively, but the guy who stood out to me was defensive tackle Alonzo Ford Jr., a freshman who was part of head coach Ricky Rahne's talent-rich first recruiting class.
No statistics were kept, but I counted at least four tackles for a loss from the 6-foot-3, 275-pound graduate of Varina High School just outside of Richmond.
He was a three-star recruit at Varina who had offers from Temple and East Carolina, and, Rahne said, came to ODU with a great work ethic.
"Alonzo has been playing well all camp," Rahne said. "He worked so hard over the summer to change his body. I think he really bought into the coaching from both the strength staff and the defensive staff.
"I've been incredibly pleased with how he's been playing. He plays with technique and is big and physical and has a pop to him.
"Obviously, he's got to keep going and growing, but at this stage in his development, he's right where we want him."
ODU's defense was focused and aggressive.
The offense was perhaps not as productive as Rahne would have liked but as promised, the Monarchs threw to their tight ends, something rarely done since ODU began playing football in 2009. Five of the six tight ends caught passes.
"Offensively, we've got to work on our consistency. There were some plays we left out there," Rahne said.
Quarterbacks Stone Smartt, D.J. Mack Jr., and Hayden Wolff, all of whom are competing to start, did nothing to separate themselves from one another. It's still a three-man race heading into next week, which Rahne says will be a key week for determining starters for the opener Sept. 3 at Wake Forest.
RAHNE WAS AMONG THOSE on the stage at the starting line for the Big Blue 5-K, and after kissing his wife, Jen, and wishing her good luck just before the race began, spoke to the crowd.
It was the first Big Blue 5-K since the pandemic and drew 1,119 runners and hundreds more family members. The course gave all of those who haven't been on ODU's campus a good tour of what they've missed, and a great view of the stadium – the finish line was on the stadium turf.
But the coolest part was when we detoured onto the ODU football practice field where more than 100 football players cheered runners on. Some runners stopped to take selfies with` the players, who obliged. The players seemed to enjoy the interaction as much as the runners.
Bob Curtin, who ran bare chested carrying an American flag, was hugged by a group of players when they saw him.
The Hampton resident said afterwards he hasn't been to an ODU football game. When I mentioned the opener will be played on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Washington, and that military pomp and circumstance is expected, he said he might come.
I hope he does.
Saturday was a reminder of what ODU football is all about – beyond rooting for your team, it's also a chance to reconnect with friends, and I reconnected with a few and met a few more.
I met John McLaughlin and his wife Debbie, and son Tim. John is an ODU alumnus and Tim recently graduated from ODU. Tim's been raised on ODU athletics. Meeting and conversing with people in the tailgate lots is a joy I've missed.
Back to the race: you could say that the wives of ODU's football coaches are more athletic than their husbands and you would not be wrong.
Let's start with Jo Reihner, wife of offensive line coach Kevin Reihner, who blew through the course in 17 minutes and 43 seconds. She averaged 5 minutes and 42 seconds to run a mile. And it was 92 degrees when the race began.
She was the top female finisher.
Jen Rahne clocked in 26:48 while Joyner Mines, wife of tight ends coach Fontel Mines, ran a 25:21, about the time I was passing the 2-mile mark.
But Lauren Campbell, wife of offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, maybe have run the best race of all. She finished at 41:55 while pushing daughter, Riley, in a stroller.
"Getting that stroller on the turf, that was a hard push," Rahne said.
"But it was fun for everyone. It was a good day."
Very good.
Minium was twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in his 39 years at The Virginian-Pilot and won 27 state and national writing awards. He covers all ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: Between Big Blue 5-K and Football Scrimmage, Saturday was a Good Day at ODU
