By Harry Minium
Saturday was a long day for the Old Dominion football team, which had one of its best workouts of the season in the morning, lifted weights and held team meetings in the afternoon and then spent an hour Saturday night at a "Spirit Rally" for ODU's freshman and returning sophomores.
Several thousand ODU students were in the stands at S.B. Ballard Stadium to learn the ODU fight song and alma mater, how to dance to "Ice Cream and Cake," (a Monarch tradition that dates back nearly two decades) as well as other school traditions. They watched the Marching Band and met Big Blue, ODU's mascot.
The event began with about half of the football team sprinting onto the field as they do before games.
Head coach Ricky Rahne and senior left tackle and team captain Isaac Weaver both spoke to the crowd. Weaver spoke about the frustration of not playing last season, when ODU's schedule was canceled because of the pandemic.
"We've been working our butts off for more than a year and a half," he said. "We've waited a long time for these games."
Jordan Young, Nick Rice, Isaac Weaver and Ricky Rahne
Student support, he said, is a key to ODU winning this season.
"Please make sure the stadium is packed. We need all of you to bring everybody you can and be here every week," he said.
Rahne was hired away in December of 2019 from Penn State, where he was offensive coordinator, and ODU's opener at Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 3., will be his first game as a head coach. He urged the students to come out when ODU opens at home against Hampton University on Sept. 11.
It's a night game and will be ODU's first home game since Nov. 30, 2019.
"We want to have the best home atmosphere in all of Conference USA. We can do that. We have the best stadium and we should have the best fans," Rahne said.
"Let's make sure we're loud. On third down, get loud. You should be standing up the whole time.
"Let's make this thing a party."
The students responded by standing and then giving him an ovation.
ODU students, including those enrolled part-time, get free admission into all Monarch home games. Students can reserve tickets for ODU's first two home football games beginning at 10 Monday morning by going to www.odusports.com/students Students can also purchase guest tickets for $15.
Running backs Davis, Watson have looked strong
Running back Elijah Davis tailed off a bit during the middle of fall camp, but has come on strong the last few weeks. He ran well in ODU's scrimmage last weekend and in Saturday's practice.
Davis is a 5-foot-11, 205-pound redshirt sophomore who rushed for 468 yards and eight touchdowns in his first two seasons. He redshirted in 2018, but played in four games, the most allowed for a redshirt by the NCAA.
He was a three-star recruit at Heritage High School in Lynchburg, where he rushed for 3,670 yards as a senior – the most by a high school running back in the country. He also scored 61 touchdowns and broke the Virginia High School League record for most points in a season.
He turned down a late offer from Virginia Tech to sign with ODU.
"Elijah has had a very good camp," Rahne said. "Like everybody else, he had a little lull there.
"But what I was really proud of him for was that he came back. He's really picked it up and done a nice job. He's done a nice job both on special teams and running the ball."
Rahne said Davis is at his best running full-contact scrimmages.
"This is his type of deal when it's live and you actually have to tackle," Rahne said. "He's a hard guy to bring down. He runs very physically. He's very good at finding edges."
So is Blake Watson, the 5-9, 193-pound running back from Queens, New York, who was one of the bright spots of the 2019 season, when ODU finished 1-11. Although he ran sparingly, he was Conference USA All-Freshman Team kick returner and led ODU with 828 all-purpose yards.
Converted from wide receiver in 2018, he has adjusted well to running back. He Davis are competing to start.
"Blake has really had a good camp," Rahne said. "I'm intrigued by what kind of a season he's going to have. He's got so much potential."
Watson said ODU's offense will be better than it was in 2019.
"We're definitely more together," he said. "We're definitely a more cohesive unit. And I think we're going to be way more explosive than we were in 2019."
Tight ends a huge part of ODU's offense
Tight ends weren't a big part of ODU's offense in its first 11 seasons but that's going to change this fall.
ODU's tight ends have been an important part of the Monarch pass offense throughout camp and it's not just because Rahne liked to throw to tight ends when he was offensive coordinator at Penn State. It's also because the Monarchs have a ton of size and speed.
Penn State transfer Zack Kuntz, a 6-8, 245-pound redshirt sophomore, is a huge target and has shown himself to be elusive in practice. However, Donta Anthony, the 6-6, 244-pound junior from Temple Hills, Maryland, has also played well and is likely to start.
Isaiah Spencer, 6-5, 226-pound redshirt sophomore from Gloucester, Virginia, and A.C. White, the 6-3, 232-pound redshirt sophomore from Harrisonburg, likely will see action off the bench.
"The tight ends are going to be a major part of our offense," Rahne said. "We not only have good players but we have good depth. You're going to see tight ends rolling in and out of games."
Conference USA Bowl Games
It's been a while since ODU has played football, and even longer since ODU fans have talked about bowl games, so here's a rundown of where the Monarchs could end up if they win six or more games.
The league has yearly, automatic entries into the Bahamas and R+L Carriers New Orleans bowl games and will also send a team this season to the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana.
In 2022 and 2024, C-USA teams will say aloha as they head to the SoFi Hawai'I Bowl.
Levi Wentz, Corey Chapman and Tyrik McDaniel
In addition, C-USA will receive bids to four or five of the following 12 bowls in 2021: Lockheed Martin Armed Services Bowl, Fort Worth, Texas; TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl; Boca Raton Bowl; Camellia Bowl, Montgomery, Alabama; Cure Bowl, Orlando, Fla.; Fenway Bowl, Boston, Massachusetts; SERVEPRO First Responder Bowl, Dallas, Texas; Tropical Smoothie Café Frisco Bowl, Frisco, Texas; Gasparilla Bowl, Tampa, Florida; Lending Tree Bowl, Mobile, Alabama; Myrtle Beach Bowl, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; and New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
My favorites? Myrtle Beach, because it's a drivable distance for ODU fans; Fenway Bowl, because I'm a Boston Red Sox fan; New Mexico Bowl, because it's such a beautiful state; and the New Orleans Bowl, because it's such a great city to visit and the game is played in the Superdome.
Most pundits give ODU little chance of winning more than a handful of games. I disagreed after watching ODU's first practice, and after watching practice Saturday morning, am more convinced that this team is better than most predict.
Click here to read more: ODU will be better than the pundits predict
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 ODU athletics for odusports.com Follow him on Twitter @Harry_MiniumODU, Instagram @hbminium1 or email hminium@odu.edu
Minium: ODU's Isaac Weaver ask Students to "Pack" S.B. Ballard Stadium for Football Games
