By Harry Minium
Old Dominion football coach Ricky Rahne released his depth chart Monday morning for ODU's opener at Wake Forest Friday night, and although he declined to say who will start at quarterback, the chart confirms how important it was for the Monarchs to recruit well in the transfer portal.
At least five transfers from Football Bowl Subdivision schools are starting, including two on the offensive line and two in the defensive backfield.
Virginia transfer Gerrik Vollmer (6-foot-5, 313-pounds) will start at center, and that will free sixth-year senior Isaac Weaver (6-6, 303) to move to left tackle, the so-called "Blind Side" tackle, considered the most important position on the offensive line.
Tyran Hunt (6-7, 313), a transfer from Maryland, will start at left guard and veteran Nick Saldiveri (6-6, 307) will start at right tackle. Leroy Thomas (6-3, 275), one of the surprises of ODU's fall camp, will start at right guard. He's a walk-on who recently earned a scholarship.
Ali Jennings III, a transfer from West Virginia will start at wide receiver; Roger Cray, a three-year starter at Western Kentucky, will start at cornerback and Robert Kennedy III, a transfer from East Carolina, will start at safety.
Blake Watson will start at running back for ODU
"It was important to recruit well in the transfer portal and it will be important until they stop playing football or the rules change," Rahne said as his weekly press conference. "It's the way of the world now.
"We don't have to recruit vast numbers, but the guys we do get, we're going to have to hit on them, and they have to be able to make an impact on our team right away."
D.J. Mack Jr., a junior transfer from Central Florida and a former Norview High School standout, was battling redshirt freshman Hayden Wolff and senior Stone Smartt at quarterback. The depth chart lists Smartt or Wolff or Mack, in that order.
Asked if he's picked a quarterback, Rahne said he did so nearly a week ago, but won't reveal who it is until shortly before kickoff Friday.
He said the quarterbacks and team were told last week.
"Quite frankly, I think having the team know something that other people don't is kind of a special thing," he said.
"The guys have known for a little bit and they've done a nice job of handling it. I'm excited about how they've handed it because it shows a lot of maturity."
All nine of ODU's FBS transfers are expected to play against Wake Forest.
Zack Kuntz, a 6-8, 245-pound transfer from Penn State; and Donta Anthony Jr. (6-6, 244), a junior, are listed as co-starters at tight end.
Blake Watson has gotten the nod to start at running back, where he will be backed up by Elijah Davis and Matt Geiger. Aaron Moore, the redshirt sophomore from Dumfries, Virginia, who led the team in receiving yards in 2019, will start at wide receiver.
One of three will start at the final wide receiver position: Javon Harvey, a redshirt freshman from Norfolk's Lake Taylor High; Isiah Paige, named the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Offensive Player of the Year at Varina High School as a senior; or Jordan Bly, a three-star freshman from Charlotte and the son of former NFL star and North Carolina assistant coach Dre' Bly. All three are expected to see playing time.
The defense is led by linebacker Jordan Young, a 6-3, 230-pound redshirt senior from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, who is fourth in ODU history with 246 career tackles.
Veteran Nick Saldiveri will start at right tackle
Young played quarterback in high school and will be backed up by another former quarterback – Steven Williams, a 6-4, 223-pound redshirt junior who started at quarterback for ODU as a true freshman, then moved to wide receiver and most recently to linebacker.
Ryan Henry (6-2, 232), a redshirt junior who redshirted in 2019 after playing two seasons at ASA Miami junior college, will start at the other linebacker. His backup is Alec Solano (6-2, 231), a transfer from Fairmont State, where he was third on the team with 41 tackles.
Kennedy is joined at safety by Joe Joe Headen, a redshirt senior who started in 2019; and R'Tarriun Johnson, a junior who redshirted in 2019 after playing at Mississippi Gulf Coast junior college. Conference USA is a high-scoring, passing league and like most of its league rivals, ODU will play a nickel defense.
ODU is deep at safety, with Harrell Blackmon, a senior who started seven games in 2019; Justinn Richardson, a junior who started part-time in both 2018 and 2019; and Ali Ali, a freshman out of Philadelphia who had a good fall camp, all as backups.
Cray will be backed up by LaMareon James, a freshman and highly-touted recruit out of Chesapeake's Indian River High School. Tre Hawkins III, a 6-3 junior college transfer who has had an outstanding fall camp, will also start at cornerback.
Marcus Haynes with a sack against Virginia Tech
The defensive line is young but has impressed in practice. Marcus Haynes, a 6-4, 251-pound, redshirt junior defensive end, is the most experienced and perhaps the most talented of the front four. He had two sacks in ODU's 49-35 victory over Virginia Tech in 2018 and 3.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for a loss in 2019.
Two other starters are freshmen and both three-star recruits signed by Rahne's staff: end Amorie Morrison (6-4, 252), from Virginia Beach's Salem High School; and Alonzo Ford Jr. (6-3, 275), who was Paige's teammate at Varina High.
Either freshman Chazz Wallace (6-2, 292), a three-star recruit from the Avalon School in Glenarden, Maryland; or Tyre Bibby (6-3, 281), a Miami native and redshirt junior who played at Coffeyville Junior College in Kansas, will start at the other defensive tackle.
ODU's special teams are led by senior placekicker Nick Rice, who could set some school records this season. Freshman Ethan Duane from Australia will punt. Long snapper B.R. Hatcher is a veteran. Redshirt freshman John Morton is the holder on field goals and extra points. Junior college transfer Dominik Soos could do kickoffs.
Senior linebacker Jordan Young leads the defense
Watson and Davis will be the kick returners, while Paige and Cray, who returned punts at Western Kentucky, will split time at punt return.
Although ODU is one of the nation's youngest teams, with just nine seniors, the offense and defense could have as many as 12 upperclassmen who start. Six freshmen or redshirt freshmen could start as well.
The 7 p.m. game against Wake Forest will be nationally televised on the ACC Network.
"Our team has been waiting a long time for this game," Rahne said, "They're ready to go. I'm sure the next three or four days are going to seem like forever for the players and it's going to go too quickly for our coaches."
ODU did not play last season because of the pandemic, which combined with the fact that Rahne and his staff have yet to coach a game for the Monarchs, means Wake Forest has no meaningful game film to watch and doesn't know what kind of offense and defense they will run.
It will be the first time ODU opens against a Power 5 school and the first time the Monarchs have played a Friday night game on the road.
Wake Forest is coming off a 4-5 COVID season, but the Deacs went to a bowl game and return 20 of 22 starters from, including defensive tackle Miles Fox, a graduate transfer from ODU who had 11 tackles for a loss last season.
Oddsmakers list the Deacs' as 31 to 32-point favorites.
ODU plays its first home game since Nov. 30, 2019, on September 11 at 7 p.m., when the Monarchs host Hampton.
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
Ricky Rahne has chosen a quarterback but won't say who it is until Friday, when ODU visits Wake Forest
