By Harry Minium
The Old Dominion University football team will open summer camp on Thursday with five recent transfers who will provide an inexperienced team with a needed infusion of seasoned players. Three of the five players are from Power 5 schools.
The latest newcomers: Ali Jennings III, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound sophomore wide receiver from West Virginia; Gerrik Vollmer, a 6-5, 313-pound redshirt junior offensive lineman from Virginia; Zack Kuntz, a 6-8, 245-pound redshirt sophomore tight end from Penn State; Roger Cray, a 5-9, 175-pound senior cornerback from Western Kentucky; and Devin Brandt-Epps, a 6-3, 283-pound freshman defensive tackle from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College.
Combined with five Football Bowl Subdivision players who previously transferred to ODU and practiced this spring, the Monarchs will have nine transfers who played at other FBS schools in 2020, including six from Power 5 schools.
The Monarchs did not play last season because of the COVID pandemic.
The five previous FBS transfers: Trey Blount, a 6-2, 211-pound wide receiver from Georgia; Deeve Harris, a 6-2, 235-pound defensive end from Minnesota; Tyran Hunt, a 6-7, 313-pound offensive lineman from Maryland; D.J. Mack Jr., a 6-3, 226-pound quarterback from Central Florida; and Robert Kennedy III, a 5-10, 183-pound safety from East Carolina.
Mack, a graduate of Norview High School, is in a three-way competition to start with Hayden Wolff and Stone Smartt.
Coach Ricky Rahne said he likes the fact that nine of the 10 players have at least two years of eligibility remaining.
Although Rahne isn't a huge proponent the transfer portal and said the Monarchs will continue to primarily recruit high school players, he added that "it would be negligent of us not to pay attention to the transfer portal.
"I think it's important to be able to add players who have played in meaningful college football games at positions all across the board."
All 10 players will play, he said.
"We never promise anyone a starting job," he said. "But we're not looking to bring guys in here unless they can immediately improve our depth and play right away. They all will be competing for playing time."
A look at the five newcomers:
DEVIN BRANDT-EPPS played in eight games this spring at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College. He was fifth on the team with 30 tackles. He led the team with 8.5 tackles for a loss and had one sack. The spring season did not count against his eligibility. A native of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Brandt-Epps was a two-way starter at Hilldale High school, playing on both the offensive and defensive lines. He led Hilldale with 39 tackles, including 26 solo tackles, as a senior. He also had three sacks and an interception. As a senior in high school, he was cited for his participation in the Indian Capital Technology Center in Muskogee, Oklahoma where he led a group that finished second in a state entrepreneurial competition.
Rahne on Brandt-Epps: "Devin provides us with some depth at the defensive line position where you can never have too many talented players. It's a position where you have to have depth so that people can come in fresh and play well. While we're excited with our guys on the roster, anytime you get the chance to add a talented player you've got to take it."
ROGER CRAY was a three-year starter at cornerback for WKU, one of ODU's Conference USA rivals, who had 24 tackles and nine pass breakups as a senior. The Lake City, Florida, native missed the first six games of his junior season, but finished the season with two interceptions, 10 tackles and three pass breakups. As a sophomore, he had 27 tackles, an interception and two pass breakups. He was the only freshman defensive player to play in all 12 games in 2017 and had 14 tackles and two pass breakups. He returned punts all four seasons, with his longest a 28-yard return his junior year. Cray was an Associated Press All-State selection as a senior at Columbia High School. Cray has graduated from WKU.
Rahne on Cray: "This kid has played a lot of football for Western Kentucky and has been very successful in this conference. We were excited to add another good player to this position. We've got a lot of talent there, but to recruit a guy who played four seasons in our league, who's been to every stadium in the league, who is familiar with what it takes to win in our league, I think that's going to help our program."
ALI JENNINGS III played at Highland Springs High School just outside of Richmond, where he was a consensus 3-star recruit who turned down offers from Michigan State, Georgia Tech and Illinois to play for WVU. As a freshman in 2019, he played in all 11 games and started in three. He had 19 receptions for 192 yards and a touchdown. He played eight games in 2020, hauling in seven passes for 48 yards and a touchdown. Jennings was a first-team all-state player for coach Loren Johnson at Highland Springs in 2018, when he caught 40 passes for 874 yards and seven touchdowns. As a senior, the Springers were 15-0 and won the Group 5A state championship. As a junior, he attended Hermitage High, also just outside of Richmond, and caught 47 passes for 709 yards and 13 touchdowns. Rivals rated him the nation's 78th best receiver as a high school senior. He was a consistent member of the Big 12 Commissioners Honor Roll.
Rahne on Jennings: "He's a guy who is from the state of Virginia and we love to recruit kids from our state. For those in-state guys who go away, we want to be a place where they can come back and be successful. Ali is very good at running routes and has great ball skills. He has a chance to make a big impact this season."
ZACK KUNTZ was recruited to Penn State in part by Rahne, who was offensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions before coming to ODU. Rahne and offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, who also coached at Penn State, plan to throw extensively to their tight ends, and at 6-8 and 245 pounds, Kuntz will be an imposing target. He played in 21 games over three seasons at Penn State, mostly on special teams, and caught three passes for 26 yards. He was rated a consensus four-star recruit as a senior at Camp Hill High School in Pennsylvania and turned down Notre Dame and Stanford to sign with the Nittany Lions. He helped lead his high school to two state championships. He caught 40 catches for 1,060 yards and nine touchdowns as a senior at Camp Hill. He also lettered in basketball and track and field and won a state championship in the 110-meter high hurdles in 2017. He was a member of the National Honor Society in high school.
Rahne on Kuntz:
"I have a long-standing relationship with him from recruiting him out of high school. It's exciting to add a player of his caliber who has his great size and great athletic ability. He has the ability to really improve our tight end position. Again, this signals pretty heavily that we're going to include tight ends in our offense and we expect them to make plays."
GERRIK VOLLMER is a native of Hamburg, Germany, where unlike most of his countrymen, he longed to play American football instead of European football, known in America as soccer. His father was an American football star in Germany. Vollmer played for the Hamburg Blue Devils, one of Europe's most successful football clubs before enrolling as an exchange student at Philip Barbour High School in Philippi, West Virginia. Although he was an all-state pick, he garnered no scholarship offers. He opted to play another season at Taft School, a boarding school in Connecticut and picked U.Va. over Louisville. He played in nine of Virginia's 10 games in 2020, seeing action at guard and center but mostly on special teams. He played as a redshirt freshman against Liberty in 2018 but did not play in 2019. He comes to ODU with a degree in inter-American studies. He and Tyran Hunt, the transfer from Maryland, add critical depth to an offensive line with good talent but short on numbers.
Rahne on Vollmer: "We had to make sure we have enough depth on the offensive line and Gerrik adds to our depth. Gerrik had a unique upbringing and experience, but has played American football for quite a while. I'm excited about what he will bring. He's a big, strong kid who adds to our depth at both center and guard."
ODU will play its first home football game in nearly two years when the Monarchs host Hampton University on Sept. 11. Season tickets are on sale and sideline seats can be purchased for $99 for all six home games.
To order season tickets, to go http://www.ynottix.com/
ODU opens against a Power 5 opponent for the first time ever on Friday, Sept. 3, when Rahne makes his head coaching debut at Wake Forest of the ACC. That game will be televised nationally by the ACC Network.
ODU Football to Open Practice With Five New Transfers, Including three From Power 5 Schools
